Cooking with Jonny69: baking bread.
- Thread starter Jonny69
- Start date
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Has anyone got a good basic guide to making wholemeal loaf suitable for oven baking?
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The king of the breads, sourdough:
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Sourdough is a bit of work, but also good fun to make your starter, and feeding it to keep it alive 
Mines getting quite old now (altho nothing on some. Some generational bakers have some that have been "alive" for over 150 years!).
Mines getting quite old now (altho nothing on some. Some generational bakers have some that have been "alive" for over 150 years!).
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White Rye Loaf
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Very nice! I've currently got some salt beef on the go which I'll be be having with some home made rye.
Right as its nearly Easter, the kids and I have been making Hot Cross buns 
We made 10 but only the 4 remain!
Recipe if your interested.
500g Strong white flour (can also use spelt or 50/50 white wholemeal)
300-350ml warm water
150g soft brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
7g dried yeast (one packet)
200g butter/marg/vegetable shortening
1/2 a jar mixed spice (yes half a jar!)
250-300g Mixed fruit
25g mixed peel
Soak fruit in 1/2 a pint of warm water (improves texture and stops them burning)
Put all the dry ingredients in a BIG bowl and mix together DO NOT add the yeast yet! add the Egg and Butter and rub in to the flour mix once it looks like crumble add the yeast and most of the water (water in this is not an exact science as the fruit will bleed liquid into the dough). The mix should be sticky, brown in colour and very strong smelling. Mix well and take out the bowl to kneed for a good 15-20min, leave to rest for 2min on the side, then Knock it out flat and spread it out. drain the fruit/peel well and sprinkle all over the dough slab, dust the fruit with flour to soak up some of the surface water, roll the dough up and kneed the fruit through until the fruit is all through the dough. pop it back in to a floured bowl and cover with cling film leave to rest until it doubles.
Knock the dough back and kneed for 5min split in to equal sized portions around 120g is a good size, round up and place on a baking tray about 2-3cm apart. leave to prove until there are no gaps between each lump.
Make crossing paste.
mix flour salt and water together (no need for quantity's) until is thick and smooth and just about pipeable.
Once dough is ready cross doing whole rows at a time for best effect. Pop it in a Hot oven and turn down to 200oC for 15-20min (depends of size of your buns)
Boil 100ml of water and add 50g of sugar to the water and boil some more, add spice to sugar water if you want. As soon as the buns come out of the oven brush generously with sugar water!
enjoy
We made 10 but only the 4 remain!
Recipe if your interested.
500g Strong white flour (can also use spelt or 50/50 white wholemeal)
300-350ml warm water
150g soft brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
7g dried yeast (one packet)
200g butter/marg/vegetable shortening
1/2 a jar mixed spice (yes half a jar!)
250-300g Mixed fruit
25g mixed peel
Soak fruit in 1/2 a pint of warm water (improves texture and stops them burning)
Put all the dry ingredients in a BIG bowl and mix together DO NOT add the yeast yet! add the Egg and Butter and rub in to the flour mix once it looks like crumble add the yeast and most of the water (water in this is not an exact science as the fruit will bleed liquid into the dough). The mix should be sticky, brown in colour and very strong smelling. Mix well and take out the bowl to kneed for a good 15-20min, leave to rest for 2min on the side, then Knock it out flat and spread it out. drain the fruit/peel well and sprinkle all over the dough slab, dust the fruit with flour to soak up some of the surface water, roll the dough up and kneed the fruit through until the fruit is all through the dough. pop it back in to a floured bowl and cover with cling film leave to rest until it doubles.
Knock the dough back and kneed for 5min split in to equal sized portions around 120g is a good size, round up and place on a baking tray about 2-3cm apart. leave to prove until there are no gaps between each lump.
Make crossing paste.
mix flour salt and water together (no need for quantity's) until is thick and smooth and just about pipeable.
Once dough is ready cross doing whole rows at a time for best effect. Pop it in a Hot oven and turn down to 200oC for 15-20min (depends of size of your buns)
Boil 100ml of water and add 50g of sugar to the water and boil some more, add spice to sugar water if you want. As soon as the buns come out of the oven brush generously with sugar water!
enjoyThey look amazing!
I've had my first two attempts at making bread this week. My first loaf was OK but a little heavy so I spent a few days researching different methods until I got a definite picture in my mind. Made another loaf last night and it was a vast improvement (plain white btw), soft, airy and it tastes great. Experimentation and experience are obviously key in this.
It is so much fun making bread and hugely satisfying. I have already decided not to buy bread again and will experiment different ingredients / methods as I go.
