tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66675245381564274162024-03-13T19:13:57.781+00:00MESSY BAKERMessy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-58508817246377081102022-03-22T14:53:00.010+00:002022-03-22T15:02:30.323+00:00Gluten Free Wild Garlic and Cheese Scones<style class="WebKit-mso-list-quirks-style">
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</style><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">A few months back my daughter (10yo) started having ongoing stomach pains and bloating and we thought we'd have her checked out to see if any of it might be caused by allergies or some sort of food reactions. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">To my huge sorrow, the test showed high level of intolerance to wheat - WHEAT !! I've been baking for myself and for my family and with my family for as long as I can remember, and now thats all gone???!!! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">After taking a few days to cry and dust myself off and decided that its not all bad, actually if anything, its a new challenge to test my baking skills.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">I am hoping that one day I will be baking gluten free sourdough creations but for now I am going to start with easier, more familiar recipes, like biscuits or scones. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">I do love a good scone, and after spotting some new season wild garlic on my morning walk, my mind was made up - I shall make some wild garlic scones. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">I've had great success with <a href="http://www.rosiebirkett.com/2021/03/19/recipe-wild-garlic-and-cheddar-scones/" target="_blank">Rosie Birkett Wild Garlic and Cheddar Scones</a> last year - they came out so light and fluffy, they disappeared in minutes! The recipe is really simple, so I thought I should be able to convert them into a GF version. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Also, Becky Excell is a gluten free food writer that I have recently discovered, and her recipes have been a great introduction into gluten free baking. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">At the and, I've combined Rosie's flavours with <a href="https://glutenfreecuppatea.co.uk/2019/03/28/gluten-free-scones-recipe-vegan-low-fodmap/" target="_blank">Becky's basic scones recipe</a> and created my own Gluten Free Wild Garlic and Cheese Scones recipe. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><b>Ingredients :</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->340g gluten free self-raising flour<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->1 tsp gluten-free baking powder<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->¼ tsp xanthan gum<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->1 tsp sugar<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->¼ tsp salt<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->85g chilled butter<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->150g grated hard cheese (Cheddar or similar)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->a good handful of wild garlic leaves, finely chopped<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->170 ml milk <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->juice of ½ lemon<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->1 egg <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Extra egg for glazing<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><b>Instructions : </b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Heat the oven to 200C (220C non-fan). Line a baking tray with baking paper.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Combine gluten free self raising flour, sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum, sugar and salt in a medium size bowl. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Cube the butter and rub it into the flour mix until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Chop the wild garlic finely - I like when you can see bits of leaves in scones rather but you can also mash them into a pesto-like paste.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Add in the wild garlic and the grated cheddar cheese to the flour mix, and mix through until it’s well combined.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"></span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOdc8Gr6F94wghKykgzyKRBXjSMhJQbrU7B5k4B75li_3lK70ed8kl4vyFW1snBGkOqMOgT3e1HvkJXohXnuDoRTxbjqBE9mBkTQ2FH-K3R4FrT-YKNEi44rpKGoVgkQA_OBn0NdWgPCrHHRfqKmWAEbb3w-p3qspyaBIubbd-DRzVyEhfXt01dlq3Mw/s4032/IMG_6354.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOdc8Gr6F94wghKykgzyKRBXjSMhJQbrU7B5k4B75li_3lK70ed8kl4vyFW1snBGkOqMOgT3e1HvkJXohXnuDoRTxbjqBE9mBkTQ2FH-K3R4FrT-YKNEi44rpKGoVgkQA_OBn0NdWgPCrHHRfqKmWAEbb3w-p3qspyaBIubbd-DRzVyEhfXt01dlq3Mw/w198-h264/IMG_6354.jpg" width="198" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><br /> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Add the lemon juice to milk and leave it for a couple of minutes - it starts to curdle a bit - the idea to turn it into a thin buttermilk liquid. Add in egg and mix with a fork. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Combine the milk/egg and flour mix and together until it has a smooth consistency, trying to take care not to overwork it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Turn the dough out onto a floured (gluten free!) surface and gently pat into a circle about 3cm-4cm deep. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Use a round cutter (I used a 5cm one) to cut out scones, reforming the remains of dough and continuing to cut out scones until the dough is all used up. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Brush the tops of the scones with beaten egg and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes until well risen and golden brown </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><br /> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Remove from the oven and cool for about 10-15 minutes. Eat warm or cold, if not eaten the same day (as if !), they can keep well in an air-tight container for 3 days.</span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTtyTtMreqlKvOn5PVQJcJuDkG49b0UohE3LOcuj8GULKrf9FGhvlMu9XC5Iy2hIQ3QkmpBtrpA6LLg_dF6FmqC_4uq_2TOup6iG48pu936YCKcOg63pvxTy-BhWMXPA1YEiQyFbdTI2SQUzMJAIdU_2hiePx92Ne5ZNdW6cQjNlgx7KkghhlZhNOwOQ/s4032/IMG_6357.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTtyTtMreqlKvOn5PVQJcJuDkG49b0UohE3LOcuj8GULKrf9FGhvlMu9XC5Iy2hIQ3QkmpBtrpA6LLg_dF6FmqC_4uq_2TOup6iG48pu936YCKcOg63pvxTy-BhWMXPA1YEiQyFbdTI2SQUzMJAIdU_2hiePx92Ne5ZNdW6cQjNlgx7KkghhlZhNOwOQ/s320/IMG_6357.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><p></p>Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-81471718686441009452021-03-26T16:58:00.001+00:002021-03-26T16:58:09.297+00:00Rye and Barley Malt Sourdough<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">This bread was
a bit of an experiment, it’s the first time I baked this recipe, but it turned
out such a success that I will definitely be baking it again! It is bursting
with flavour – super seeds mix for the extra goodness and a touch of sweetness
from the dried fruit.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Makes 2 medium
sized loaves (tin loaves)</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><br /><b>Dough :</b><br />250g rye
starter (100%)<br />320g (+30g) lukewarm
water<br />330g white bread
flour<br />100g rye flour<br />50g <a href="https://www.bakerybits.co.uk/roasted-barley-malt-rbm-flour-vistamalt-black-flour-1250" target="_blank">roastedbarley malt</a><br />10g salt</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><br /><b>Seeds porridge
:</b><br /> 100g sunflower
seeds<br />50g linseeds<br /> 50g pumpkin
seeds<br />50g dried fruit
(raising, currants or cranberries)<br /> 100g warm water<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><b><u>Prepare the porridge
: </u></b>toast sunflower seeds and linseeds in a preheated oven (180C) for 6-8
minutes. Combine with the rest of the seeds and fruit and add water. Leave for
an hour until the water is absorbed.<br /> <o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><u>Dough :</u></b><br /> Mix all flours,
including roasted barley malt, with starter and 320g of water. Mix well to make
sure that all the water has been incorporated and all the flour is mixed in.<br /> Leave for 60
minutes to autolise.<br />Add salt and
the extra water if you think you need it. Water makes it easier to incorporate
salt into the dough, but if you think the dough is too wet to handle, then skip
on the extra water.<br /> The dough will
still look very rough, with no obvious gluten development. This will change
over the next couple of hours, so don’t be tempted to add more flour at this
stage. Perform 4 stretch and folds over the next hour (every 15 minutes) and
another 3 over the next hour and a half (every 30 minutes).<br /> On the second
to last stretch and fold, add seeds and fruit porridge to the dough. The
easiest way to do it is to stretch/flatten the dough in a lightly floured
bench, cover it with porridge and roll the dough on itself, like a sausage.
Proceed to the last stretch and fold after 30 mins.<br /> After the last
stretch and fold, leave the dough undisturbed for 3-4 hours, covered at room
temperature, until the dough has grown noticeably.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4R2oXFZPhZw/YF4Rx7UTNAI/AAAAAAAABhY/9i9vwhj0_6kr37SEPhRsZDkLTv--9HHBQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_1264.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4R2oXFZPhZw/YF4Rx7UTNAI/AAAAAAAABhY/9i9vwhj0_6kr37SEPhRsZDkLTv--9HHBQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_1264.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><br /> <o:p> <br /></o:p>Line two medium
sized tins with baking parchment (you could use one bigger tin, but would need
to adjust baking time in that case)<br /> <o:p> <br /></o:p>Place the dough
on a lightly oiled bench and divide in two. Shape each piece into a log and place
into a prepared loaf. If you find the dough too sticky and hard to shape, oil your
hands to stop the dough from sticking to your hands and the bench.<br /> Press the dough
firmly to get a flat and even top.<br /> Cover the tins
and leave to prove at room temperature for 2 hours and place in the fridge for
further 8-12 hours or overnight.<br /> <o:p> <br /></o:p>Take the dough
out and bring to room temperature (1-2 hours). Bake in a pre-heated oven (220C)
for 25-30 minutes until the colour is very dark and sides of the loaf start
coming away from the tin.<br /> Take the loaves
out of tins and cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes.<br /> Wrap each loaf
in a clean tea towel and leave to completely cool down for 5-8 hours.<br /> Its important
to give rye loaves plenty of time to cool down slowly to allow the flavours to
develop fully. Cutting a rye loaf too early will result in a gummy crumb. But
if you are patient enough, you will be rewarded with a beautiful and delicious loaf
of bread</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KBQLYMEgPxk/YF4SJNyjTvI/AAAAAAAABho/7Lztae9np8UXYjQL53RjVUXXqLj0CWmCgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/EA47B5E1-6BB4-4E24-B48F-13FC7261C079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KBQLYMEgPxk/YF4SJNyjTvI/AAAAAAAABho/7Lztae9np8UXYjQL53RjVUXXqLj0CWmCgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/EA47B5E1-6BB4-4E24-B48F-13FC7261C079.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small; text-align: left;"> </span></div></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></p>
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Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-32371074710125073672020-12-21T12:57:00.001+00:002020-12-21T12:57:38.826+00:00New York Rye Bread<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"> What I love about rye breads is the huge
variety you get from different parts of the world – there are dark spicy loves
from Easter Europe that remind me of my childhood, there are wholesome German
breads tightly packed with grans, there are crusty French loaves full of
flavour and there is the famous Pastrami on Rye sandwiches that you can find in
New York.</span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">I’ve developed this recipe for a bread
class I ran a few years back, taking a bit from all different cultures to
create a dark bread, full of flavour and yes with a light crumb that can be
eaten as it is or toasted for a crispier finish.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">New York Rye Bread <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">150 ml water</span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">150 ml orange juice</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">1 tsp (10g) molasses<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">100g rye starter (100% hydration)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">150g dark rye flour<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">220g white bread flour<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">30g<a href="https://www.bakerybits.co.uk/roasted-barley-malt-rbm-flour-vistamalt-black-flour-1250" target="_blank"> roasted barley malt flour</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">1 tsp (10g) salt<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">1 ½ tsp fennel seeds<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">½ tsp ground cumin<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">½ tsp ground coriander<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> - </span></span></span>This is the mix of spices I love, but feel free
to adjust the quantities<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Whole coriander seeds for coating <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">First of all, make sure that your rye starter is very active - 4 hours after feeding is the prime time to use it. This bread doesn't use any commercial yeast, so the starter has a big job ahead of it.</span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xZ_5bOni8KI/X-CV7ot_rII/AAAAAAAABec/CiwXeU4gp5gGzbU5muRYgKrviYs7wFNIACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/starter.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xZ_5bOni8KI/X-CV7ot_rII/AAAAAAAABec/CiwXeU4gp5gGzbU5muRYgKrviYs7wFNIACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/starter.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Combine water and juice in a large bowl,
add molasses and starter – whisk vigorously until all molasses has dissolved. Add
rye flour and whisk again, this whisking aerates the mixture and helps to develop
regular bubbles in the crumb at a later stage . <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxfE_8eIK5_JuZHVz_YcUzuf8ZhnJ8s0Hwfu4zBO6LUaRu-MTvDW_c38FmEOwT_hozSHcMU1oMyB-jJ-dvykg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Add roasted barley malt and white flours and
mix it in with a spoon – the dough will start thickening up at this stage. It
won’t resemble “traditional” dough, it will look like a dark brown shaggy mess.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Cover the mixture and leave on the
counter for 10 minutes to autolise. This helps water to absorb flours and
develop a more manageable and pliable structure. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Uncover the dough and add salt and
spices – mix them in by hand in the bowl, you might want o oil your hand a little
bit to stop the dough from sticking too much. Cover the dough and leave to
prove for 4-5 hours at room temperature or until it has increased in volume by
50%. You will notice that the dough is also looking a bit lighter in colour as
it proves. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Turn out dough onto an oiled counter (to
stop it from sticking) and shape it into a loaf shape. This is rye dough, so
you won’t be shaping it as you would a white dough, just try to form the right
shape without worrying about doing any proper shaping. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Prepare your tin – line it with
parchment paper. Roll the loaf into coriander seeds (if using) and place it
into the tin. Smooth the dough down to create an even top. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Cover the tin and leave to prove at room
temperature for 2-3 hours, until the dough is looking slightly puffy and has
increased in volume by about 50%. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mkGM76LlErI/X-CVSRtrwzI/AAAAAAAABeI/ikhHWxfy9HEu8TSfpSZDTXvvV0l8NlEXgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/thumbnail_IMG_8860.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mkGM76LlErI/X-CVSRtrwzI/AAAAAAAABeI/ikhHWxfy9HEu8TSfpSZDTXvvV0l8NlEXgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/thumbnail_IMG_8860.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Bake in a pre-heated oven (200C) for 25
minutes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Leave the loaf to cool in the tin for 10
minutes, take it out and while still hot, wrap it tightly in a clean towel or
cloth and leave for 24 hours before slicing. This helps rye flavours develop
and mature. Do wait full 24 hours, otherwise the bread would feed crumbly and
gummy inside. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rlB1cClfJLc/X-CVhMOT-PI/AAAAAAAABeQ/6QCJnnnvvc453fbWChxYeOPggE8ajDrRACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/thumbnail_IMG_8873.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rlB1cClfJLc/X-CVhMOT-PI/AAAAAAAABeQ/6QCJnnnvvc453fbWChxYeOPggE8ajDrRACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/thumbnail_IMG_8873.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Slice and enjoy with some strong cheese
and pickle or a slice of smoked salmon. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FvOWTZcx0y8/X-CVcKi0qGI/AAAAAAAABeM/iUhwuJBZfH8HQZkuUpprt21_aBUdJ8YmgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/thumbnail_IMG_8885.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FvOWTZcx0y8/X-CVcKi0qGI/AAAAAAAABeM/iUhwuJBZfH8HQZkuUpprt21_aBUdJ8YmgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/thumbnail_IMG_8885.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></p>Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-51788162272677694942020-11-13T17:23:00.002+00:002020-11-13T17:23:22.412+00:00Sourdough Pandoro<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #2e3438;">“Pandoro” is a beautiful golden colour, star-shaped bread dusted
with powdered sugar. That gorgeous colour is what lent the bread its name - </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2e3438;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2e3438;">“</span><i style="background-color: white; color: #2e3438;">pan d’oro</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #2e3438;">” meaning “golden bread”.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">While Christmas is all about the cake and the
pudding, the run up to Christmas, and New Years for me its all about Pandoro. Looks
like I am not the only one that feels that way, as around 117 million breads
sell every year in the run up to Christmas !!<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">You can buy Pandoro in many shops around the
world, but nothing beats the one you make yourself …<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">So, lets get on with the recipe - this recipe makes two Pandoro (or is it Pandori?)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #171711;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #171711;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">A couple of notes before you begin :</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">FLOUR : if you can, use an artisan Italian
flour – a fine white 00 flour with a very low white content. I use <a href="https://www.shipton-mill.com/flour-direct/italian-white-flour-type-00-118.htm">Shipton
Mill Italian Flour</a> as it really does make a difference to the texture of
the bread.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">MOULDS : I use 1kg Pandoro bread moulds, you
can buy them from many online retails, I got mine from <a href="https://www.bakerybits.co.uk/pandoro-cake-tin">BakeryBits</a>. If you don’t
have a Pandoro mould, use any tin with really tall sides, such as a high bundt
tin or angel cake pan, or even a paper panettone mould.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">MIXER : you won’t need to use a mixer until the
very last stage (Stage IV – Final Dough), when I would highly recommend using a
mixer, as you will be enriching the dough and developing gluten. I have a
KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer that I use with a dough hook. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">MAKES 2 BREADS : I split by dough into two at
the end of Stage III (Second dough) and left one half in the fridge for 2 days
as I only have one Pandoro mould and didn’t have time to prove and bake both.
