Cooking with Jonny69: baking bread.

Stan_Lite that looks great, been meaning to have a go at Focaccia myself as I love the stuff. Do you have a recipe you could share please?
 
Here we go:

Focaccia Tear-and-Share from the Food Mixer Cookbook by Andrew James.

Ingredients:

  • Oil, for greasing
  • Semolina
  • 1 small red onion
  • 3 rosemary sprigs
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 700g (1lb)strong white flour (plus extra)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons fast-action dried yeast
  • 1/4 teaspoon sugar
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil (plus extra)
  • Sea salt

Method:

  1. Attach dough blade to mixer. Lightly grease a roasting tin and sprinkle with semolina (my tin was 22cmx32cm).
  2. Cut the onion into quarters and thinly slice. Pull the leaves from the rosemary sprigs and roughly chop half of them. Slice garlic cloves.
  3. Put flour and salt into mixer bowl, add the yeast and sugar and mix on speed 1 for a few seconds to combine. Add 450ml warm water and the chopped rosemary, half the onion and half the garlic. Mix on speed 2 for 3-4 minutes until the dough is smooth.
  4. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead into a ball. Put into a bowl and loosely cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise for about an hour until double in size.
  5. Gently knead the dough to knock out the air and roll out to roughly the size of the roasting tin. Lift dough into tin and press into corners and sides to fit tin.
  6. Scatter the remaining onion, rosemary and garlic on top and drizzle over 3 tablespoons olive oil. Using your fingertips, make deep indents all over the dough. Leave until doubled in height (about 30-40 minutes).
  7. Preheat the oven to 220c, Gas 7.
  8. Put into hot oven and bake for 15-20 minutes (mine took about 25 but my oven is a bit temperamental) until golden brown and cooked. Drizzle over a little more olive oil and scatter some sea salt over the top. Lift onto wire rack and leave to cool.

I used my food mixer as in the recipe but, if you don't have one, you'll just have to do the mixing by hand.
This makes a bloody big focaccia so you can either reduce the quantities or do what I did and make the full loaf and freeze some for laterz.
 
Stan_Lite said:
Here we go:

Focaccia Tear-and-Share from the Food Mixer Cookbook by Andrew James.

Ingredients:

  • Oil, for greasing
  • Semolina
  • 1 small red onion
  • 3 rosemary sprigs
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 700g (1lb)strong white flour (plus extra)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons fast-action dried yeast
  • 1/4 teaspoon sugar
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil (plus extra)
  • Sea salt

Method:

  1. Attach dough blade to mixer. Lightly grease a roasting tin and sprinkle with semolina (my tin was 22cmx32cm).
  2. Cut the onion into quarters and thinly slice. Pull the leaves from the rosemary sprigs and roughly chop half of them. Slice garlic cloves.
  3. Put flour and salt into mixer bowl, add the yeast and sugar and mix on speed 1 for a few seconds to combine. Add 450ml warm water and the chopped rosemary, half the onion and half the garlic. Mix on speed 2 for 3-4 minutes until the dough is smooth.
  4. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead into a ball. Put into a bowl and loosely cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise for about an hour until double in size.
  5. Gently knead the dough to knock out the air and roll out to roughly the size of the roasting tin. Lift dough into tin and press into corners and sides to fit tin.
  6. Scatter the remaining onion, rosemary and garlic on top and drizzle over 3 tablespoons olive oil. Using your fingertips, make deep indents all over the dough. Leave until doubled in height (about 30-40 minutes).
  7. Preheat the oven to 220c, Gas 7.
  8. Put into hot oven and bake for 15-20 minutes (mine took about 25 but my oven is a bit temperamental) until golden brown and cooked. Drizzle over a little more olive oil and scatter some sea salt over the top. Lift onto wire rack and leave to cool.

I used my food mixer as in the recipe but, if you don't have one, you'll just have to do the mixing by hand.
This makes a bloody big focaccia so you can either reduce the quantities or do what I did and make the full loaf and freeze some for laterz.
Click to expand...

Definitely trying that!
 
challah.jpg


Hey just wanted to post this as I was suprised at the ease compared to the end result; if anyones been watching 'The Great British Bake Off' this was the 'technical challenge' two weeks ago. Its a Challah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challah) or Jewish braided bread. Simple straight forward bread recipe with a slightly complicated braiding loop; the double egg wash (one egg wash, then let it go dry, followed by another) gives it a lovely soft crust and wooden colour

Recipe:

Ingredients
500g/1lb 2oz strong bread flour
2 x 7g sachet fast action dried yeast
10g/¼oz fine salt
1½ tbsp olive oil
extra flour for dusting
sunflower oil for greasing bowl
1 free-range egg, beaten lightly with a pinch of salt
pinch salt

Place the flour in a large bowl. Add the yeast on one side of the bowl and add the salt on the other side. Salt should not be placed on top of the yeast, as it can kill it and make in in-active. Stir the ingredients together until evenly mixed.
Add a good splash of olive oil. Measure out 340ml/12fl oz water and add three-quarters to the flour mixture, and mix together by hand, then add the rest of the liquid.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead by hand until the dough looks silky and stretchy. This will take approximately 10 minutes.

