Monday 31 December 2012

Homemade Bread Split Tin.




Homemade Bread Split Tin.
My homemade bread Split Tin.

Prep time
  • 1/2 hours.

Cook Time
  • 30 mintues.

Servings
  • Makes 1 loaf.

Ingredients
  • 500 g Flour,plus extra for dusting
  • 7 oz of Dried Yeast
  • 1 teaspoon of Salt
  • 1 teaspoon of Honey
  • 1 teaspoon of virgin cooking oil
  • Luke warm water.

Bread Flour Yeast Honey Salt

Directions
1) Lightly grease a 2 Ib (900 g) loaf tin.Sift the flour and Salt together in a bowl using a very fine sieve and then make a well in the centre.Add the dried yeast into the mixture of the flour & Salt.Then add 1 teaspoon of honey and 1 teaspoon of virgin cooking oil.
 2) Gradually add the luke warm water to all the ingredients and with a wooden spoon slowly combine the flour into the other ingredients around the edge of the bowl to form a batter.
 3) Place on a floured surfthace and knead for 20 mintues until smooth and elastic.if you added too much water add more flour so the dough becomes dry.Place in a lightly oiled bowl.Then grab a towel,wet it using warm water and place over the bowl and leave to rise,in a warm place for 1-1/2 hours or until nearly doubled in bulk.
 4) Knock back the dough and turn over on a lightly flour surface.Shape into a rectangle.Roll up lengthways.Tuck the ends under and place seam side downin the tin.Cover and leave to rise for about 20/30 mintues,or until nearly doubled in bulk.
 5) Using a sharp knife,make one deep central slash the length of the bread;dust with flour.Leave for 10/15 mintues.
 6) Meanwhile preheat the oven to 230 C/450 F/ Gas 7.Bake for 15 mintues,then reduce the oven temperature to 200 C/ 400 c / gas 6. Bake for another 20/25 mintues unti golden brown.