You could even put a half in the freezer for up to a month and bake it at a
later stage. If you are doing the same, make sure that you bring the dough to
room temperature before you move onto Stage IV (Final Dough).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">The reason I do this, as otherwise the measures
for starter and first and second dough will be a lot smaller and there is a lot
more room for mistake and miss-calculation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Stage I – Build a stiff starter <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">First of all you would need to build a stiff “sweet”
starter. Use any existing starter or any hydration, preferably a white one, and
build up the required volume and hydration that you need for this recipe. Its
called a “sweet” starter not because you need to add any sugar to it, but because
you are refreshing it at more frequent intervals, and not letting the starter
to become acid, catch it at a stage when its “sweet”. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">If I start with an active starter, it takes me
12 hours and two refreshes to build the required amount and texture<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1 Tbsp starter
+ 30 ml water + 60 g flour. Mix together into a stiff ball of dough and leave for
6 hours <o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Add 50 ml water +
100 g flour to the starter, mix in a dough ball and leave for another 6 hours</span></span></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"></span></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxpNkDf2ttW454eMao0WtaOE2MRxcU8Tia3m52x92pjJtaMf-AZfLD1_ljmICI91b-2c0uN32YvFdP0Z2Y0Og' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Stage II – First Dough<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">195 g stiff
starter<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1 egg<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">68 ml water<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">38 g white
sugar<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">180 g flour<o:p></o:p></span></span></li></ul><!--[if !supportLists]--><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #171711; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Mix everything with a spoon in a large bowl, until
its well combined. Cover and leave to prove at room temperature for 4-5 hours.
Use your judgement to see how long it needs, depending how warm/cold your
kitchen is. You should see the dough puffing up a bit, building small bubbles
inside. You won’t see a huge increase in volume, just a softer, more pillowy
dough.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IA0yED35n2w/X66_jfOnKKI/AAAAAAAABcM/ITlVRMtSVd0JXQ-MgzparfiSMRlBvqNLgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_8403.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IA0yED35n2w/X66_jfOnKKI/AAAAAAAABcM/ITlVRMtSVd0JXQ-MgzparfiSMRlBvqNLgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8403.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Stage III – Second Dough <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">All of First Dough
<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1 egg<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">10 g unsalted
butter (softened)<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">25 g white sugar<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">120 g flour<o:p></o:p></span></span></li></ul><!--[if !supportLists]--><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #171711; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Add all the ingredients to the dough from stage
1 and mix everything well with a spoon.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Cover and leave to prove at room temperature
for 4-5 hours. Again, you might need to reduce or increase proving time. At
this stage, you are looking at about 30% increase in volume.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #171711; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">NOTE : at this stage, split the dough in two
parts – use one part to make the final dough.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">If you have multiple moulds, make two breads, otherwise you can put the other half in either the fridge or
freezer to bake another Pandoro at a later stage.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Stage IV – Final Dough <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">HALF of the second
dough<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">219 g <span style="color: #171711; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">flour</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">5g salt<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">10 g honey<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">3 eggs<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">106 g sugar<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">166 g unsalted
butter (softened) <o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2 tsp good vanilla essence<o:p></o:p></span></span></li></ul><!--[if !supportLists]--><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #171711; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Mixing this part of the dough is best done in a
mixer for the most optimal gluten development.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #171711; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Place flour, salt and honey in a standing
mixer. Get half of the second dough (as per notes), and tear or cut it into
pieces and add it to the mixer.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Mix eggs in a small bowl (no need for whisking,
just mixed with a fork). Measure out sugar and butter in separate bowls. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Add half of the eggs and turn your mixer to
speed 4 and run the mixer until all the ingredients well combined. You might
have to stop and scrape the sides a couple of times to make sure that the
second dough is mixing in well. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">When all the ingredients have been mixed, start
adding the rest of the egg and sugar, a bit at the time, taking turns – a bit
of egg, a bit of sugar, and so on.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Once all the egg and sugar have been
incorporated, start adding butter, a bit at the time, wait for each butter to
mix in before adding the next one. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Keep the mixer running until gluten has reached
full development and you can see the dough pulling away from the sides and bottom
of the mixer bowl.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #171711; font-size: small;">Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover
and to prove for two hours, do a stretch and fold after the first hour.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #171711; font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_cE7ZwdFReM/X67ARm3XvII/AAAAAAAABcU/sKHXG72D5m8XxBV0Urer1JWyfbK8ixakwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/03099CD9-785F-4D91-B8D1-0219E290F451.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_cE7ZwdFReM/X67ARm3XvII/AAAAAAAABcU/sKHXG72D5m8XxBV0Urer1JWyfbK8ixakwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/03099CD9-785F-4D91-B8D1-0219E290F451.JPG" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Stage V – Prepare the mould <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Soft butter<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #171711; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1 tsp caster
sugar<o:p></o:p></span></span></li></ul><!--[if !supportLists]--><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #171711; font-size: small;">Butter the mould very generously, making sure
that the whole inside of the mould is covered in butter and there is no dry
patches. Give the inside of the mould a </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #171711; font-size: small;"><i>very</i></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #171711; font-size: small;"> light dusting with
caster sugar. Don’t be templated to use more than a teaspoon otherwise the
sugar turns to caramel and will make your bread stick (trust me, it happened to
me)</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Stage VI – Final Prove<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Once the dough finished proving, place it on the
kitchen counter and shape into a tight ball. Place the ball into the prepared
mould – smooth size down, seam side up. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cover and prove at room temperature for 14 to
18 hours, until the dough comes up at the level of the mould.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #171711; font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"></span></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p8v_j7g3SyY/X67AZCM1akI/AAAAAAAABcY/P1h7_Dct5FUMOxvp1UMREuURZgw30BklACLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/D7EE11F9-74E8-4F10-9552-B33B626FA488.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1440" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p8v_j7g3SyY/X67AZCM1akI/AAAAAAAABcY/P1h7_Dct5FUMOxvp1UMREuURZgw30BklACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/D7EE11F9-74E8-4F10-9552-B33B626FA488.JPG" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Stage VII – Bake<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Preheat the oven to 180C (fan), place the baking
tray on the lowest level and place a metal pan on the bottom of the oven (for
steam). <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #171711; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When ready to bake, pour a ½ cup of water in
the metal pan at the bottom of the oven to create steam.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Put Pandoro in and bake for 25 minutes, until
rich and golden brown in colour. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Once baked, leave the bred in the moulds for 30
minutes before taking the bread out. Invert the bread and leave of a cooling
rack until it cools completely. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XNg-1qKfumo/X67Ah-7Xh7I/AAAAAAAABcg/tiqNVMkPw6kmB5rvRqGw4w7mGthiJFM3ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/FE55D2EB-D202-4E1E-8762-16A577BB3F0C.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1440" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XNg-1qKfumo/X67Ah-7Xh7I/AAAAAAAABcg/tiqNVMkPw6kmB5rvRqGw4w7mGthiJFM3ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/FE55D2EB-D202-4E1E-8762-16A577BB3F0C.JPG" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dust with icing sugar (if that how you like it)
and enjoy.</span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #171711; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">You can slice it across, in star shares, or
along in wedges.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I normally slice then across, place them under
a grill for a couple of minutes and serve with strawberry jam</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; color: #171711; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eWTgfTVvFCw/X67AnSqCQ2I/AAAAAAAABck/YDmyNnKR6t8n3pK3tcPdhbJJBHznN2p7ACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_8435.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eWTgfTVvFCw/X67AnSqCQ2I/AAAAAAAABck/YDmyNnKR6t8n3pK3tcPdhbJJBHznN2p7ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8435.jpg" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><p></p>Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-656922258994373002019-01-07T17:53:00.002+00:002019-01-07T17:53:58.320+00:00Honey carrot and ginger loaf<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Happy New Year and all that - hope you had a lovely break and ready to face the world after the holiday hibernation. Its my last day of holidays and I've had a bit of a bread from bread baking, so I thought I'll start with something nice and easy to start with.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">My January GoodFood magazine arrived last week and I finally got around to reading it when a carrot cake recipe caught my eye and I decided to give it a go (with a few modifications).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><b>Honey Carrot and Ginger Loaf</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">1 Tbsp honey</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">1 Tbsp olive oil</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">3 large carrots (280g), peeled and grated</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">1/2 - 1 tsp ground ginger</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">60g spelt flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">165g white flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">1/4 tsp salt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">1 tsp baking powder</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">3 eggs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">60g natural yoghurt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">50ml almond milk</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Peel and grate carrots in a bowl, add honey, oil and ginger and mix everything together. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and tip the carrots onto the tray, spread out evenly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Heat the oven to 160C (fan) and roast carrots for 15 mins, giving it a bit of a stir half way through. Cool the carrots for about 20 mins.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YzOTn6V_kJs/XDOR2os3RzI/AAAAAAAABQA/6qffJskNy1siDmPmHNErxwvnnnV_iqk-ACLcBGAs/s1600/carrots.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="753" height="318" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YzOTn6V_kJs/XDOR2os3RzI/AAAAAAAABQA/6qffJskNy1siDmPmHNErxwvnnnV_iqk-ACLcBGAs/s320/carrots.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Meanwhile mix flours, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Lightly whisk eggs in a smaller bowl, add yoghurt and milk. Once the carrots have cooled down, add them to the flour mix and pour in the egg mixture. Mix everything together until its well combined, the mixture will look pretty thick.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Line a medium (1lb) loaf tin with parchment paper, pour the mixture into the tin and smooth it out for an even top. Bake for 50-60 minutes until the top is slightly dark and firm to touch. Cool the loaf in the tin for 30-60 minutes, and cool completely (another hour) before slicing.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ek-1mfSltvo/XDOR-e3uxaI/AAAAAAAABQE/QJZ3MUKmuN8aXJ6QnFJR6X0mzurSWj6jACLcBGAs/s1600/carrot2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="744" height="301" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ek-1mfSltvo/XDOR-e3uxaI/AAAAAAAABQE/QJZ3MUKmuN8aXJ6QnFJR6X0mzurSWj6jACLcBGAs/s320/carrot2.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-22067217503973913772018-01-19T10:00:00.002+00:002018-01-19T10:00:58.696+00:00Milk and Oat Sourdough<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">My husband recently got into cheese making, he did a course at one of local cheese farms and got really inspired by all the different cheeses you can make at home - anything from fresh ricotta and halumi to strong aged cheddar and soft brie. As far as I am concerned, its a great hobby for him - I love cheese, and now I get to sample all of his different cheese experiments. </span></span><div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">But I've also discovered that whey - a cheese by-product - is great for baking! its a slightly sweet, slightly creamy liquid that makes a perfect base for breads, giving them slightly softer crumb and more golden crust. </span></span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">If you won't have whey, just use water in this recipe, or there are plenty of easy recipes for home made cheese if you want to try your hand at making it at home and remember to collect whey to use it in breads later.</span></span></div>
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><b>Milk and Oat Sourdough</b></span></span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><i>Pre-ferment:</i></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">150g stiff white starter (50% hydration)</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">100ml milk</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">230ml whey or water </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">50g rye flour</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">250g white bread flour</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">1/4 tsp salt</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><i>Dough:</i></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">120g white bread flour</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">80g rolled oats</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">30g butter, softened</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">1 tsp salt</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">I am using a stiff starter in this recipe, at 50% hydration, meaning that for every 50g of water I add 100ml flour when I refresh it. If you are used to 100% hydration liquid starters, this one would look a bit different - it looks a bit like a ball of dough when you refresh it, but will turn into a lovely and bubbly soft dough in a couple of hours. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Mix all preferment ingredients in a large bowl, make sure that you give it a good mix, as a stiffer starter is harder to mix in than a liquid one. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave at room temperature for 12 hours. </span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">My house is about 19C at the moment, adjust the time based on your room temperature.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">After 12 hours you will see some bubbles, but the dough wouldn't have increased in volume that much. Leave the dough covered and put it in the fridge for another 12 hours. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Take the dough out of the fridge, place all of pre-ferment in a standing mixer (I am using Kitchen Aid) bowl, add the rest of flour and oats. Mix on speed 1 for 6 minutes, leave to rest for 20 minutes, add salt and butter and mix on speed 2 for another 3 minutes. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">The dough will be rather sticky and look a bit lumpy - don't worry, thats what oats do to a dough, in a few hours they will absorb some of the liquid and the dough will look a lot smoother. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">If you don't have a mixer, you can mix the dough my hand, but try not to add too much extra flour, you want the dough to remain quite wet. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm. Do at least two, or better yet three stretch and folds over the next hour and a half. Leave to prove at room temperature for 6 - 8 hours. The dough is ready when it doubled in volume and starting to look glossy. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Oil your worktop before pouring the dough onto it to prevent it from sticking. The dough will still be quite well, so you might want to oil your hands too to make it easier to work with. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Shape the dough into a loaf and place it into a buttered loaf tin (2lbs), cover it loosely with clingfilm and leave to prove at room temperature for 3 - 4 hours, until it comes to the top of the tin. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Slash the loaf and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C (fan) for 30 minutes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">As soon as bread comes out of the oven, take it out of the tin and wrap it in a kitchen towel - leave to cool for 3 to 4 hours before cutting. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Wrapping the bread in a towel will give it a softer crust, but if you prefer a crunchier crust, leave the loaf to cool on a rack. The bread has a lovely soft crumb and goes gentle golden colour when toasted, I had it for breakfast with lashings of butter and a drizzle of honey - delicious ! </span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"> </span></span> </div>
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Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-22574014884066810332017-11-16T22:13:00.003+00:002017-11-16T22:13:56.981+00:00Christmas Special - Mincemeat <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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My mother in law makes the best mince pies, they are these tiny buttery shells filled with juicy, boozy fruit always topped with a small pasty star. The pastry is wonderful and short, but it’s the mincemeat that really makes it. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I don’t think I will ever be able to replicate her recipe, so the best I can do it to go to good old favorites – Delia and Mary Berry and create my own recipe, my own special recipe that I can pass onto my children. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Christmas Mince </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><i>Makes 3x0.3l jars </i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">200g (1 large) bramley apple </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">225g raising </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">225g currants </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">225g sultanas </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">130g mixed candied peel, chopped </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">225g brown sugar </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">50g toasted almond flakes </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">3 heaped tsp mixed spice </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">½ tsp nutmeg </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">1 lemon, juice only </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">1 orange, juice only </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">150g shredded suet </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">50g butter </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">2 bay leaves </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">250ml brandy </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Core the apple (don’t worry about peeling) and chop into small, fingernail size pieces. Place the apple and the rest of the ingredients – apart from brandy – in a heat proof bowl and stir everything together until everything is well combined.
