Bread ****

[Dutto]

The easiest "Bread" (*) I've ever made is as follows:

• 200g of Self Raising Flour
• ½ Teaspoonful of Baking Powder
• ½ Teaspoonful of Cream of Tartar
• ¼ Teaspoonful of Salt
• 50g of Sun Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil (chopped)
• 30g of Olive Oil

Sieve the flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt together in a bowl, stir in the chopped sun dried tomatoes and the olive oil, then stir the mixture together (I use the handle of a wooden spoon) as you drizzle in enough cold water to make a stiff dough.

Use Olive Oil to stop the dough sticking to your fingers as you knead it for a few minutes and then:

One

• Roll it out on to a baking tray until it's about 15mm thick.
• Let it rise for 15 minutes.
• Warm up the oven to 140*C.
• Place the tray in the middle of the oven.
• Bake for +/-30 minutes.
• Check that it has turned a golden brown before removing and cooling on a tray.
• This version I eat in place of Suet Dumplings with a Stew.

Two

• Place a Camembert Cheese on a baking tray.
• Brush the top of the Camembert with Olive Oil.
• Wrap the dough around (but not over the top of) the Camembert Cheese.
• Warm up the oven to 140*C
• Place the tray in the middle of the oven.
• Bake for +/-40 minutes.
• Check that the bread has turned a golden brown before serving hot.
• The bread is then ripped off and used as a "dip" for the Camembert. (It helps if everyone has their own teaspoon.)
• The finished article makes a great "Starter" for up to 6 people to dig into!

Enjoy!

(*) I use the term "Bread" loosely because this type doesn't have any yeast in it; but it is amazingly quick and tasty!

 

[foxy]

Made 2 of the usual suspects yesterday, two loaves of wholemeal with caraway an sunflower seeds.
Today brewed an ordinary bitter, and afterwards made one large loaf with olives, rosemary and wild mushroom, one kilo of flour so a big loaf. Also the olives were stuffed with pimento so I suppose I could add chili to that. The mushrooms were some of the ones I have been picking on the paddock next door, I oven dried them and put them in the loaf.

 

[Dutto]

......... afterwards made one large loaf with olives, ....

Thanks for that! I have a few jars of olives in the cupboard - just never think to put the them in bread! Doh!

 

[Session]

I've really learnt when the hydration is right. I thought that moving towards 80% was the right thing, and for a basic white loaf it's really not. The flavour is worse and the gluten weakened as you go higher.

It depends... if you can develop the gluten properly with sufficient shaping and stretching, you’ll end up with a lovely open crumb and more custardy texture the higher you can push the hydration. I find 80% is manageable, but can only go higher if I really spend time developing the gluten.

I tend to do the following recipe because it is very easy and gives me time to get on with other things as opposed to babysitting the fermentation. It’s based on Jim Lahey’s wonderful no-knead bread recipe.

500g strong bread flour (ideally with a protein level of 14g/100g flour)
400ml water (give or take 10ml depending on how old the flour is - older and dryer flour will need more, younger fresher flour may need a little less)
5g table salt
1g (yes) of instant dried yeast

1. Mix everything in a bowl in the evening
2. Leave it overnight
3. Shape once you preheat the oven and again just before putting the loaf in the oven
4. Bake once very bubbly - usually the next morning but sometimes around lunchtime depending on how warm your kitchen is - set oven to max, bake in a Dutch oven for 20mins with the lid on then reduce oven to 240’C, take the lid off and bake until crust is developed (usually around 25mins)

 

[Rodcx500z]

Made 2 of the usual suspects yesterday, two loaves of wholemeal with caraway an sunflower seeds.
Today brewed an ordinary bitter, and afterwards made one large loaf with olives, rosemary and wild mushroom, one kilo of flour so a big loaf. Also the olives were stuffed with pimento so I suppose I could add chili to that. The mushrooms were some of the ones I have been picking on the paddock next door, I oven dried them and put them in the loaf.
View attachment 23648

That is a quality loaf Foxy, were the olive at the bottom i can see a nice even break which is what your looking for

 

[Dutto]

That is a quality loaf Foxy, were the olive at the bottom i can see a nice even break which is what your looking for

Oh that is cruel!

