Back when I left school I worked in a small bakery and after 15 years came out a Master Baker and a member of the Master Bakers association! After a long break from making anything (Being a dad and a bus driver kind of take up all your time) Ive recently been getting back in to baking with the kids and for myself (They live with there mum).
My all time Favourite bread has to be a wholemeal Oaty, its the daddy especially drenched in butter and bacon! So here is my latest attempt to make bread at home in a very poor electric oven.
500g Allinson's Wholemeal Flour (did you know Allinson's hold the patent to the words Wholemeal Flour, and Hovis Own the one for Grannary Flour)
1x Packet dried yeast
1x teaspoon Salt
1x teaspoon Sugar (Use soft brown for a richer flavour) (more sugar makes the crust thicker and harder also makes the bread burn easy)
200g Rolled Oats
1x Large egg (lightens the texture)
500ml Warm water
Put all the Dry ingredients in a bowl and mix them together well.
Add the Egg and 2/3 of the water, mix and add more water as you mix to bring it all together (You Will need all the water) The dough Should be sticky and not a smooth elastic like white bread.
Get your hands in there and mix the dough well then turn it out on to a well floured surface, any good baker will tell you a good COLD stone surface or Metal surface is best for kneeding as it makes the dough more elastic.
Kneeding patterns, there two main ways I kneed one is to knock the dough flat in to rectangles, fold in the sides and roll from the top down, this method will mix the dough Very thoroughly and will get rid of any pockets of air/gas and white lines from the flour on the side. This method is called knuckeling as you are using your knuckles to do all the work. I tend to kneed for 15min with a rest for 2min every 5mins (if you can understand that you will understand anything
) Also no need to knock the dough back and re prove!
The second method is called Palming as it using the ball of your hand, this method is quicker but can leave you with white spots and a poorly mixed loaf.
Next up is to prep your Tin, Thicker tins are best, the tins I have at my kids house cost me the best part of £100 EACH!! but they also weigh nearly a Kilo without any dough in them, lube your tin Spray oil is best as you dont need much. Roll your dough using the fold method remembering to tuck the ends under, give the loaf a quick lick of water all over and roll in some oats.
Chuck it on the bread tin and get some clingfilm and spray a little oil on ther then place it on top of your loaf (to stop it sticking)
Place it somewhere warm for about 1 1/2hrs until its doubled in size.
Pre heat your oven as hot at you can get it and on the bottom (not a shelf but the bottom of the oven) place a tray. Once the oven is up to temp throw some Ice cubes on to the tray at the bottom and slip your loaf in the oven turn the oven down to 225oC. On the bottom shelf, DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR FOR AT LEAST 30 MIN or the point of the ICE will be lost completely.
35-45 mins later Enjoy!