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<ul style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
<li>You might think that the bay leaf looks a bit out of place in a fruit recipe, but it adds another dimension to the recipe and brings the overall sweetness down slightly. </li>
<li>Delia uses all suet and Mary Berry goes for all butter, I am using a mixture of suet and butter to get the best of both worlds. </li>
<li>I am using toasted almonds in the recipe to get slightly deeper and nuttier flavours, otherwise the taste of almonds just gets lost. </li>
<li>Be generous with the spices, the flavour will settle down after you cook it – use as much of mixed spice and nutmeg or any other mix of spices (cinnamon, cloves, ginger, even cardamom) as you like. </li>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Cover the bowl with cling wrap and leave for 12 to 24 hours for flavours to develop. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Pre-heat the oven to 120C, remove the cling film, cover the bowl with foil and place it in the oven to slowly cook for 3 hours. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Remove the bowl from the oven and leave to cool completely, stirring it from time to time. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Once the mincemeat has cooled completely stir in the brandy and mix well. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Spoon mincemeat into sterilised jars and seal well. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Keep in a cool dark place for up to 2-3 years. Its best eaten within the first year though.
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Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-60085253359968813592017-11-16T22:13:00.002+00:002017-11-16T22:16:18.479+00:00Christmas special - Cake<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Did you know its only 38 days before Christmas? Its definitely beginning to feel colder and wintery and we might even get snow this Christmas! To be fair, I am hoping for snow every year, and so far I have only seen a white Christmas once in all my years of living in London. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I love Christmas, I really do, and I love all the traditions and foods that come with it, and no Christmas is complete in our house without a Christmas cake.
Now, this is a rather new tradition in our house, I’ve only been making a Christmas cake for the last five years or so. I am not a big fan Christmas cakes (or any fruit cake to be honest) that you buy in the shops. They are too sweet, too sticky, too artificial for my taste, I can taste the sugar grains and preservatives on my teeth. Which is why I decided to try making Christmas cakes at the first place – to see if the real deal is going to be any better, or maybe I am just not a Christmas cake person.
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Well, turns out I am a Christmas cake person, I am a “home-make, rich and deep and just-sweet-enough and super boozy Christmas cake” kind of person :) </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I always looked to Delia as THE master of Christmas cakes, and always based my recipe on her version. Every year I take Delia’s recipe and try something different, something new, something that will take it to a new level. Some years are more successful that others, and maybe in another 5-10 years I will come up with a recipe I stick with.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Christmas Cake 2017 </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><i>Boozy fruit </i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">400g currants </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">170g sultanas </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">170g raising </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">60g mixed candied peel, chopped </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">100g glace cherries, whole </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">1 orange, zest only </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">1 lemon, zest only </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> ½ cup brandy </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><i>Cake </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">225g white flour, sifted </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">1 tsp baking powder </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">½ tsp salt </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">¼ tsp grated nutmeg </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">2 tsp mixed spice </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">¼ tsp ground ginger </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">225g unsalted butter, softened </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">225g soft brown sugar</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">4 eggs </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">1 Tbsp smoked treacle </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">100g mixed nuts, roughly chopped </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">You are looking to get 900g of dried fruit for this recipe – feel free to choose any combination you like – golden Turkish raising or dark French ones, cranberries or chopped date or figs or all of the above. Experiment as much as you want here, throw all your favourite fruit in until you find a mix you like. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Same for the alcohol – original recipe calls for brandy, but feel free to use cognac or whiskey or bourbon or even rum – any strong dark spirit. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Mix the fruit, orange & lemon zest* and alcohol, cover with cling wrap and leave at room temperature for 2 to three days, giving it a bit of a shake once-twice a day. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">* Use fruit juice from orange and lemon in <a href="http://messybaker.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/christmas-special-mincemeat.html" target="_blank">Christmas mincemeat recipe</a> or just drink it.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I6KubfDeA5Q/Wg2AAWJvmJI/AAAAAAAABKI/L1K8caVu4ZEdOSqHIzJp2SyA8G6qINygQCLcBGAs/s1600/cake_01.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I6KubfDeA5Q/Wg2AAWJvmJI/AAAAAAAABKI/L1K8caVu4ZEdOSqHIzJp2SyA8G6qINygQCLcBGAs/s320/cake_01.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">When you are getting ready to bake the cake, make sure you start in the afternoon – mixing won’t take long, but baking will – make sure that you have enough time. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl – flour, salt, baking powder and spices. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">In a separate bowl (large bowl) beat butter and sugar together until its light, pale and fluffy – use a mixer, it will take ages to do it by hand. Add eggs one by one, beating/whisking the mixture well between each addition to prevent the mixture from “splitting”. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Fold in the flour mix, carefully mixing it with a spoon to avoid knocking out any of that air and fluffiness. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Add the fruit, nuts and treacle and mix again until everything is thoroughly mixed through. The mixture will be quite thick, this is exactly what it supposed to look like. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qvQsBpYwT-w/Wg2AIUpT3iI/AAAAAAAABKM/kKqYINiXXOQqBe4Ym4-paaIc6ZVndAy_gCLcBGAs/s1600/cake_02.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1116" data-original-width="1600" height="223" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qvQsBpYwT-w/Wg2AIUpT3iI/AAAAAAAABKM/kKqYINiXXOQqBe4Ym4-paaIc6ZVndAy_gCLcBGAs/s320/cake_02.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Preheat the oven to 140C and prepare a cake tin (I used an 8 inch round tin). Line the tin – bottom and sides – with parchment paper to make sure that the cake doesn’t stick. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Transfer the cake mixture into the prepared tin, spread it out with a large spoon to achieve a flat and even surface. Make a slight dent in the centre of the cake, this will guarantee that the cake remains flat when it comes out of the oven, as cakes tend to rise and dome in the centre when they bake. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Bake the cake on the second lowest shelf of the oven for 3 to 3½ hours. You will know that its ready when the cake is an even and deep golden colour and comes away from the sides of the tin.
Leave the cake in the tin to cool down overnight. Next morning remove cake from the tin, discard the parchment paper and prepare a large, air-tight container to store the cake in. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Wrap the cake in a large piece of greaseproof paper or baking parchment, and then in a layer of foil, leaving the top covered but easy accessible. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Place the wrapped cake in the container and leave for 12-24 hours before giving it its first “feed”. Use a toothpick or a skewer to make lots of holes in the top of the cake – don’t be shy, make quite a few, it will help the “feeds” to absorbs into the cake. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Carry on “feeding” the cake once a week until Christmas – pouring round 3 Tablespoons of brandy gently and evenly all over the surface of the cake. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Again, use any kind of dark spirit you prefer – bourbon or whisky or cognac would work just as well. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">A week before Christmas decorate the cake either with Royal Icing or Nut Glaze – a decoration post to follow
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Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-75367968178063535552017-03-14T10:57:00.002+00:002017-03-14T10:57:21.946+00:00Focaccia Baking with WI Ladies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A few weeks back I was approached by a member of local WI group asking to come to one of their meeting and give a lesson in bread making. Obviously I jumped at the chance and said Yes, but deep inside I was very nervous – come on, it’s the WI ladies, they are the queens of baking and jams and thing (I promise I won’t mention the Jerusalem :) </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">To add to the challenge, the class was set up in a pub, with no access to a lot of work bench space or ovens, expecting 20 to 30 members ! What the hell, I love a challenge.
I decided to start with two reasonably easy recipes, that are very forgiving in terms on mixing and proving time – a soft focaccia and a milky white loaf. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Ingredients bought, 10kg of dough pre-made, I was ready to roll !
The evening turned out to be a lot of fun – great to see such a range of personalities and ages, wine glasses in hand, chattering, flour flying everywhere :) I was an amazing experience for me, and I think they have enjoyed it too. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Focaccia </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">500 g</span></span><span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 14.6667px;">strong white bread f</span><span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">lour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">10 g (1 heaped tsp) salt </span><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">10 g (1 heaped tsp) granulated sugar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1 ½ tsp or 1 pack (7g) dry easy blend yeast</span><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">350 ml warm water </span><span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">(~38C) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">50 ml olive oil </span><br />
<i style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Toppings :</i><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Savoury - Olives or tomatoes cut in half or rosemary or sun-dried tomatoes or thinly sliced potatoes, salt, etc. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Sweet - grapes cut in half, figs, apricots cut in half, blueberries, a sprinkle of sugar</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><i>Oil drizzling </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">50-75 ml olive oil </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Make dough</span><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">In a cup/jug dissolve sugar and yeast in water and let it stand for a few minutes, until you see little yeast bubbles on the surface. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">In a large bowl, mix together flour and salt. Make a well in flour and pour in the yeast mixture, mix with a spoon until most of the flour is absorbed. At this stage the dough will look like a loose shaggy mass. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">This dough it too wet for “traditional” mixing, and will be mixed entirely in the bowl. Grab one side of the bowl with your left hand (assuming you are right handed), and begin mixing the dough with your right hand, rotating the bowl around every few seconds. The “mixing” involves pulling a side of the dough closest to you, up and away from you, with your arm and hand doing digger-like movements – elbow out, palm pointed towards you.
Keep going at a reasonably fast pace for 5 – 10 minutes or until the dough feels smooth and silky. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Oil the bowl slightly, swirl the dough around to cover it with oil, cover the bowl with plastic and let it rise in a warm place until almost doubled, about 45-60 minutes (or longer, depending on your room temperature).
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<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Prepare a tray – line it with baking parchment.
Tip the dough out of the bowl onto a counter taking care not to deflate it too much. Divide the dough into 3 portions if making mini-focaccias, or leave it as a single piece if making one large focaccia. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Flatten the dough into a baking tray or into desired shape (round or square).
Oil your fingers slightly and make plenty of deep (!) dimples in the dough. Push your desired toppings in the dimples, cover it loosely with plastic and let it rise in a warm place until it's increased in volume by about half, about 45-60 minutes (or longer, depending on your room temperature). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">DO NOT sprinkle focaccias with salt of sugar at this stage, this will come in a later step. Adding salt during the final prove will kill the yeast and focaccias will collapse. Adding sugar during the final prove will make yeast over-active and the dough will come out very pale and tasteless. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">TIP: If you don’t have time to bake it right away, place the focaccia in the fridge overnight and bake it next morning. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">In making a sweet focaccia, sprinkle some sugar (2 tsp) on top, just before putting it in the oven.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes at 180 C (gas mark 4) until light golden in colour and the bottom has baked through. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Take the focaccia out, place on a cooling rack.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Savoury focaccia - drizzle generously with olive oil, sprinkle with salt if desired </span><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Sweet focaccia - brush with melted butter </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Leave to cool for at least an hour before eating. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">And here are some examples of what the ladies have baked last night - looks great ! </span></span><br />
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Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-11883601445758658282016-03-21T11:38:00.000+00:002016-03-21T11:50:52.549+00:00Russian Blini<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This is not strictly a bread recipe, but I was so pleased with the result, I decided to write it down for the future. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Last weekend we hosted a Russian-themed party, and what a better way to start a party than with a plate of blini and caviar! </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Whenever we have a Russian party - which is once in a blue moon – I get caviar from <a href="http://www.caspiancaviar.co.uk/" target="_blank">Caspian Caviar</a> guys – great quality and really speedy delivery. If you are strapped for time, you can get blini from them as well, but they will never be as good as the ones you make yourself. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Russian Blini </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><i>Makes 30-35 </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">100 g plain flour </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">70 g spelt wholemeal flour (mine is from <a href="http://www.shipton-mill.com/flour-direct-shop/flour/spelt-flour" target="_blank">Shipton Mill</a>) </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">250 ml warm milk </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">¼ tsp sugar </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">¼ tsp salt </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">1 tsp dry yeast </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">2 eggs, separated </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Serve with: </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Crème fraise </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Caviar (black or red) or smoked salmon or cooked prawns </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Chive (for decoration) </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Now, traditional blini use buckwheat flour, but I didn’t have any in the house – who does? So I had to improvise a bit. Spelt flour is my favourite flour at the moment – it has a rich and nutty flavour, adds just a hint of colour, and still gives that really light texture. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Sieve flours in a medium size bowl, add yeast and sugar to one side and salt to the opposite side of the bowl. Obviously it will all gets mixed up in batter, but never ever add salt directly to yeast – it will kill it! Warm up milk, separate egg yolks from egg whites - add milk and yolks to the batter, set egg whites aside, you will need them later. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Whisk everything together and leave covered in a warm place for about an hour and a half. You won’t see much happening in the batter, possibly a couple of small bubbles on the surface – that’s exactly how it should look. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Whisk the egg whites in soft peaks and gently fold them into the batter – make sure that there are no white lumps, but try to keep as much air in the batter as possible. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Heat up non-stick pan (you can add a drop of butter to the pan just to make sure it doesn't stick) on a medium heat. Spoon small amount to batter into the pan, you are aiming for small circles, around 5 cm in diameter. You can fry a few of them in one go – they only need 30-40 second on each side. Cook until blini turn light golden colour, flip and cook for a bit longer. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Cool blini for about 5-10 minutes before serving. They are very versatile – I like mine cold with crème fraise and black caviar (and a vodka shot :), whether my kids like them warm, spread with some Nutella :)
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Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-67263104482834748042016-03-17T13:54:00.001+00:002016-03-17T13:54:02.357+00:00Pale Ale Sourdough<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Happy St Patrick’s Day troops! This year I started preparing for it early : green top bought – check, a massive collection of whiskeys at home – check, make a beer bread – check! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">In reality, I was just looking for new flavours to add to my bread, and found a bottle of pale ale left over from a Viking party last summer – that a story for another day. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I like my beers, but I am more of a larger girl, I’d drink Guinness too, but only in Ireland – it just doesn’t taste the same anywhere else. Ale is not a drink I would ever choose, so using it in bread made perfect sense! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Pale Ale Sourdough </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">220 ml pale ale </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">100 ml water </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">160g white sourdough starter (100% hydration) </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">1 Tbsp barley malt extract </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">400g white bread flour </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">100g wholemeal four </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">1.5 tsp salt
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I used pale ale, but you can use any beer you may have in the house, as long as its not dark beer. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Pour beer and water in a mixer bowl, measure out starter. I am using my KitchenAid mixer for mixing my bread, but this bread could also be mixed my hand – do whatever you are comfortable with. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Add barley malt extract – you can buy it in health shops – or use runny honey instead. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Add flours – I use Shipton Mill strong white and Shipton Mill wholemeal flours. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Mix on the lowest speed (KitchenAid speed 1) for 6 minutes, until the dough comes away from the sides.