If you had ever seen and commented on my Mum's Cherry Cake, the chances are that you wouldn't have seen your next birthday!

PS
She even made Egg Custards where the crust would float to the top during the cooking process!

 

[Drunkula]

@Session I've done Lahey's loaf a few times and I thought big bubble bread was like some sort of grail. After the spectacle I thought well this isn't that great for pie sandwiches and it's a frigging faff. And the same complaint that lots of articles say, apart from the crust it doesn't really taste that great.

If the holes let the red sauce drip through then nah.

I've started getting my tin loaves a lot better. I do the three little rolls and put them sideways together in the tin, like Chorley Wood bread, which is pretty much my grail. I've even managed to get some dough conditioner.

 

[Rodcx500z]

What conditioner did you get s500, diamond or similar

 

[Drunkula]

What conditioner did you get s500, diamond or similar

Actually it might be a bit crap. Just had a look and it seems mostly like some vitamin C. Says it's not for white bread but wholemeal or things with heavy ingredients like cheese.

https://www.lakeland.co.uk/11682/Claybrooke-Mill-Dough-Improver
It was 99p from the market because it's out of date.

Bugger them, I'm putting it in white bread and damn the consequences!

 

[Rodcx500z]

The one 's i stated are used in bakerys, i just thought you knew someone who worked in one, sorry

 

[The Baron]

No breadporn here can't buy bread flour just plain, 1 bag per person

 

[Drunkula]

I've made beltin good bread with plain flour. The last one

just plain, 1 bag per person

That bread I made in post #49 is plain flour and it was great.

 

[HSD]

Used Aldi plain flour when we’d run out of usual marriage’s bread flour and bread machine loaf was pretty good!

 

[foxy]

That is a quality loaf Foxy, were the olive at the bottom i can see a nice even break which is what your looking for

No, olives were spread evenly. It crossed my mind about them sinking, that happened with my attempt at Barra Brith with the raisins, they all sank. Compensated with the salt that were in the olives pretty good but not the oil. Good as toast but I wouldn't be able to eat it as a sandwich. Mushrooms came through nice and strong, could smell mushrooms through the house when I was drying them.

 

[Drunkula]

Foxy, did you flour the olives or raisins before you used them? You can even dampen them, flour them and leave them to got tacky. It's a common thing with cakes to stop ingredients sinking.

 

[foxy]

Foxy, did you flour the olives or raisins before you used them? You can even dampen them, flour them and leave them to got tacky. It's a common thing with cakes to stop ingredients sinking.

Sadly no, I was not so much concerned with the oil, just thought I would add less but there was more oil in the olives than what I thought.
Yes I did read about the prevention of sinking raisins etc when it happened to me. I think I also read something about putting them in late, can't remember what it was now. I will have another go at the Barra Brith now I have mentioned it.

 

[Rodcx500z]

No, olives were spread evenly. It crossed my mind about them sinking, that happened with my attempt at Barra Brith with the raisins, they all sank. Compensated with the salt that were in the olives pretty good but not the oil. Good as toast but I wouldn't be able to eat it as a sandwich. Mushrooms came through nice and strong, could smell mushrooms through the house when I was drying them.

no Foxy the little rip were the olive is at the bottom thats the sign of a well proved loaf

 

[Session]

I made a raisin, orange zest and coriander loaf today. It was really good! My standard recipe as posted but with the extra bits mixed in. The addition of coriander seed sounds odd, but works nicely with the raisins.

 

[Drunkula]

That is a cake. If it makes bacon taste weird: cake.

 

[Session]

That is a cake. If it makes bacon taste weird: cake.

Ha! Yes it is definitely on the cake spectrum. Tasty, tasty cake!