Awesome thread
I've had my first two attempts at making bread this week. My first loaf was OK but a little heavy so I spent a few days researching different methods until I got a definite picture in my mind. Made another loaf last night and it was a vast improvement (plain white btw), soft, airy and it tastes great. Experimentation and experience are obviously key in this.
It is so much fun making bread and hugely satisfying. I have already decided not to buy bread again and will experiment different ingredients / methods as I go.
Awesome thread
Cheers for the recipe BigBoy. I've actually just kneaded a batch of hot cross bun dough and it's on its first prove! ALL the recipes I've looked at don't appear to have enough liquid (milk or water) in them so I went on my gut feeling and added more. Your recipe shows even more liquid so I'm happy I did what I did, but wow that's a lot of butter and sugar!
I used:
450g strong white flour
75g sugar
Pinch salt
250ml warm milk
50g butter
1 egg
3 tsp mixed spice
100g fruit
I used:
450g strong white flour
75g sugar
Pinch salt
250ml warm milk
50g butter
1 egg
3 tsp mixed spice
100g fruit
Me and the kids like them sweet and with lots of fruit and flavour but using dark brown sugar gives a much better taste than white. I'm still playing with the mix as its not quite right (trying to remember it from an old bakery I worked in
)Make sure your just over on the wet side (more wet than dry) as if your using dry fruit it will suck a lot of moisture from your buns. This is why I normally soak my fruit.
Also rather than use warm milk use all water and add dried milk or whey powder to your flour to give the creamy texture as it s less liable to separate and make the dough sour.
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I want to try making some chocolate bread for Easter. Does anyone know a good recipe? Or is it as simple as making normal dough and mixing chocolate in with it
Don't really know what choc bread is TBH. I can imagine you might want a bit of sugar in there to help the choc along. Maybe a milk / egg glaze?
No pics, but next batch I'm going to modify the recipe a bit. I'll up the amount of fruit to maybe 150g, 100g of sugar and I'll make the dough a bit wetter, as BigBoy recommends. I also baked a loaf recently with 50/50 bread flour and plain white (Michelle Roux recipe) which had a much lighter texture. I may try this for the buns because it was more fluffy than bready, if that makes sense.
Making the crosses is also a complete faff, so doubt I'll bother next time
Thought I'd post this hear and add my newly discovered amateur baker antics in with you pros!
Jingo's Simple Homemade White Loaf:
600g strong flour + a little extra for dusting (plain flour can be used but it will be significantly more dense, and less tasty!)
Tablespoon of sugar
1/2 tablespoon of salt
20g dried yeast
300ml warm water
[flavourings if desired; herbs, seeds, chili, cheeses, marmite etc]
1. Combine the flour and salt in large mixing bowl and give it a mix. Some people like to give the flour a kickstart by popping it in the oven for 5 minutes, but I've personally not noticed any difference and so don't like to waste energy
2. Pop the yeast, sugar and warm water in a jug and give it a stir; the warm water will activate the yeast, and the sugar gives it something to feed on - you may notice it thickening and giving off a strong smell- just let it rest for 5 minutes or so and give it another stir before the next step.
3. Create a well in the middle of your mixture of dry ingredients and pour in a quarter of the mixture. Begin mixing by 'circling' a fork or spoon around the perimeter of the bowl, gradually adding more wet mixture until you have combined all of the contents of the bowl.
4. Flour a clean surface/board and add your lump of dough. With dusted hands start to knead your dough for 3/4 minutes until it is smooth, blisters when stretched and bounces back when you poke it a little
5. Pop it in your bread tin/cake tin and sprinkle a tiny amount of flour over the top before popping the whole thing within a carrier bag you can seal tight. (some people clingfilm wrap the tin but I've found this constricts the bread proofing/expanding as much, resulting in a denser bread).
6. Leave it alone until it has doubled in size - usually this takes about 45 minutes for a loaf this size, but it's dependent upon your room temperature and type of flour / yeast etc. You can pop it on a radiator if you're impatient, but some things aren't meant to be rushed
6b. This is a step not necessary but something some people swear by it: a double prove is meant to improve flavour but I haven't noticed much difference. However, it is required if you want to add additional ingredients or flavourings - if you try to add additional ingredients at the start, it can often kill / hinder the yeast.
Remove the mixture and knock all the air out of it by giving it a knead. Add your additional ingredients to the dough and knead whilst making the shape you wish your bread to be (i.e. a round, square loaf etc). Once you're happy with the shape and extras, pop it back into the baking tin and repeat steps 5/6. [note: black onion seeds in a plain loaf are delicious and give a hint of plain naan bread. To achieve a tigerbread taste, brush the top of the loaf with marmite! Other good combinations are sundried tomato and parmesan, honey and oat flakes, mixed seeds )
7. Remove the bag, lightly slash the top of the dough (pretty patterns don’t make you less manly) and pop in a preheated oven (190c) for 20 minutes.