Leave covered to autolise for 20 minutes. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Add salt and mix on slow-medium speed (KitchedAid speed 2) for another 2 minutes. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Place the dough in an oiled bowl, and do two stretch and folds over the next hour – after 30 minutes and after 60 minutes.
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Leave the dough covered to prove at room temperature (my house it at 21C) for 4 hours. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Shape the dough into a loaf – I did an oblong shape – and place it into a generously floured bread basket or banneton, seam side up.
Dust the top of the dough lightly with flour, cover and leave to prove in a cool room (around 19C) overnight, or for at least 8 hours. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I am loving my baking cloche – a wonderful present from Ranty Man, and bake all my breads in it. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Preheat the cloche in the oven for about 20 minutes at 220C (fan). </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Take cloche cover off and flip the loaf gently into the cloche (take care not to knock out all the air out of the loaf), do a nice deep slash, put the cover back on and place the cloche back in the oven. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Bake for 30 minutes, take the cover off and bake for further 5-10 minutes, depending how dark do you like your crust. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I am yet to try the bread, but it is looking pretty good!
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Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-56891806224889681162016-01-14T10:58:00.001+00:002016-01-14T10:58:49.001+00:00Apple and Cranberry Jelly<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A few weeks back I had a great pleasure of enjoying Vivien Lloyd, Jam Mistress herself, hospitality. We were planning a family trip to Bath and Vivien kindly invited us over to stay with her, and as an additional bonus, she gave me a class in jelly making – I </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">couldn't</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> believe my luck! </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Even though it is my post, I must point out that <a href="http://www.vivienlloyd.com/cranberry-apple-and-chilli-jelly/3130/" target="_blank">Vivien did all the work</a>, I just took a lot of pictures, distracted her with my chatter and polished off the finished product :) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I must say, I am not very friendly with jellies – the whole jelly making, straining and ensuring the right consistency and clarity seems a bit too complicated for me. Plus, I am not quite sure what I’d use jelly for if I did make it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Well, I am happy to report that after Vivien’s class I am a jelly-convert. I still need to find more uses for it, but I am definitely more confident making jellies, plus I can’t believe how simple and HOW FAST you can make them – fruit to jelly in TWO hours, yes, really! So here it goes … </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><b>Apple and Cranberry Jelly </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">makes 5 x 225g jars </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1 kg cooking apples – big green bramley are the best </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1kg cranberries </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1.4 l water </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">675 g granulated cane sugar </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1 tsp dried chilli flakes (optional, only if you want a zingy jelly, can go up to 4 tsp if you are feeling brave)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Wash apples and chop them roughly – peel, core and all – and place them in a large pan with cranberries and water. A good tip from Vivien – stock up on cranberries when they are in season and freeze them, use them straight from the freezer when making jelly. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.6667px;">Add chilli flakes now, if using. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Bring to boil and simmer for 25 minutes, until the fruit is looking all mushy and cranberries gave their colour to water – it will be lovely pale pink colour. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Use a potato masher, mash all the fruit in the pan to get as much juice out of apples and cranberries. Pout the fruit out into a jelly bag over a large bowl - with plenty of room for the juice to drip without touching the bag. Leave to drip for at least an hour or overnight if it fits your timetable better. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Do not, and I mean DO NOT squeeze the fruit once its in the jelly bag, do not be tempted to get more liquid out. If you do that, your jelly will be cloudy and all the jelly-gods will curse you! :) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Note; If you don’t have a jelly bag, use <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinois" target="_blank">chinois strainer</a> (who has those, right? I do), or make a large bag out of jam muslin (very fine muslin) and hang it over a bowl. But to be honest, you can get a jelly bag for about 2-3 quid from Tesco or Lakeland or the like, so you should just get one of those. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">With the juice straining, warm up your sugar in a pre-heated oven (120C non-fan) for at least 15 minutes. This would help your sugar to dissolve faster and will give you a faster set too.
Start sterilizing your jars and lids now too – boil them for 10 minutes and oven-dry for 15 minutes. Over-dry at 120C, same as the sugar, you can do it at the same time if your oven is big enough and you have multiple racks. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Measure out 900 ml of the strained juice and place it back in the pan (clean), heat up the juice and add warmed sugar – stir the sugars in until all of the crystals have dissolved. Once the sugar has dissolved you will see a dramatic change in the colour of the jelly – it will go from pale pink to really rich jewel colour, very bright ruby red. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">With heat on high, bring the juice and sugar to a rolling boil, where you see a mass of bubbles all over the surface, and the bubbles will rise quite high up. Boil for about 4 minutes as which point, providing that the jelly-gods have been smiling at you, your jelly should reach a setting point.
You can measure the setting point by using a jam thermometer – 104.5C (220F) is jelly setting point, or using Vivien’s “flake test”, which is dead easy and totally fool proof: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">- Using a large metal spoon, scoop up a spoon-full of jelly, shake it side to side for 2 seconds and poor the jelly back in the pan </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">- Hold the spoon turned over above the pan and watch jelly drips sliding off the spoon </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">- As soon as the drips start “holding” a bit, and become thicker, you have reached a setting point. Apologies, but the best way to describe it is watch the drips become snot-like :) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Take the jelly off the heat and leave to cool for about 5 minutes. While its cooling carefully remove any scum off the surface to bet the best clarity in your jelly. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Pour the jelly into sterilized jars all the way to the very top. Use a teaspoon to remove any bubbles or any addition scum that has risen to the surface. Its really worth doing it, as it will give your jelly a </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">crystal</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> clear quality that will make everyone jealous. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Seal the jars with sterilized lids and leave to cool and set – it </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">wouldn't</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> take long, you can probably eat it after an hour or so. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">As for the ways you can use it – so far I’ve had it with cheese and crackers, in turkey and brie sandwich and jelly and icecream dessert – possibilities are endless!</span></div>
Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-59864903427477156892015-09-22T16:55:00.001+01:002015-09-22T16:55:24.117+01:00Jamming in London<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Jamming in
London</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">When The jam mistress offers you to write a blog on
her site, there is only one thing for it – grab your laptop and go! I first met
Vivian a couple of years ago when I was muddling my way through batches and
batches of bad marmalade – after one lesson from her, my marmalade is nearly
perfect, even won three Silvers at Dalemain Marmalade awards! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">However, when it comes to jam making, I still have a
lot to learn, but it doesn’t stop me from making jam from any fruit I can lay
my hands on. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">I am very lucky to live in the South East of London
where fruit are plentiful and neighbors are friendly – not something I’d expect
people associate with any part of London :)
Last year I spotted a number of large wild plum trees and was looking
forward to picking some to make it into a jam. After a courtesy check with the
neighbors I picked a large bag of plums, leaving plenty for birds and any other
jam foragers. On the way back I saw another tree loaded with what assumed were
a type of a plum – but not the type I even saw before – gold and shiny, with
honey-like taste. I decided to pick the fruit and see if I can make some jam
out of them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">After a bit of googling I’ve discovered that the
yellow plums I picked were actually “golden plum” variety, and were quite a
common fruit in jam making. Well, that was a first one for me, and I was all
set for making my jams. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">I was looking for a “cheat” recipe, one that doesn’t
require stoning the fruit – both the wild black and the golden plum fruit
looked quite tight and would be a bit of a nightmare to stone. I didn’t find a
recipe that I liked (I discarded anything involving butter or pectin – I am not
THAT much of a cheat), so I’ve decided to make my own. You can tell that I am a
baker, as I’ve decided to apply a baker percentage and turn it into a jam
percentage, a formula to compare weight of jam ingredients to the weight of
fruit – whether I am right or wrong – judge for yourself<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Golden Plum Jam
with a hint of Lavender <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">1.6kg plums (with stones in)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">350g of water (22% weight of plums)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">1,110g granulated gold sugar (70% weight of plums) <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US"> Replace
110 – 150g of sugar with lavender sugar if you want to add lavender flavour<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">juice of ½ lemon<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Wild Black Plum
Jam<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">2kg wild black plums (with stones in)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">450g water (23% weight of plums)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">1,400 granulated white sugar (70% weight of plums)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">juice of ½ lemon<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">The recipe is the same for both jams, so I will write
it as one :<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">Wash and sort the plums – throw away anything rotten,
and it would taint the flavour of the jam. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">Place plums in a large wide pan, add water and bring
to the boil, uncovered. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 20 minutes,
until the fruit is very soft and mushy. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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through a sieve in a separate pan. Ladle the fruit pulp (stones and skins and
all) into a sieve, rub the flesh through the sieve, pushing out as much of the
plum pure as possible. At the end you will have a bowl full of plum juice and
pure, with a dry-ish mix of stones and bits of pulp left in the sieve.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Weigh the juice&pure mixture, and, if required,
reduce the weight to 70% of the original fruit weight, same weight as the
sugars. My juice were a tab bit over, so I simmered them on a slow heat until I
got to the right weight – 1,110g for golden plum and 1,400g for wild black
plums.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Meanwhile heat the sugars in the oven on a very low
temperature – 90C-100C for about 40 minutes or so. I never used to bother with
that, but it does make a difference – makes it much easier for sugars to
dissolve. Gradually add the sugars to the juice, add lemon juice and crank up
the heat. Keep stirring the juice until all the sugars have dissolved.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Now its time for some magic – over the next 10-15
minutes your juice will turn into jam, and this is what you need to look for:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">First you will see a good steady boil with lots of
bubbles – that’s “rolling boil”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Then the bubbles will get really foam-like and will
come up right to the top of your pan (that’s where you will discover if your
pan is big enough – note to self, choose a large enough pan) – that “foaming
cola” stage</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Then you will see the boil die down a bit, and the
colour will start to change, becoming darker and richer. From that point
onwards you can start testing for a set.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I went through the usual wrinkle, cold plate,
thermometer, and all that tests, but the best one still is the one Vivien
showed me – the flake test.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">Using a large metal spoon, spoon up a some jam, share
it around for a second or two – to cool off the jam slightly – and poor the jam
back in the pan. Hold the spoon above the pan and watch how the jam drips off
the spoon. Once you see a bit of tension – jelly like drops, you are there.
Vivien calls it “the flake” test, I gave it slightly less pleasant name – the
“snot test”. I know it doesn’t sound that great, but that’s exactly the kind of
consistency you are after – once you see these snot like drops, you can be sure
your jam is going to set. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">Turn off the heat and leave the jam to cool for 5
minutes or so. Skim off any foamy scum that might have formed on the top – I
skim it into a separate dish for my kids to lick later – a special treat every
time mummy makes jam :)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">Sterilise your jam jars by boiling them for 10-15
minutes and then drying them off in a cool oven (140C) for another 10 minutes. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">Fill the jars right up to the top, and close them
tightly with a lid<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">I got 5 ½ 250ml jars from the golden jam and 4x250ml jars
plus 1x500ml jar from the black jam<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">Well, what can I say?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">Golden jam – the colour has remained rich and golden,
as I was worried that it might “wash out” a bit. The jam is quite cloudy, with
little specks of purple – that’s the lavender – which I actually quite like. I
judged lavender just right – the jam has a slight hint of lavender, without
being soapy. Now, the taste is rather … surprising – it tastes more like
apricots rather than plum, very VERY sweet, very honey-like. As for the set – I
would say it’s a very soft set, but in Vivien’s words “its obviously not set”
:)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">I see it going really well with some wholemeal toast
and butter.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US">Now, the wild black jam – its looks properly good –
such a dark purple burgundy colour that its almost black. I did toy with the
idea of adding some cinnamon to it, but at eh end decided to keep it plain and
simple and let the fruit speak for itself. The taste is wonderful – sweet and
tangy at the same time, with almost velvety feel to it. It’s a better set than
the golden plum one, but still not a solid set – I wanted a bit of a “wobble”
in it. I am really happy with this jam, definitely adding to my annual
jam-making list <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-65750657479414952722015-05-26T13:47:00.000+01:002015-05-26T13:48:07.718+01:00Bread-o-lution - May Borodinky Bread<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">
I finally caught up with all by blog posts and actually doing May post on time – yay me! This month’s project is Borodinsky bread – bread I used to eat a lot as a child. I remember my grandma coming back from a work trip with five loaves “just for the weekend” – so as you can see its been a family favourite for a while :) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I love baking rye bread, and have baked a number of German style loaves, as well as made up my own recipes using rye flour, but for some reason I never tried a hand at making Borodinsky bread. Well, this is the whole point of this project – to learn new and to re-discover old recipes! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I wanted the bread to be as authentic as possible, so I decided to do all of my research in Russian, mainly looking for GOST (ГОСТ in Russian) recipes. GOST is a set of technical standards maintained by the Euro-Asian Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification (EASC), and in the old communist days, all bread production had to comply with that standard. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> It was fairly easy to find recipes for Borodinsky sourdough bread, the hardest thing was to decide which one would be the closest to the “true” recipe and bring back my childhood memories of that wholesome, slightly sweet loaf with a generous sprinkling of coriander seeds. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Russian Borodisnky </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Sourdough </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">200g rye starter (100% hydration) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">380g rye flour </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">100g white bread flour </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">20g barley malt syrup </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">2 tsp ground coriander </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">250ml boiled water </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">100ml spring water </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">¼ tsp yeast (optional) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">½ tsp molasses </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">30g molasses sugar </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">10g salt
coriander seeds to decorate </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I had such a difficult time trying to work out whats the hydration for this bread is supposed to be. None of GOST recipes state water percentage – the recipes I saw had anywhere from 60% to 90% hydration, and the only GOST guidelines I found talk about 60% to 75% hydration – thanks, that’s really helpful! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">This bread is made in a number of stages – starter, scald, sponge and then the final dough. It might feel a bit like a faff, but its worth it, and its actually easy enough to do in a day with a bit of planning. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I don’t normally keep rye mother starter, just the white starter, as I don’t think rye starter keeps that well in the fridge. So I started building up my starter a few days before making the bread – starting with a spoonful of white starter and feeding it rye flour and spring water twice a day until I got the required amount. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Most of the recipes I read call for dark malt powder – I didn’t have any at home and didn’t think it was worth ordering a whole bag for just one recipe. However, I do have barley malt syrup that I use for <a href="http://messybaker.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/sunday-morning-bagels.html" target="_blank">making bagels</a>, so I decided it would have to do – plus it was very easy to get, you can buy it in any Holland & Barrett shops. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">To make scald, mix together in a medium size bowl malt syrup and boiling water until the syrup has dissolved completely. Add 80g of rye flour and ground coriander. Whisk together until all the liquid has been absorbed and make sure that there are no lumps. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Cover with cligfilm and leave in a warm place for 2 hours. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">To the scald add your rye starter, 50ml of cold water, yeast (if using), molasses and 200g rye flour. Mix until everything is well combined, and the sponge was taken a darker colour from the added molasses – it can be a bit hard to mix it in. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Now, I normally don’t like adding commercial yeast to sourdoughs, but in this particular case, my sourdough wasn’t at its peak when I decided to use it and I felt that such a rye-heavy bread would need a bit of help. If your starter is very ripe, don’t bother with the yeast. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Cover with clingfilm and leave for 4 hours in a warm place. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">it wouldn't have changes much during that time - not to fear, its all going according to plan</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">For the final dough, either use a mixer or mix everything in a large bowl with a spoon. You won’t need to mix the dough for very long, as you don’t need to develop gluten, so its just as easy to mix it by hand. I was a bit lazy and did use a mixer – but only cause I love my KitchenAid so much :) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">A</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">dd the rest – 80ml – spring water, sugar, 100g of each rye and white flours and salt for the sponge. Mix on low speed for 2-3 minutes. The dough won’t come together, it will look like a brownish mess – that’s exactly the look and consistency you want! If you can’t find molasses sugar, feel free to use white sugar, maybe increase the molasses in previous step slightly.