Oil a medium sized mixing bowl and place the dough into the bowl. Cover with cling film and set aside to rise, for about an hour, or until the dough doubles in size.
When risen, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead, to knock the dough back. Shape the dough into a ball.

Divide the dough into eight equal pieces then roll out each piece into a strand about 40cm/16in long.
Lay the strands out on the lightly floured surface like an octopus, fanned out from a central point at the top. Stick all the ends at the central point to the table with your thumb.

For the following braiding sequence, number the strands of dough from 1-8 from left to right. Every time you move any strand it will take the new number of its position in the row. Step 1: place 8 under 7 and over 1 Step 2: place 8 over 5 Step 3: place 2 under 3 and over 8 Step 4: place 1 over 4 Step 5: place 7 under 6 and over 1 Repeats step 2-5, until all the dough is braided.
Tuck both ends of the loaf underneath to give a tidy finish.
Place the plaited dough onto a floured baking tray, and leave to prove for another hour, until risen again.
Preheat the oven to 200C/375F/Gas 5.
Brush the loaf with the beaten egg wash and bake in the oven for 20-25mins.
 
That looks so good. Probably a bit beyond my skills atm.

I've been doing a few things from the Paul Hollywood book, How to Bake. Seems to teach me and confirm many things but still having a few problems that I can't ask Paul personally :p.

I've done my loaves and put them in the oven for 30minutes, around gas 6/7 as instructed, however when I check them at 30minutes and tap on the base they don't appear done. Any longer and the tops would burn. I'm putting them on the bottom shelf, with a roasting tray at the bottom for the water.
Same result with some rolls I tried. I had them on silicone paper on a tray and the bottoms weren't quite done. I solved this by just turning them over and putting back in for a few minutes but can't do that with everything!

Another thing. In this book he often says place the bread in a bag to prove the second time. Where the hell do you find a clean plastic bag big enough to put a baking tray of rolls in?
I used freezer bags for my tinned bread and it seemed to work, although It did fail when I tried to take them out and they stuck causing the dough to fall again.

I'm currently house/dogsitting at my folks and its a gas oven! I don't know if that makes a difference to the cheap electric B&Q value oven I have at my flat :p

Lots of new questions there, I hope you can help!

Ale bread rolls, not bad for first time.
320272_10151022238287414_1475369915_n.jpg
 
I tried making pizza dough once not quite the same but it turned into a horible yeast smelling mess that i just threw it in the bin and never tried anything of the sort again. But i would like to be able to make my own bread and such so maybe ill have to get over it and try again sometime soon.
 
David_VI said:
Another thing. In this book he often says place the bread in a bag to prove the second time. Where the hell do you find a clean plastic bag big enough to put a baking tray of rolls in?
I used freezer bags for my tinned bread and it seemed to work, although It did fail when I tried to take them out and they stuck causing the dough to fall again.
Click to expand...

I just use a clean black bin bag
 
David_VI said:
Interesting! I liked the freezer bags because they are clear so I could check on it easily. I'd guess its easier to get the dough out of the bin bag as the opening is much bigger but does it still stick?
Click to expand...

Cling film is the answer! Spray a little oil on the side touching the dough and your good to go :)
 
David_VI: ale rolls look good - how did they taste?

Re bag situation, yeah just use cling film and some oil (although use an oil that wont burn when the bread cooks (not olive oil))

Re bread burning and oven temperature - apparently a lot of ovens aren't really calibrated properly - best investment would be an oven thermometer - I use a digital one that has a probe on a metal wire. Gas marks seem very vague, try and get recipes/details in deg C
 
They tasted okay, but didn't really notice the ale unless you thought about it. Will probably try to do normal rolls soon as the ale rolls were quite small and I still have a few left!

Re cling film.. Didn't think of that because I thought it would restrict the dough from rising? Unless you put it on really loosely, I can imagine that being a bit frustrating though?
 
I made some bread bap type things, called Barm Cakes in Paul Hollywoods book.. They came out amazing, my best bake yet with regards to the tasty end result!
Granted my shaping skills still are rather bad, but it all goes down the same way!
Sorry about the bad quality pictures :(
DSC_0325.jpg


Egg in a bap - Women = impressed
DSC_0330-1.jpg



In other news. I did a loaf today and failed. Everything seemed perfect, i've definitely improved with regards to mixing, kneading and letting it prove but this one didn't seem to bake.

The top was nearly burnt but the sides and bottom were still extremely soft, so much it would bend and sink if I put it on the cooling rack. Why?! I put it on the bottom shelf at 220C for 30minutes. I have a crappy electric oven but its never done this bad!

DSC_0336.jpg


Oh and the bin/recycle bag method worked great for both my loaf and baps! Cheers for that :)
 
You sure your using the oven and not the Grill ;) I say in jest but it looks like it either that or the bottom element in your oven has died!

Sides and bottom being soft that way indicates no heat, I would be getting your oven checked out!
 
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