Sourdough


Sourdough                                                                        
 
Servings
  • Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
  • For the starter
  • •Up to 1kg strong bread flour – including at least 50% wholegrain flour
  •  
  • For the sponge
  • •About 100ml active starter
  • •250g strong bread flour (white, wholemeal or a mixture)
  • •300ml warm water
  •  
  • For each loaf
  • •250g strong bread flour (white, wholemeal or a mixture)
  • •1 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil (optional)
  • •10g salt
  •  
wholegrain flour, active starter, strong bread flour, rapeseed oil, olive oil
Directions
Begin with the starter. In a large bowl, mix 100g strong bread flour with enough warm water to make a batter, roughly the consistency of thick paint. Beat it well to incorporate some air, then cover with a lid or clingfilm and leave somewhere fairly warm and draught-free. Check it every few hours until you can see that fermentation has begun – signalled by the appearance of bubbles on the surface. The time it takes for your starter to begin fermenting can vary hugely – it could be a few hours or a few days. Your starter now needs regular feeding. Begin by whisking in another 100g or so of fresh flour and enough water to retain that thick batter consistency. You can now switch to using cool water, and to keeping the starter at normal room temperature – though nowhere too cold or draughty. Leave it again, then, 24 hours or so later, scoop out and discard half of the starter and stir in another fresh 100g flour and some more water. Repeat this discard-and-feed routine every day, maintaining the sloppy consistency and keeping your starter at room temperature, and after 7-10 days you should have something that smells good – sweet, fruity, yeasty, rather than harsh or acrid. It’s now ready to bake with. The night before you want to bake your loaf, create the sponge: take about 100ml of your active starter, and combine it with 250g fresh flour and 300ml warm water in a large bowl. Mix well with your hands, or very thoroughly with the handle of a wooden spoon, then cover with clingfilm and leave overnight. In the morning, it should be clearly fermenting – thick, sticky and bubbly. Now make your loaf: add a fresh 300g flour to the sponge, along with 1 tbsp oil, if you like (it will make the bread a touch softer and more silky, but is not essential), and 10g salt (which is essential). Squidge it all together with your hands. You should have a fairly sticky dough. If it seems tight and firm, add a dash more warm water. If it’s unmanageably loose, add more flour (but do leave it as wet as you dare – you’ll get better bread that way). Turn out the dough on to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and silky. This takes in the region of 10 minutes, but it can vary depending on your own style and level of confidence. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and turn it so it gets a light coating of oil. Cover with lightly oiled clingfilm, or put the bowl inside a plastic bag, and leave to rise. Don’t expect it to whoosh up to twice its original size in an hour, as a conventional loaf does. Sourdough rises slowly and sedately. The best thing is to knead it in the morning then simply leave it all day (or knead in the evening and leave overnight) in a fairly cool, but draught-free, place, until it is more or less doubled in size and feels springy when you push your finger gently into it. Knock it back (deflate it) on a lightly floured surface. You now need to prove the dough (i.e. give it a second rising). You are also going to be forming it into the shape it will be for baking. If you have a proper baker’s proving basket, use this, first dusting it generously with flour. Alternatively, rig up your own proving basket by lining a medium-sized, fairly shallow-sided bowl with a clean tea towel, then dusting it with flour. Place your round of dough inside, cover again with oiled clingfilm or a clean plastic bag and leave to rise, in a warm place this time, until roughly doubled in size. This might be only an hour or it could be three or four. Then the dough is ready to bake. Preheat the oven to 250˚C/Gas Mark 9 (or at least 220C/gas 7, if that’s your top limit). Have ready, if possible, a clean gardener’s spray bottle full of water – you’ll be using this to create a steamy atmosphere in the oven, which helps the bread to rise and develop a good crust. (You can achieve the same effect with a roasting tin of boiling water placed on the bottom of the oven just before you put the loaf in – but the spray bottle is easier.) About five minutes before you want to put the loaf in the oven, put a baking tray in the oven to heat up. Take the hot baking sheet from the oven, dust it with flour, and carefully transfer the risen dough to it by tipping it out of the proving basket/bowl, upside down, on to the sheet. Slash the top of the loaf a few times with a very sharp, serrated knife (or even a razor blade). Put the loaf into the hot oven and give a few squirts from the spray bottle over and around it. After 15 minutes, reduce the heat to 200C/gas 6, give the oven another spray, and bake for a further 25-30 minutes, or until the well-browned loaf vibrates and sounds hollow when you tap its base. Leave to cool completely, on a rack, before you plunge in with the bread knife…

Soda bread with rosemary and sultanas

Soda bread with rosemary and sultanas
Soda bread is quick, easy and just as delicious as freshly baked yeasted bread. You can doctor your homemade soda breads with various additions, including fresh herbs – woody, pungent ones, such as thyme and rosemary, work best. This particular incarnation is a quick-to-make homage to the divine rosemary and raisin bread made at Sally Clarke’s bakery in London. It’s lovely with soup or a salad, or just spread with salty butter – as is the cheesy thyme variation below.
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    Soda bread with rosemary and sultanas

Prep time
  • 15 mins
Cook Time
  • 45 mins
Servings
  • Makes 1 large loaf
Ingredients
  • 500g plain white or refined spelt flour
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 tbsp finely chopped rosemary
  • 150g sultanas
  • 300ml plain full-fat yoghurt
  • 200ml whole milk
  •  
Sultanas, rosemary, soda bread, herbs
Directions
Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas mark 6. Lightly oil a baking sheet or line one with baking parchment.
Sift the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda together into a bowl. Stir in the chopped rosemary and sultanas. Make a well in the middle.
Whisk the yoghurt and milk together until smooth. Add to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. This will give you a soft, sticky dough, which is how I like it, as it makes a nice moist loaf.
With floured hands, or a spatula, scrape the dough on to the prepared baking sheet and pat it into a rough round. Bake for 45 minutes until risen and golden brown.
Leave the bread to cool on a wire rack. Eat as it is within 24 hours or, if you’ve left it longer than that, toast the slices. The loaf freezes well too.
Variation
Soda bread with thyme, Cheddar and mustard Use 250g spelt or wholemeal flour mixed with 250g plain white flour. Replace the rosemary and sultanas with 100g grated strong Cheddar and 1 tbsp finely chopped thyme.
Whisk 2 tsp English mustard into the yoghurt and milk before combining with the dry ingredients.