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place for 1/2 hour to an hour. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">The dough will puff up a little bit, but you won’t see much increase in size – rye dough is very different from white dough. It doesn’t look like anything is happening, but trust me – its all go underneath. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Line a loaf tin with baking parchment to prevent the dough from sticking. Oil your countertop generously, and pour out the dough. With oiled hands try to shape the dough into a loaf – don’t overwork it too much, just kind of pat it into a brick. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Place the dough into the tin and smooth it out to get an even surface. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Cover with clingfilm and leave to rest for 3 hours at room temperature. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Spray the top with water and sprinkle with whole coriander seeds. You don’t have to do this step, but it does look prettier this way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Preheat oven to 200C fan and bake with steam for 45-50 minutes until the loaf is a nice, rich brown colour. Take out of the tin and cool on a rack overnight. Do not cut the loaf until at least 12 hours after its been baked – it needs time to develop full flavour. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I had a couple of slices of it in the morning with a bit of butter and hard cheese – and it definitely takes me back to my childhood. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">A deep and subtle flavours, with a slight hint of sweetness from barley and warm taste of coriander. Got big thumbs up from my nana when she tried it – “just as I remember”, so I call it a success!</span></div>
Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-54834497673413944632015-05-25T21:19:00.002+01:002015-05-25T21:19:27.157+01:00Bread-o-lution - April Colomba Pasquale<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I really need to get better at this – its past mid-May and I am only just posting April project. But – the good thing is that I just finished May bread, so next post shouldn’t be too far behind. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">My planning was completely off this month – I decided to bake Colomba Pasquale – a traditional Easter cake – for Easter celebrations this year. But, what I forgot to do is to check my calendar - I celebrate both Catholic and Russian Orthodox Easters – both of them fell at the beginning of the month this year, plus I had booked a trip to Russia with my little ones at the beginning of the month, so there was no way on earth I was going to finish my baking on time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Anyway, I got there at the end, and to make up for the lateness, I’ve made five (yes, five) loaves just to test out different recipes and shapes. I tried using very traditional as well as more available ingredients, tall and round panettone cases and shallow and wide “dove” cases, and I finally came up with something I am quite happy with. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">As usual, my research started with TheFreshLoaf, and a number of other bread sites – I settled on <a href="http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/23208/sourdough-colomba-pasquale-let-it-soar" target="_blank">txfarmer</a> and <a href="http://rosas-yummy-yums.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/colomba-pasquale-colombe-de-paques.html" target="_blank">rosas yummy yums</a> blogs, which have very similar base recipes, with slight difference in the amount of butter they use and how they incorporate the fruit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><b>Sourdough Colomba Pasquale </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><i>1st dough: </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">150g Italian starter (100% hydration) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">400g Italian bread flour </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">135g soft non-salted butter </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">105g sugar </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">3 egg yolks </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">150g+105g water </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><i>Final dough: </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">All of the 1st dough </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">90g Italian bread flour </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">15g honey </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">4g salt </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">30g sugar </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">3 egg yolks </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">50g soft non-salted butter </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1 tsp vanilla essence </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1tbsp limoncello or aroma veneziana </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">zest of 1 lemon or orange </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">200g candied orange peel </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><i>Topping: </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">100g sugar </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1 egg white </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">50g pine nuts </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">100g almonds </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">50g hazelnuts </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Pearl or regular sugar
Icing sugar </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Don’t get scared when you read recipes that talk about “sweet” or “Italian” starter – all they mean is a very active starter that you refresh often – every 4 or 6 hours. Its called “sweet”, because the starter doesn’t have time to develop the levels of acidity that longer feeding schedule would give you. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I built up my starter from my regular mother starter, feeding it spring water and Italian flour every 4 hours until I have the required amount. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Do try to find Italian flour – I made this bread with strong bread flour and the texture wasn’t as soft, so its really worth sourcing the right flour. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Mix sugar and 150g water in a small saucepan, bring it to boil, reduce the heat and simmer until all of the sugar has dissolved. Take off the heat and cool completely. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Place starter, egg yolks, cooled sugar syrup and flour in a bread mixer (I am using my trusted KitchenAid) and mix until everything is well combined. Add the remaining 105g of water, about ¼ cup at the time, making sure that its all absorbed before you add the next bit. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Slowly add butter – bit by bit – and mix until you have a very wet and silky dough – it will just start coming from the sides of the bowl. I have this wonderful new glass mixer bowl – and I just love watching dough being mixed in it.
In total, I think it took about 2 minutes on speed 1 and another 3 minutes on speed 2. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Cover the dough with clingfilm and leave to rest for 12 hours at room temperature. The dough is meant to grow quite a bit (3-4 times the size), so make sure that you have a large enough bowl. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">The first time I make this bread, I mixed it in the morning, and was hoping to carry on with it after work. Unfortunately it was quite a cold day and the dough hasn’t grown as much as I expected. I didn’t have time to wait for the dough to do its thing, so I banged it in the fridge overnight, took it out of the fridge the next day, just before I went to work and left it at room temperature for 8-9 hours. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">By the time I got back from work, it was truly blooming, and I was ready to move onto the next stage. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Place all of the first dough, egg yolks, honey, flour, salt, zest, vanilla and limoncello (or aroma veneziana) in a mixer bowl and mix on slow speed for about 3 minutes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Original recipes calls for orange zest, but I used lemon as I didn’t have any oranges at home.
Aroma veneziana is a very traditional flavouring in Italian recipes, and it has a really sweet and zesty citrus smell. I didn’t have it the first time I made this bread, so I just used some limoncello instead – figured it was citrusy and Italian, so I couldn’t go wrong :) I did use the proper stuff the second time around, and it did give the bread a more traditional flavour, however I wouldn’t waste too much time looking for the essence – limoncello works just as well, if not better. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Add the sugar, tablespoon at the time, then add butter, bit by bit and mix on medium speed until the dough feels very smooth and elastic and starting to come together in a ball, clearing sides of the mixing bowl. Turn the mixer down to low speed and add candied fruit, mix for about a minute until thoroughly combined. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Cover with clingfilm and leave to rest for 1 – 1.5 hours at room temperature. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Divide the dough in two and place into cases. My dough weighted around 1.5kg and the first time I baked this bread, I split the dough between two large panettone cases – the dough just covered the bottom of the case, maybe 1/5th full. The second time I baked this, I used two proper colomba cases as well as a medium panettone case. Personally I prefer the panettone shape, I think the dough feels a bit lighter when baked in a larger shape. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Cover the cases with clingfilm and leave to proof for 3-4 hours at room temperature, until the dough nearly tripled in volume. Panettone cases filled out really well – nearly to the top of the cases, whether colomba cases were still only half full. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Toast pine nuts, hazelnuts and half of almonds (leave the other half for decoration) for a couple of minutes. Cool completely and blitz them in a food processor for get a rough crumb. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">For the glaze mix sugar and an egg white – only enough egg white to make the glaze spreadable. Spread the glaze on top of the loaves – don’t worry about a few spills, it will only make it look more authentic. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Cover evenly with the nut crumb, decorate with the remaining whole almonds, sprinkle with pearl or regular sugar and dust heavily with icing sugar. I’ve been looking for pearl sugar for a while, and I am glad I found it, as it gives the bread that extra crunchy texture. However, if you haven’t got it – regular sugar will work just fine. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Bake on the lowest oven shelf at 160C fan for 40 minutes, check in the last 10 minutes to make sure that they are not getting overdone. You are after very golden colour where the topping is just beginning to caramelize – be careful not to over-bake it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">The bread will have a HUGE oven spring and will fill your house with the most amazing smell as it bakes.
Do make sure that you give the bread time to cool down completely before slicing it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">This is such a nice looking bread – looks and tastes delicious – plain or toasted. Its much lighter and fragrant as your typical brioche and not as sweet as panettone – has a great soft texture with open crumb and lots of little bubbly holes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I love a slice or two of it, toasted with a cup of tea for breakfast, and my kids take it plain as an afternoon snack. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Would I make it again? You betcha – especially how that I have 8 more colomba pasquale cases – they only came in a pack of 10 :)</span></div>
Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-92109035963626058282015-04-28T13:23:00.000+01:002015-05-25T20:05:00.335+01:00Bread-o-lution - March Black Pumpernickel<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Month three of my Bread-o-lution project, and to be perfectly honest I am finding it a bit hard to keep it up. Partly due to quite difficult breads I have chosen and partly due to, well, being a working mum. I have also started a <a href="https://monkeyandcookie.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">parenting (read ranting) blog</a> which is taking some of my time as well. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">So, this month’s project is pumpernickel – this is not new new recipe for me, as I have tried it twice before, but just wasn’t happy with the results. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> I made my very first pumpernickel following Nancy Silverton’s recipe – it turned out way too dry, and with very gummy feel to it – most of it ended up in a bin :( </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">The second attempt was made following Andrew Whitley recipe from “Bread Matters”, and even though the result was edible, it wasn’t quite what I was after – the bread was too light, not enough salt in it and it went all moldy only two days after I baked it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">This time I was determined to do it right and spent most of the month doing the research. As always, good old TheFreshLoaf turned out to be the best source ever. I looked at these blogs by <a href="http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/22023" target="_blank">dmsnyder </a>and <a href="http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17254" target="_blank">ananda</a>, which had the easiest to follow and had the best pictures. As always, I changed a couple of things just a little bit, and here is the end result : </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><b>Sourdough Black Pumpernickel </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><i>Starter </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">200g 100% hydration rye/wholemeal sourdough starter </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><i>Rye berries soaker </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">140g rye berries </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">250g water </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><i>Old bread soaker</i> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">140g old bread – preferably rye or brown </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">160g water </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Dough </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">All of starter above </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">All of berries above (drained) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">All of old bread above (squeeze out as much water as possible) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">175g rye chops </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">220g white flour </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">275g sping water </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1 level tsp of dry yeast </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">12g salt </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">25g black molasses </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I didn’t start planning for this bread in time, and have been working mainly with wholemeal starter. I’ve only refreshed the starter with rye flour for a couple of days before I started on this loaf, so it was somewhat of an in-between wholemeal and rye starter. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Soak rye berries overnight and boil them for about an hour or until they are properly cooked – I think it took about 40 minutes in my case. Skim any grey form that forms on the top. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Cut old bread in cubes and soak overnight. I didn’t have any rye or sourdough bread in the house, so I ended up using some old shop-bought bread, and I think some of it was plain white bread too. But it would definitely be better to keep some slices of old rye bread in the freezer for this reason exactly – I will need to remember to do it for next time </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Next day </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Drain rye berries and leave to dry for a couple of hours. Squeeze as much of water out of bread soaker (hardly any water came out of mine). Mix starter and both soakers in a large bowl and mix until everything is evenly distributed and you have a mix of a regular texture. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Add the rest of the ingredients and mix everything together with a large spoon for 5 minutes or until it comes together. I am sure you can mix this dough in a mixer as well, but my lovely KitchenAid is still broken :( Plus the dough is really wet, and feels almost fragile and I would be afraid to over-mix it.
Cover with clingfilm and leave to rest for 40 minutes at room temperature. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Oil your kitchen top slightly to prevent the dough from sticking and pour it out on the counter top. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and shape them into cylinders. “Shape” might be a bit of an optimistic way to describe it, you pretty much just roll the dough to form a thick sausage. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Most of the recipes call for a Pullman loaf tip to give you that traditional flat top shape of pumpernickel. And whilst its something that I do have on my wishlist, I wasn’t going to buy one just for this recipe. I ended up using two of my 900g square side loaf tins – one narrow and long and the other one wide and short. Old the tins and line them with parchment paper.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Place the shaped loaves into loaf tins, cover with clingfilm and leave to prove for 1 – 1.5 at room temperature. As soon as you start little bubbles forming in the dough and some bubbles trying to “break” through the top of the loaves – they are ready. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Tear two large pieces of foil (large enough to fit over a loaf tin), run one side with a bit of vegetable oil and cover each tin with a piece of foil (oiled side down). Crimp foil around the edges of the tin to form a sealed “lid”. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Preheat the oven to 180C (fan). Take a large baking tray – place both loaf tins in the tray side by side and fill the tray with water – about half way. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Bake loaves for 1 hour, check the water level and top up if required. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Turn the oven down to 130C and bake for another 3.5 hours. Turn the oven off and leave the loaves in overnight or for at least 8-12 hours, without opening the oven door. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Take the loaves out, wrap them in clean kitchen towels and leave to rest for 24 hours. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Slice very thinly and enjoy with some hard cheddar and onion or some cream cheese and salmon </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Overall thoughts : </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">- </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">my make-shift Pullman pan idea worked well, I ended up with reasonably flat top loaves</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">- I could have baked the loaves for another 15-20 minutes easily, but I was worried about them becoming too dry </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">- when the loaves came out of the oven, the colour was a bit un-even at the bottoms, but 24 hours later they wend rich dark brown all over </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">- thin and long loaf tin produced better bread than short and wide one </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">- I could cut down on molasses by 5g or so, molasses flavour was a bit too strong for me </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">- I need to cut bread for bread soaker in smaller pieces, as now and then I’d come across a “chunk” of old bread </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">- But all in all, this is a wonderful bread, and I wish I sliced and froze some to use as a soaker for next time </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">- I will definitely make it again</span></div>
Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-45232926014093779352015-03-18T22:07:00.007+00:002015-03-18T22:07:57.551+00:00Bread-o-lution - February Pain de Campagne<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It has taken me a while to write this post up, partly due to time commitments, and partly due to the type of the bread I’ve chosen to make.