8. Check the bread by removing it from the tin and tapping on the base - if it sounds hollow then it's ready, if not, pop back in for another 5/10 minutes.
9. I usually turn the oven right up high and pop the loaf back in, without the tin, for a further 4/5 minutes - simply because I like an additional crunch to my crust.
10. Remove from oven, tin and leave to cool on a wire rack/item that allows air circulation around the whole loaf inc. the underside.
11. See how long it lasts This kind of bread doesn’t last long due to its size and tastiness, but also, it’s not packed full of preservatives or e-numbers like your hovis favourites, but it makes cracking toast and is really delicious with a smear of butter and poached egg.
Sadly, no finished picture of a fresh loaf but I'll be sure to do such on the next batch
Jingo's Simple Homemade White Loaf:
600g strong flour + a little extra for dusting (plain flour can be used but it will be significantly more dense, and less tasty!)
Tablespoon of sugar
1/2 tablespoon of salt
20g dried yeast
300ml warm water
[flavourings if desired; herbs, seeds, chili, cheeses, marmite etc]
1. Combine the flour and salt in large mixing bowl and give it a mix. Some people like to give the flour a kickstart by popping it in the oven for 5 minutes, but I've personally not noticed any difference and so don't like to waste energy
2. Pop the yeast, sugar and warm water in a jug and give it a stir; the warm water will activate the yeast, and the sugar gives it something to feed on - you may notice it thickening and giving off a strong smell- just let it rest for 5 minutes or so and give it another stir before the next step.
3. Create a well in the middle of your mixture of dry ingredients and pour in a quarter of the mixture. Begin mixing by 'circling' a fork or spoon around the perimeter of the bowl, gradually adding more wet mixture until you have combined all of the contents of the bowl.
4. Flour a clean surface/board and add your lump of dough. With dusted hands start to knead your dough for 3/4 minutes until it is smooth, blisters when stretched and bounces back when you poke it a little
5. Pop it in your bread tin/cake tin and sprinkle a tiny amount of flour over the top before popping the whole thing within a carrier bag you can seal tight. (some people clingfilm wrap the tin but I've found this constricts the bread proofing/expanding as much, resulting in a denser bread).
6. Leave it alone until it has doubled in size - usually this takes about 45 minutes for a loaf this size, but it's dependent upon your room temperature and type of flour / yeast etc. You can pop it on a radiator if you're impatient, but some things aren't meant to be rushed
6b. This is a step not necessary but something some people swear by it: a double prove is meant to improve flavour but I haven't noticed much difference. However, it is required if you want to add additional ingredients or flavourings - if you try to add additional ingredients at the start, it can often kill / hinder the yeast.
Remove the mixture and knock all the air out of it by giving it a knead. Add your additional ingredients to the dough and knead whilst making the shape you wish your bread to be (i.e. a round, square loaf etc). Once you're happy with the shape and extras, pop it back into the baking tin and repeat steps 5/6. [note: black onion seeds in a plain loaf are delicious and give a hint of plain naan bread. To achieve a tigerbread taste, brush the top of the loaf with marmite! Other good combinations are sundried tomato and parmesan, honey and oat flakes, mixed seeds
)7. Remove the bag, lightly slash the top of the dough (pretty patterns don’t make you less manly
) and pop in a preheated oven (190c) for 20 minutes.8. Check the bread by removing it from the tin and tapping on the base - if it sounds hollow then it's ready, if not, pop back in for another 5/10 minutes.
9. I usually turn the oven right up high and pop the loaf back in, without the tin, for a further 4/5 minutes - simply because I like an additional crunch to my crust.
10. Remove from oven, tin and leave to cool on a wire rack/item that allows air circulation around the whole loaf inc. the underside.
11. See how long it lasts
This kind of bread doesn’t last long due to its size and tastiness, but also, it’s not packed full of preservatives or e-numbers like your hovis favourites, but it makes cracking toast and is really delicious with a smear of butter and poached egg.
Sadly, no finished picture of a fresh loaf but I'll be sure to do such on the next batch
Soldato
All this bread talk has inspired me so I have made a cheese and ale bread recipe pics to come very soon.
Soldato
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I give you Almondbury cheese bread!!
Its nice for a first attempt but the flavour of the cheese means you cant really taste the beer also its quite solid, will persevere