February project is Pain de Campagne – a traditional French sourdough loaf. I have first seen a recipe for Pain de Campagne about I guess 10 years ago, and as a beginner baker I found it really interesting. Its French – I love all things French, its sourdough – which sounded difficult and I love all things difficult and it requires basket/banneton proving – I didn’t even know what a banneton was at the time, so that’s sounded intriguing enough – and yes, I do love a bit of intrigue …
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I am afraid to tell you this, but now 10 years on, looking at a recipe as an experienced baker, I find this recipe slightly boring. I won’t blame you if you give up reading about now, but if you a bread nerd like <i>moi </i>(see, French! :), then read on.
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First of all, I must say that I was surprised at the number of different variations on the basic recipe – for a recipe as old as this one I would have expected the recipe to be pretty formed and established. However, I found quite a few different recipes – yeasted or sourdough, wheat flour or rye flour, butter or no butter – the only thing all the recipe seemed to have in common is the level of hydration (high) and the length of proving time (long).
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The best sourdough recipes I found were “<a href="http://www.thebreadshebakes.com/2013/06/pain-de-campagne-sourdough-recipe-french-country-bread/" target="_blank">The Bread She Bakes</a>” and “<a href="http://weekendloafer.com/2011/10/20/pain-de-campagne/" target="_blank">Weekend Loafer</a>” – both excellent sources of sourdough recipes with great pictures and instructions. I decided to try out the weekend loafer version, as it seemed a bit less complex and I was running out of time to make my February loaf.
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Pain de Campagne </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">320 g wholemeal starter (130% hydration) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">440 g white flour </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">30 g wholemeal flour </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">30 g rye flour </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">250 g filtered water </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">10 g salt
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I had quite a wet starter, around 130% I am guessing so instead of following a two phase approach – mixing a starter and mixing dough – I decided to skip build of starter step and went straight for mixing dough. In hindsight, I should have put in the effort and built up a fresh starter, and the one of lower hydration.
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Again, if you are new to bakers percentages, don’t get scared – it represents amount of total water to total flour.
To determine how much flour and water I have in 320g of starter which is 130% hydration : </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Flour = 320 (starter weight) / 230 (100 points flour to 130 points water) * 100 (points of flour) = 139 g </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Water = 320 (starter weight) / 230 (100 points flour to 130 points water) * 130 (points of water) = 181 g
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To determine total recipe hydration, divide total water over total flour in the recipe (counting starter) : </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Flour = 139 g (starter) + 440 g + 30 g + 30 g (flours in the recipe) = 639 g </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Water = 181g (starter) + 250g = 431 g
Loaf hydration = 431 / 636 = 67% - which is a pretty high hydration I must say! </span><br />
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So, back to the recipe – whisk the starter into water until you see bubbles – to be perfectly honest I have no idea why you need to do that, but I have noticed that a lot of rye based recipes ask you to do that. Add flours and mix it all together until all the water has been incorporated – you will end up with something that can only be described as a grey shaggy mess – leave it for 10 minutes. Add salt to the shaggy mess and mix for 10-20 seconds until all the salt is evenly distributed, leave for further 10 minutes. By this time the mess should look less shaggy and more wet-dough like.
Now its time to work the dough, and I mean work it hard - Richard Bertinet style – slap and stretch that sucker, “show the dough who is the boss” in the man’s words. The whole process should take no more than five minutes, and you should see the dough transfer before your eyes – from a sticky, messy unworkable mess into a smooth and live dough.
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Place the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to prove at room temperature for 5 hours. At the end of 5 hours you should see some increase in volume, but don’t expect it to double or anything.
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Oil the counter slightly (to prevent the dough from sticking), pour the dough out and shape it into a boule. This is where I started to suspect that things might have gone slightly wrong – either my initial starter was slightly too liquid or I have proved the dough for too long or both. Anyway, I wasn’t going to give up, I floured my banneton VERY heavily, shaped the dough as best as I could, covered it with clingfilm and placed it in the fridge for 12 hours.
After a long rest in the fridge, take the dough out and leave at room temperature to warm up for 4 hours.
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I decided to bake my loaf in a Le Creuset pot to give it a really nice crust and to help it keep the shape a bit – it was looking so wet I was worried that I was going to end up with a loaf as flat as a pancake or <i>crêpe </i>:) If you are planning on using a Le Creuset or any other cast iron pot, start pre-heating it (lid on) about an hour before you want to bake to get it nice and hot.
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Preheat oven to 230C, gently flip the dough into a pot, slash it - not too deep- put the lid back on and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Take the lid off and turn down the heat to 200C, bake for further 10 minutes.
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The loaf came out not as light or as high as I would have liked, but the texture is quite nice, and the flavour is good too.
I am not wild about it, and probably won’t be making it again, but I am glad I tried making it, even if not as successful as I would have liked
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Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-24322985083464203902015-02-16T15:42:00.001+00:002015-02-16T15:42:13.942+00:00Sesame Sourdough<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I need to get on with researching my February project for my Bread-o-lution, but that would require a bit of digging for the right kind of a recipe. Meanwhile I was running out of bread and stumbled upon a box of sesame seeds in my kitchen – literally, it fell out of a cupboard on top of me :)
I am a bit fan of sesame seeds – who can resist a golden bun with tiny amber sesame drops on top? I always imagine sesame breads to be soft and fluffy, with slightly sweet taste. I was imagining it so much, I started drooling – before long I decided to create a recipe that combines all of my memories of a perfect sesame loaf.
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<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Sesame </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Sourdough Loaf </span></b><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">200g 100% white sourdough starter </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> 400g white bread flour </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">100g wholemeal flour </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">290g mineral water </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">20g honey </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">20g sesame seeds </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1 heaped tsp salt </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">20g unsalted butter, room temperature </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Sesame seeds for sprinkling (optional) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> My wonderful shiny Kitchen Aid has had a bit of an accident this morning – I measured out all the ingredients into a bowl, turned the mixer on and … nothing happened. I hear the motor running but the dough hook is not rotating and its making some strange noised, creaking and moaning (pain-like!) which didn’t sound too good. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">So, instead of a quick machine kneading recipe I have ended up with a hand mixed one – never mind, it will take longer but will be just as tasty. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Measure out flours and sesame seeds into a bowl. Add water, starter and honey. Either hand or spoon mix until you get a very shaggy looking mess, turn it out on a counter (slightly oil it first) and knead it very quickly for about 10 seconds, yes – 10 seconds! The dough will be quite wet – it is nearly 70% hydration* after all, so don’t worry if you can’t do much mixing – it WILL try to stick to your hands, just try to pat it down as much as you can. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Sprinkle salt over it, cover with an upside-down turned bowl and leave for 10 minutes to rest. When you come back the dough should look more “shaggy”, but still resemble a flat messy ball. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Now its time to show the dough who is the boss – this is a well known and incredibly popular method of mixing dough – <a href="http://www.thebertinetkitchen.com/" target="_blank">Richard Bertinet</a> high hydration mixing method. I am sure you will find a lot of videos if you google “”, but <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVPD-lz_K7g" target="_blank">here is one that demonstrates it really well</a>. In my household its generally known as “slapping technique” – and I can only say one thing about it – it really does WORK! I remember trying it for the first time and thinking what the hell?! Its all over my hands, no way this will come together without adding extra flour, this is just one big mess. Buuutttt ….. 5 minutes later and I had a very shiny, very flexible dough in my hands as if by magic. Seriously – Richard is a genius, you MUST try his method, you will never be the same again. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">So, back to the recipe, after 5 minutes of slapping (and calming down all the neighbours – the whole slapping makes an awful lot of noise), I was rewarded with a very smooth, very soft piece of dough. But I wasn’t done yet – I popped little dots of butter all over the dough and began mixing again – in the usual push and pull way this time. Because the slapping method makes such a good dough, mixing in of butter only took 3-4 minutes of hand kneading. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Once all the butter is incorporated and the dough is looking and feeling elastic-y, place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm. Stretch and fold the dough 3 times over the next hour and a half, then leave to rest for 3-4 hours. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Take the dough out of the bowl, deflate and shape. I went for a tin loaf, sandwich shape again, its such a soft and wet dough that I didn’t think it would hold together as a free-form loaf. Line a tin with baking parchment, place the shaped dough in the tin, sprinkle with some more sesame seeds and cover with clingfilm to prevent it from drying out. I placed the dough, tin and all, inside and old shopping bag to ensure complete cover.
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Place the loaf in the fridge overnight, or anywhere 10 to 18 hours, take it our and leave at room temperature (still covered) for 4to 5 hours. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C for 30 minutes. Once baked, take it out of the tin, remove baking parchment and leave to cool on a cooling rack for 2 to 3 hours or best overnight. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I must say that I was surprised how such a small amount of sesame seeds give such a strong flavour – its has a nutty, sweet taste and toasts extremely well. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">* Hydration is calculated as weight of all liquid ingredients over all dry ingredients : </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">100g water (from starter) + 290g mineral water + 20g liquid honey + 20g butter (using soft butter, but it will melt when cook, so counting it as part of liquids) = 430g </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">100g water (from starter) + 400g whole + 100g wholemeal flours + 30g sesame seeds = 630g </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">430/620 = 69.3% </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Baking schedule : </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">5:00 pm – 5:30 pm = mix the dough </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">5:30 pm – 7:00 pm = stretch & fold </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">7:00 pm – 11:00 pm = 1st prove </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> 10:30 pm = shape </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">10:30 pm – 11L30pm = 2nd prove </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">11:30 pm – fridge overnight </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Next day </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">3:00 pm – take out of fridge </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">7:00 pm bake</span></div>
Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-6264317536929548262015-02-04T22:47:00.000+00:002015-02-04T22:47:04.380+00:00Bread-o-lution - January Cottage Loaf<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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January here we come – this is the first month of my <a href="http://messybaker.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/my-new-year-bread-o-lution.html" target="_blank">Bread-o-lution project</a> as committed in December last year.
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I decided to start with something nice and simple – and what could be simpler that a good English loaf. Mind you, it’s a fancy shape one, but at the end of the day its just a plain white loaf. Being a sourdough freak I wanted to see if I can make a sourdough version of Cottage Loaf, and was surprised to find virtually so sourdough versions of this recipe.
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I did find some very useful advice on a number of sites – “<a href="http://figjamandlimecordial.com/2010/03/10/cottage-loaf-bake-off/" target="_blank">Fig Jam and Lime Cordial</a>” (cool name by the way) has a lot of good tips on hydration and shaping. “<a href="https://signorbiscotti.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/cottage-loaf/" target="_blank">Signor Biscotti</a>” is full of wonderful pictures and a commercial yeast recipe. “<a href="http://caramellacooks.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/cottage-loaf.html" target="_blank">Carmella Cooks</a>” and “<a href="http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2010/08/sourdough-cottage-loaf.html" target="_blank">The Nourishing Gourmet</a>” are the only recipes I could find that use sourdough instead of commercial yeast.
I researched for the last three days and discarded any recipes that used any type of sweetener - sugar or honey, and any recipes that gave directions to apply an egg glaze – I believe that only sweet enriches dough should have a glaze – but that’s just me.
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Read on to see how I got on
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Sourdough Cottage Loaf
</b><br />200g 100% white sourdough starter </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">400g white bread flour </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">100g wholemeal flour </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">242g mineral water </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1 heaped tsp </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">salt </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">30g unsalted butter, melted </span><br />
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Everything that I read about Cottage Loaf has convinced me that I should be looking to make a lower hydration dough than what I am used to. Ideally it should be 57-60% hydration.
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Don’t get scared away by bakers hydration terms – it literally means expressing weight of all the different ingredients as a percentage of recipe total flour weight.
Similarly, hydration of sourdough starter indicates weight of water over flour in the starter. 100% starter means you have equal amount of flour and water, 50% hydration means you have half the amount of water to flour – the lower hydration the firmer the starter is, the higher hydration, the more liquid it is.
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So, lets work out bakers percentage for the recipe above :
Lets find out total flour amount, beginning with the starter. My starter is 100% hydration, which means its 100g water and 100g flour. Add to that the rest of flours and total flour weight is 600g – 100g from starter, 400g white and 100g wholemeal.
I want the dough to be 57% hydration, so how much water should I add? Multiplying 600 by 57% I get 342g. My starter already accounts for 100g water, meaning that I need to add 242g water to get to the desired hydration.
Salt should account for 1-2% of flour weight, and a heaped tsp is about 7-8g – perfect.
I want the dough to have a slight creamy taste without brioche-like feel, so I butter is only 2% of flour – anything over 5% and it becomes an enriched dough, which is not what I am after.
See, easy as – you are now a pro at understanding baking percentage!
For comparison purposes, a typical French bread is 55-60% hydration, everyday sourdough is 60-70% hydration, and something like ciabatta is 80-90% hydration. The higher hydration, the more large irregular holes you get, the lower the hydration, the more regular crumb.
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Another tip I picked up from my research is how to handle lower hydration dough – preferably mixing by hand and resting a lot. Its been ages since I mixed my bread by hand – I love my KitchenAid and use it pretty much for all my dough mixing. This time I decided to mix it by hand and use Dan Lepard’s bread mixing technique, which you could read more on <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/nov/24/foodanddrink.recipes" target="_blank">here</a>.
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To the actual mixing. Measure out starter, water, flours, salt and butter in a large bowl. Mix everything roughly together with one hand. I had to keep one hand clean for taking photos :) Don’t worry about proper mixing it just yet, just get all the ingredients into a messy lump. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Tip the dough out on a workbench – you don’t need to flour or oil the bench, it’s a reasonably dry dough so it won’t stick to anything. Start kneading your dough – you only need to do it for 10 seconds, yes, I said 10 seconds – trust me on this. Cover the dough – I just put the dough bowl over it to stop it from drying out – and leave for 10 minutes. Uncover the dough, knead it for 10 seconds and leave for further 10 minutes. Repeat once more – 3 kneads over 30 minutes. Each time you come back to the dough you should see it becoming smoother and more “relaxed”.
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Place the dough into a large bowl, cover wit clingfilm to prevent it from drying out and leave for 5 hours at room temperature</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OGoWsfS6zww/VNKT4gBm30I/AAAAAAAAAxo/EeP1w9I9Iho/s1600/photo%2B4%2B(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OGoWsfS6zww/VNKT4gBm30I/AAAAAAAAAxo/EeP1w9I9Iho/s1600/photo%2B4%2B(1).JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Once the dough has proven long enough – mine hasn’t quite doubled but was close enough, split the dough into two pieces, 1/3 and 2/3 of the weight.
</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Roll each piece into a ball and press down on the dough balls to flatten them a bit. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
Place the smaller ball on top of the larger one. Flour your index and middle finger and put them through the middle of the two balls, almost piercing them together. You’d have to press down quite hard, and might need to do it a couple of times to make sure that the balls have properly fused together. That’s where floured fingers help – the dough won’t stick to your fingers and tear as you sticking the balls together (this whole paragraph feels very rude for some reason :)
Some of the blogs I’ve read advise you to prove the balls before sticking them together. I decided against it, as didn’t think I would manage to arrange the loaf without deflating individual balls too much.
</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">It makes it easier if you start the whole loaf arrangement on a baking sheet, as moving this ball construction might be a bit tricky. Slash the loaf using either a lame or a very sharp bread knife – break knife works better than a regular knife as it doesn’t tear dough as much when is slices through it. Some people don’t slash cottage loaves, leave them as they are, but I wanted to try out my lame slashing.
I did the slashing from bottom up in a straight line, trying to keep the slashes at about same distance. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pYopZMjlG4Q/VNKUIckBmnI/AAAAAAAAAyY/_jMyOvXERS4/s1600/photo%2B1%2B(3).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pYopZMjlG4Q/VNKUIckBmnI/AAAAAAAAAyY/_jMyOvXERS4/s1600/photo%2B1%2B(3).JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /><br />
</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Cover the loaf with a large bowl – turned upside down – to prevent it from drying out. And leave for further 1 – 1 ½ to prove some more. <br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p807FkSFAck/VNKUJ1BkhiI/AAAAAAAAAyg/bnIi5pNE8ow/s1600/photo%2B2%2B(3).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p807FkSFAck/VNKUJ1BkhiI/AAAAAAAAAyg/bnIi5pNE8ow/s1600/photo%2B2%2B(3).JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Bake for 25 minutes in a preheated oven at 200C fan oven. Cool on a rack before slicing.
<br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mdqE5FYrwFw/VNKULkacV0I/AAAAAAAAAyo/r4OAZjjZN04/s1600/photo%2B3%2B(3).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mdqE5FYrwFw/VNKULkacV0I/AAAAAAAAAyo/r4OAZjjZN04/s1600/photo%2B3%2B(3).JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">As you can see the loaf has gone a bit wonky during the second proving, but I kind of like it – makes it look rustic :)
The loaf if not as big as I thought it might be, but its nicely baked, and it’s a fun shape. The flavour developed really well after 24 hours – it has a nice soft crumb with a slight sourdough tang. It toasts well, and goes well with butter and jam. My kids love dipping it into soups – the texture stands up to soup really well – doesn’t go too soggy.
<br /><br />
Would I make it again? Probably not as an every day bread, but perhaps for a party.
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;"><br /></span></span></div>
Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-57926010696624025272015-02-02T16:40:00.001+00:002015-02-02T16:41:00.445+00:00Easy Honey Oat Loaf<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">
While I am putting finishing touched to my first BREAD-o-lution project, here is something to feast your eyes on - a quick one-day sourdough I’ve made yesterday. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">We’ve been eating quite a lot of porridge lately – according to my 3 year old, “porridge is the best!”. We’ve been trialing a lot of different oats, and jumbo porridge oats weren’t such a hit in a porridge form, so I’ve decided to turn them into a bread. And to be honest, my kitchen was getting overran with different bags of porridge – there is only that much of oat you need in your life :) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">This is a very easy loaf – I’ve mixed it up around 11am and baked it around 11pm, so 12 hours in total, but the actual involvement is very minimal. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><b>One-Day Honey Oat Loaf</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">150g 100% wholemeal starter </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">150ml water </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">150ml milk </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">30g runny honey </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">450g white bread flour </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">80g jumbo porridge oats (but I am pretty sure you can use any other oats you have) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1 heaped tsp salt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> 50g butter, room temperature </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Place starter, milk and water, honey, flour and oats in a free-standing mixer. Mix on the slowest speed for 6 minutes – I have a KitchenAid mixer, and I use speed 1, but I am sure you can mix it by hand as well – mix the dough for about 10 minutes if doing it by hand. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> This is quite a wet dough, roughly about 70% hydration (read more here on how to calculate hydration). I am dividing total weight of all the liquids (75g from half of the weight of starter, 300g milk and water and 50g butter) over total weight of all the flour (75g from half of the weight of starter, 450g flour, plus adding oat weight as its super absorbent) = 425/607 = 70%. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Cover the bowl and leave for 20 minutes to rest. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Add salt and turn your mixer to a slightly higher speed – I use speed 2 on my KA, and slowly add butter, adding a little bit at the time. Mix for 4 minutes in total. Again, it is possible to do this by hand, just a bit trickier and messier – mix for 12 minutes if doing it my hand. The dough should me reasonably wet, but not sticking to your hands, nice and glossy texture. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm. Do stretch and fold 3 times at 30 mins intervals. Leave to prove at room temperature for 5 hours. It won’t quite double in volume, but it will look bigger and softer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">The dough looked quite soft, so I decided not to risk it and bake it in a loaf tin. Normally I bake free shape loaves, and I wanted a nice toast loaf, and with the dough being so soft I didn’t want it spreading out all of the place. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Line a loaf tin (I think line is 2lb) with baking parchment – to be honest you probably don’t need to do this as its been enriched with the butter. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Deflate the dough and shape it into an oblong shape – oil your workbench and your hands slightly – this will stop the dough from sticking to everything. The dough was very wet, so any kind of shaping will do. Don’t be afraid to over-handle it, its very forgiving, plus you have another prove ahead. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Cover the loaf loosely with clingfilm and leave to rest at room temperature for 3 hours. It won’t have doubled in size, but it should look very marshmallow-like, soft and wobbly.
Spray top of the loaf with water and sprinkle with some rolled oats – this is purely for decoration, you can leave that bit out. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Bake in a preheated oven – 200C fan – for 30 minutes. Take out of the loaf tin, remove backing paper and leave to cool for at least two hours or best overnight. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6Gq0BaxRpOU/VM-oUnonZ2I/AAAAAAAAAww/Wr4AvPTwMdI/s1600/photo%2B4%2B(3).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6Gq0BaxRpOU/VM-oUnonZ2I/AAAAAAAAAww/Wr4AvPTwMdI/s1600/photo%2B4%2B(3).JPG" height="320" width="247" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I really enjoyed the flavour of this bread, soft crumb, with quite rustic taste – that would be the oats. It started getting a bit crumbly after day 3 – I guess that’s oats drying out, so best eat it in a couple of days.</span></div>
Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-74934365891669486862014-12-15T15:00:00.000+00:002015-02-04T22:47:25.697+00:00My New Year BREAD-o-lution<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">
Its
that time of the year when we start making up plans for the future and write
down New Year resolutions. I am pretty bad with sticking to any resolutions,
and in fact I’ve given up even making any for a number of years.
<br /><br />
This year I’ve decided
to share my New Year resolution with all you lovely people, so if I start straying
from the path you can yank me back on the straight and narrow.
<br /><br />
So, the plan is to bake
a new bread every month – something traditional – from as many countries as
possible, something familiar and a bit unusual at the same time, something I
haven’t baked before.<
<br /><br />
Here is the plan, but I
reserve the right to change it as I please :)
<br /><br />
Please, join me in my
baking – I would love to see your photos
<br /><br />
<b>January - English Cottage Bread</b>. This is a good old traditional recipe, and I
really like the fun shape of it. A nice and easy recipe to start the year.
<br /><br />
<b>February - Pain de Campagne</b>. Again, a very traditional French bread – I’ve
read a recipe for that pain de champagne in so many bread books but never
actually managed to get around to baking it.
<br /><br />
<b>March - German pumpernickel.</b> I have tried making pumpernickel bread before,
but never found a recipe I liked, so its time to give it another go.
<br /><br />
<b>April - Colomba Pasquale</b> – Italian Easter Dove cake, similar to panettone.
I’ve made Panettone plenty of times before but have always admired the dove
version, so that’s going on the list.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">
<b>May - Russian Borodinski</b> bread. I remember eating it as a child, so I am
going to try and re-create my childhood.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">
<b>June - Picnic Bread</b> – I am thinking some sort of Italian or Frensh bread
stuffed with roast peppers and cheers – something you can grab and head out for
a picnic (being a bit optimistic – expecting summer picnic weather in June).<br /><br />
<b>July - Sweet Braid</b> of some description – a lot of Eastern European recipes
with cottage cheese and cherries inside – yumm!
<br /><br />
<b>August - Tear and Share</b> loaf. I’ve always admired the idea and all the
different shapes you can make it in, but never actually made one.
<br /><br />
<b>September - Decorative Bread</b> – I am thinking massive elaborately decorated
loaf, with flowers and animals and who knows what.<br /><br />
<b>October - Pumpkin and Cheese</b> bread, I’ve made pumpkin bread and I’ve made
cheese bread before, but not together. It sounds fun, and its seasonal after
all.
<br /><br />
<b>November - Crusty Greek Bread (Horiatiko Psomi)</b>. I don’t think I’ve ever baked anything Greek, and its durum flour
bread, so I am gonna give that a go.<br /><br />
<b>December - Christmas Stollen</b>. I am not a big fan of marzipan so have never
thought of making a stolen before, well its time to change that.
</span></div>
Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-53544516866268901222014-12-04T12:03:00.000+00:002014-12-04T12:03:56.368+00:00Trade Secrets of Messy Baker<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span lang="EN-US">I took a few months
break from sourdough as its been quite busy with new job and lots of house
work. But this weekend I decided that I’ve had enough of shop-bough break and
went to wake up my starter to make some decent bread. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The bread I ended up making is a simple
Miller Loaf, but as I was making it I realized that I’ve learned a few bread
tricks in the last few years and wanted to share them with you lovely folks.
Grab a cup of tea and make yourself comfortable, knowing me, it will go on for
a while :<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> <b>
</b></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US"><b>Keep just one or two starters</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">When I first started
making sourdough I had about four or five different starters in the fridge,
every possible flour combinations. They all had their own names and their own
tempers – at the end it was a full time job just to keep them all fed and
watered, so inevitably I ended up killing most of them :)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">Right now I only keep one
starter in the fridge – my mother starter – it’s a 100% hydration (1:1 water to
flour ratio in grams) white flour, and I convert it to any other flour type and
hydration I require for a recipe when I start feeding it<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> <b>
</b></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US"><b>“Wash” starters every 6 months</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">As I mentioned, I keep my
mother starter in the fridge and only take a teaspoon or so out when I want to
bake. The rest of it sits in the fridge, snoozing away. But as anything,
starters get tired and lazy – meaning it takes longer to activate them. To keep
your mother starter nice and happy, you need to “wash” every few months, I
think the longest I went between washes is nearly a year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">What is a wash? Take a
teaspoon of your mother starter, activate it, as described below, and throw the
rest of mother starter out. Wash the jar thoroughly and air dry it. Once you
have a reasonable amount of fresh live starter, put it in the jar and pop it in
the fridge – that’s your new mother starter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">I keep my starter in a
small jar – about 300-400ml, and its not even half full.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> <b>
</b></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US"><b>Feed me</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">When I am “feeding” my
starter, I take 1 tsp/Tbsp of mother starter out of the fridge and add equal
amount of flour and water – in grams. I normally add 30g of flour and 30ml of
water for each feed – once in the morning and once in the evening. I find that,
depending on how fresh my mother starter is (see above), it takes about 2-3
days for a starter to wake up, which gives me 200-300g of starter – plenty to
make a loaf of bread. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">When I do make bread, I
normally keep back a tablespoon of starter and carry on feeding it, so I have
enough starter to make another loaf in a couple of days time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">I normally bake every 3
days, meaning that I don’t need to dip into my mother starter after the first
loaf – I just carry on feeding and baking every 3 days, until I get too busy or
get too lazy </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Corbel; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Corbel; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US"><b>Use filtered water </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">Its only recently I’ve
discovered that water does make a difference. I noticed that my starter is
activating much faster if I use filtered water rather than tap water. I am sure
there is some of scientific explanation for it, but I just know it works :)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">I love experimenting with
liquids when making sourdough – add following to your liquids to get different
flavours :<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">milk (replace 1/3 of
water) with sweet or enriched dough<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">whey (instead of water)
with sweet dough<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">orange juice (replace 1/3
of water) with rye breads<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">apple juice or cider (replace
1/3 of water) with wholemeal breads<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> <b>
</b></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US"><b>Use good bread flour</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">I am a big fan of Italian
flour – I used to buy massive 25kg bags of it from Shipton Mill. Use it for any
softer, sweeter breads, focaccia and ciabatta, panettone and sweet buns, or any
breads with fillings<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">French flour is great for
rustic breads, works really well with a bit of rye flour. I like to use French
flour when I bake straight breads – just flour, water and salt – no other
extras – you can really feel the flavor and the texture of the flour<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">I buy Canadian Extra
Strong flour for bagels, you really need to have the extra strong element to
achieve that chewy texture<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">Spelt flour is a
reasonably new discovery for me – replace 10% of your flour with spelt flour
and you get a richer, tangier flavor. That’s a tip I got from Mr Ranty Senior
and I now always keep a bag of spelt flour in my flour draws.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US"><b>Flour can “go off”</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">I used to buy great bags
of all sorts of flours, wanting to experiment with all the different flavours.
At the end I just picked a handful of flours that I liked to work with and
stuck with those. I go through quite a bit of white bread flour, and its very
forgiving, it will keep for a while. Pay more attention to wholemeal and rye
flour – they do tend to “go off” – its not like they are going to go moldy or
start to smell or anything, but you will notice that the texture of breads won’t
be the same. Try to use it within 2-3 months of opening a bag of wholemeal or
rye flour. Some people recommend keeping them in the fridge or even freezer to
keep the flours fresh for longer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> <b>
</b></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US"><b>How much starter?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">I get asked this on a
regular basis, but there isn’t a straight answer to that – you can use as
little as 1 Tbsp if you are making a very slow New York style sourdough or as
much as 60-80% (compared to total flour amount) if you are after a faster loaf.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">The ratio I normally use :<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">200g starter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">290g water<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">500g flours <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">Total water = 390g = 290g
+ 100g (from starter which is 50:50 flour to water)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">Total flour = 600g = 500g
+ 100g (from starter which is 50:50 flour to water)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">So that makes following
percentages (everything measures over total flour amount) :<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">Starter (200g over 600g =
33%)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">Water (390 over 600 = 65%)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">Flours (100%)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--></b><span lang="EN-US"><b>Use enough salt</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">For a while I was so
afraid to under-salt the bread that I cut down the salt to just under a
teaspoon. In reality salt has to be about 2% (of total flour), so I was
under-salting my breads. If a bread hasn’t got enough salt, it won’t bake
properly and will have very gummy texture. Over-salt the bread and it won’t
rise properly, so you have to be very careful there. I now use 1 ½ tsp of salt
(see above calculations) and it works out about the right amount. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">Its much easier to
under-salt rather than over-salt - over the last 10 years I probably oversalted
only 2 or 3 breads<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> <b>
</b></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US"><b>Stretching is important</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">By this I mean doing
stretch and fold every half hour for the first two hours of first prove. I used
to be religious about it when I first started baking, but over the years got a
bit lazier and started skipping this step. And I really noticed that my breads
are not as light and not as springy unless I invest the time in doing stretch
and fold. Its also interesting to see how a piece of lumpy dough turns into a
smooth shiny ball of dough with each stretch. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> <b>
</b></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US"><b>Prove is in the bread</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">You cannot rush sourdough –
that’s a fact! You can slow it down by putting it in the fridge for a few hours
– it gives you more flexibility as well as develops richer flavor, but you
should never ever try to prove sourdough in a warm place – room temperature or
even cooler. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">In the first prove you
want the dough to double in volume – knock it down, shape it and prove again –
anywhere from 2/3 to double the volume again<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">This is a tricky stage –
under-prove your bread and it will rip when it bakes, and you will get thick
gummy line at the bottom of the loaf. Over-prove it, and it will go flat as a
pancakes and heavy as a piece of brick<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US"><b>How Hot?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">Again, this will largely
depend on the type of the bread you are baking and most importantly your oven.
My oven is shiny and new and it super strong – if I am baking from a recipe, I
adjust both the temperature and the banking time down, otherwise its gonna
burn. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">Most of my breads bake at
200C (fan) for 30 minutes. Rich breads go in for 20 mins at 180C (fan). But you
know your oven better than I do, just keep checking on the bread (try not to
open the door if you can help it), and do the all important tap test – if the
bottom of the bread sounds hollow when tapped – its done!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US"><b>And…..rest</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">As with any bread, make
sure that you leave your sourdough to rest for at least a couple of hours
before you slice it. I know its very tempting to try a slice of that still
warm, crunchy crust beauty of a loaf, but IT WILL RUIN THE FLAVOUR! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">As sourdough cools, it
develops that unique creamy chewy crump with thick rustic crust – you need to
give it time to do its magic, before you can really appreciate true sourdough flavour.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">I try to bake late at
night, leave it to cool overnight to have a slice of sourdough toast for
breakfast. A sign of really good sourdough if it tastes better 1-2 days later, that’s
if it lasts that long :)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">Hope you’ve enjoyed
reading this, as always – feel free to ask any questions<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US">Yours<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<span lang="EN-US">MB<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-51474370667943126932014-09-03T14:01:00.001+01:002014-09-03T14:02:15.536+01:00Queen of pancakes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">This is not strictly a baking post, but I
haven't made sourdough for a while, so I thought I'd amuse you with some
pancake stories.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Pancake challenge (nothing to do with the
ridiculous ice bucket challenge doing the rounds at the moment) is a challenge
I set for myself - to make the fluffiest and also the easiest pancakes ever
known to man kind. I want them fluffy - think American style rather than French
crepes, and I want them easy - Ms Rantlet aged nearly three and Rant-a-Baby at
11 month don't leave much time or effort for elaborate pancake-making.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">We recently went to a wedding in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Kent</st1:country-region> - <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Buxted</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>
hotel is highly recommended if you are after a bit of luxury by the way. Post
wedding breakfast included made to order pancakes, and thats what Ms Rantlet
went for - honestly, she would eat pancakes for breakfast lunch and dinner if I
let her. When they arrived, it was a heaven on a plate - a stack of super
fluffy golden-brown pancakes drizzled with maple syrup and topped with
strawberries. Simply put they were plain awesome! I managed to sneak one bite
from Ms Rantlet plate, but that we enough, plus, she wouldn't let me have any
more - she gobbled up the whole lot (I won't bore you with stories of what a
plate of maple syrup does for a nearly-3 year old). With all that in mind I
knew I had to try my best to re-create them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Also there is another pancake from my past
that haunts my dreams - Lemon Ricotta pancakes from Five Points in NYC - the
place was recommended to us by a friend on our last visit to the Big Apple, and
it was a revelation! Mr Ranty ordered huevos rancheros (and he still scouts
every even vaguely American/Mexican place for a version of that breakfast), and
I had lemon ricotta pancakes that I can still smell and taste, four years
later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I spent last four years trying to replicate
Five Point recipe - kicking myself now for not buying their book, and I spent
last couple of weeks trying to make the fluffy American version - as I
mentioned, I have no shortage of people wanting to clean up the results of my
pancake attempts, no we HAVE been eating rather a few pancakes for breakfast.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I also make Russian mini-pancakes now and
then, if we have a canapé party, but they are a bit of fuss, so I have taken to
buying packs of them instead. I'd also love to learn how to make Turkish and
Indian pancakes stuffed with cheese and vegetables, but that requires a lot of
testing and new cooking equipment that I am just ready to invest it just yet.
So I shall just stick to sweet pancakes - easy to make and always well
received.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Fluffy
American Pancakes</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">150 ml milk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">2 eggs, separated<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">30 g sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">30 g butter, melted<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">130 g self-raising flour<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1 tsp baking powder<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1/4 tsp salt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Whisk together egg yolks and sugar, add milk
and melted butter, until everything is well combined. Sift in flour, add salt
and baking powder - mix everything together until you have a rather thick, well
combined batter. In a separate bowl whist egg whites to stiff peaks, add to the
pancake batter and gently fold in - white lumps of egg white are okay.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Fry pancakes on medium-high heat on a
non-stick frying pan (or crepe pan if you have one). Add a little bit of butter
to the pan if the pancakes begin to stick. Fry on both sides, flip with a
spatula - be careful, they get quite hot<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I normally make them medium sized - about
15-20 cm in diameter, and they turn up light and fluffy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">The recipe makes 6-7 pancakes, enough for 3
people for breakfast.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Serve with maple syrup, jam or lemon juice and
sugar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Tip: mix the mixture the night before and
store it in the fridge overnight - helps if you have little people running
around in the morning demanding pancakes NOW.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I store the mixture in a clean milk bottle, so
in the morning I just shake the mixture, pop off the lid and just pour the
mixture out of the milk bottle and into a pan - easy as!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">This is what they should look like</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mT4XwiFNHhA/VAcQg3mecKI/AAAAAAAAAus/zTm7TsI1T3A/s1600/photo%2B1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mT4XwiFNHhA/VAcQg3mecKI/AAAAAAAAAus/zTm7TsI1T3A/s1600/photo%2B1.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px;">And this is my youngest stuffing her face with a pancake :)</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FuKNFGG1m40/VAcQkD0VbUI/AAAAAAAAAu0/I4DulIFmDjA/s1600/photo%2B2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FuKNFGG1m40/VAcQkD0VbUI/AAAAAAAAAu0/I4DulIFmDjA/s1600/photo%2B2.JPG" height="320" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Lemon
Ricotta Pancakes<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">(adopted from <a href="http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/ricotta-hotcakes-229">Nigella's
pancakes</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">2 eggs, separated<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">30 g sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">120ml milk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">250g ricotta or cottage cheese<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">zest and juice of one lemon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">100g self-raisig flour<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1 tsp baking powder<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1/4 tsp salt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Whisk together egg yolks and sugar, add milk,
lemon juice, zest and ricotta/cottage cheese, until everything is well
combined. Sift in flour, add salt and baking powder - mix everything together
until you have a rather thick, well combined batter. In a separate bowl whist
egg whites to stiff peaks, add to the pancake batter and gently fold in - white
lumps of egg white are okay.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Fry pancakes on medium heat on a non-stick
frying pan (or crepe pan if you have one). Add a little bit of butter to the
pan if the pancakes begin to stick. Fry on both sides, flip with a spatula - be
careful, they will be quite messy and will try to fall apart<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">I normally make them rather small - about
10-15 cm in diameter, and they turn up light and fluffy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">The recipe makes 10-12 pancakes, enough for 4
people for breakfast.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Serve with maple syrup, jam or lemon juice and
sugar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-80870970112581770852014-06-01T20:51:00.000+01:002014-06-01T21:52:54.454+01:00Speedy Fougasse<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have been thinking about making fougasse for a long-long time, at
least a couple of years, ever since I saw </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dough-Richard-Bertinet/dp/1856267628/ref=la_B002SIFTDK_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401648795&sr=1-1"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">Richard
Bertinet’ “Dough”</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> book - I just knew I HAD to make it!! I don’t actually
own the book, but I have rented it from a library so many times that I am sure
that they think I own it </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings;">:)</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Seriously, photos in the book are just amazing, and recipes… well, what
can I say about recipes – as far as I am concerned Richard is an absolute Bread
God!! I am an absolute convert after watching his mixing and kneading video –
and I am telling you its either some higher magic or some sort of voodoo! His
technique of turning what seems like a mess of flour and water into a smooth
ball of dough is nothing short of a miracle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So as you are guessing I am a fan, a FUGE fan of Richard and his
recipes, and I finally decided to give fougasse a go. I looked up a recipe </span><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/8030829/Fougasse-bread-recipe-by-Richard-Bertinet.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">online</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">,
and normally I wouldn’t mess with Richard’s recipe, but I was a bit tired and a
bit short of time, so I decided to do a speedy version of it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mr Ranty was serving chicken and mushroom pasta and I thought a nice
fresh loaf of bread would go rather well with it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Speedy Fougasse<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">450g white bread flour <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">50g wholemeal spelt flour<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">350ml warm water <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">1 tsp sugar<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">¾ tsp fast acting yeast <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">1 tsp salt<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The recipe talks about hand mixing for 10 minutes following Richard’s
technique, but I only had a few minutes between babies dinner and bath time, so
I chucked all of the ingredients in a standing mixer and set it off – 3 minutes
on slow speed (KitchenAid speed 1), 3 minutes on medium speed (KitchenAid speed
2) and 1 minute on high speed (KitchenAid speed 3). <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Place the dough in an oiled bowl and leave in a draft-free place for an
hour – an hour and a half, until it doubles in size. Cover your kitchen top generously
with semolina flour (or semolina meal) and gently pour out the dough out of the
bowl. Stretch gently, sprinkle some more semolina flour on top. Line a baking
tray with parchment paper and transfer the dough onto the tray. Take care while
doing that, as the dough will be very soft and very stretchy. Shape the dough
into a triangle, using a dough cutter cut a long slash along the middle and
three smaller slashes, diagonally, on each side. You are aiming for a tree kind
of shape – line in a middle with tree “branches” going up. Once you did all the
cutting, stretch the cuts out a bit, to achieve the traditional fougasse shape.
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fu9-uKcrdRE/U4uDF_FS57I/AAAAAAAAAs4/QxXThZQZyps/s1600/p1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fu9-uKcrdRE/U4uDF_FS57I/AAAAAAAAAs4/QxXThZQZyps/s1600/p1.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Preheat the oven to 230C and bake fougasse for 12 minutes, leave it to
rest for about half hour before tucking in.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I sprinkled some herbs on fougasse just before putting it in the oven,
but I wouldn’t mind doing an olive version or even a sweet version, with
cinnamon and brown sugar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_anwkFZyFTs/U4uDIkYg-sI/AAAAAAAAAtA/kNgVFe4nhwo/s1600/p2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_anwkFZyFTs/U4uDIkYg-sI/AAAAAAAAAtA/kNgVFe4nhwo/s1600/p2.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I always thought that fougasse it going to be all crust and dry in the
middle, but its actually really soft crust with open chewy crumb. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It goes wonderfully with pasta, and just as
good with some butter and honey with a cup of tea. Plus it keeps really well –
it stays nice and soft the next day too, and I have enjoyed if with butter and
jam with my morning coffee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I tell you what, this is a bread I will be making again and again, it
tastes great and it looks really impressive<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667524538156427416.post-57122681422612113992014-05-29T13:59:00.001+01:002014-05-29T17:02:08.256+01:00White Loaf Perfection (and a few other variations) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have been a bit quite of late, due to a number of things, but mainly
down to two small babies to run after and a lot of DIY work at home. I am
blaming DIY for the murder of my starter – the number of times I have forgot to
refresh it cause I fell asleep from physical exhaustion! Warm weather and a
tired baker does not bode well, I tell you that! I still have some mother starter
in the fridge, so not all is lost. However I decided to take a break from
sourdough breads an started looking to a quick and easy every day loaf recipe
that I can do in a couple of hours in-between looking after babies and house
work. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I came across “</span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Whaite-Bakes-Recipes-Every/dp/0755365097"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">John
Whaite Bakes at Home</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">” book and I found loaf perfection!! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John is the winner of The Great British Bake
Off a couple of years back and I have been following him and his recipes for a
while. I was super happy when Mr Ranty bought me John’s book as a present – its
a beautiful book to look at, nice layout and tempting photos, also John’s
writing style is incredibly personal and open – made me feel like I really got
to know him as a person as well as a baker. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ve tried a few of recipes from the book and they all have turned out
amazing. My latest obsession is his white loaf recipe – its very easy and also very
versatile – I’ve made a number of variations, and they all have turned out
incredibly well. Here is my journey through John’s recipe :<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">White Loaf</b> (John’s true-born
recipe) :<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">500g strong white flour<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">10g salt<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">20g sugar<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">10g fast-action yeast<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">100ml milk<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">240ml tepid water<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">40g unsalted butter, melted<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Vegetable oil (for greasing proving bowl)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Bake in a 2lb/900g loaf tin<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I am using KitchenAid to mix up this bread, but the dough could be
easily done by hand, its very easy to handle. Place milk, warm water, yeast and
sugar (honey) in the mixing bowl, leave to stand for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile
melt butter and measure out flour(s and any other dry ingredients you might be
using). Add flour (plus anything else if using), melted butter and salt to the
mixing bowl. Mix on slow speed (speed 1 on my KA) for 4 minutes followed by 2
minutes on fast mixing (speed 2 on my KA).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Place the dough in an oiled bowl, roll it around to cover it with the
oil, cover with cling film and leave to prove at room temperature until doubled
in size – it has taken anywhere from an hour to two hours for me, depending how
warm it is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Take the dough out of the bowl, knock it back and shape into a fat
sausage – don’t use any flour for shaping. Oil your kitchen top if the dough is
too sticky, too hard to handle. The dough will be very soft, a little bit of
the sticky side, but with a nice shine to it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Line the tin with baking paper, place the shaped loaf in the tin and
clover with cling film. Leave it to prove for further hour or so until the top
of the top rises over sides of the tin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Preheat the oven to 200C and bake for 25 minutes – mine is a fan over
and it super fast, so you might need another 5 minutes to bake it through. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The finished loaf is a lovely dark golden colour, and the smell, THE
SMELL – the butter gives it almost brioche-y smell, your house will smell
amazing for days afterwards. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The bread is great toasted – again, toasting brings that butter-ness in
the bread, giving a nice soft toast, but strong enough to stand up to jam and
peanut butter and any other spreads you might like.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Also here are a few of “bastard” recipes, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>based on John’s recipe above, but with some of
my own twists. I like wholemeal or seeds or both in my breads, so I have tried
a number of varieties, and they all have worked out really good. Follow the
mixing/proving/baking directions as above, and feel free to make your own
flavours:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">White and Wholemeal Loaf<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">300g strong white flour<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">200g strong white flour<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">10g salt<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">20g honey<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">10g fast-action yeast<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">100ml milk<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">300ml tepid water<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">40g unsalted butter, melted<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Apple and Oat Loaf<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">450g strong white flour<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">50g oats<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">10g salt<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">20g sugar<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">10g fast-action yeast<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">100ml milk</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">140ml apple juice or cider<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">140ml tepid water<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">40g unsalted butter, melted<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Seeded Loaf<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">420g strong white flour<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">80g mixed seeds<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">10g salt<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">20g sugar<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">10g fast-action yeast<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">100ml milk<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">280ml tepid water<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">40g unsalted butter, melted</span></div>
Messy Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14355992396038051127noreply@blogger.com0