Cooking with Jonny69: baking bread.

[Jonny69]

I had a go at a plait tonight. Normal dough but rolled into 3 long sausages, then plaited together. Let it re-rise under a damp tea towel and bake as usual...

I already started it even though it was too hot to hold when I cut it

 

[Jonny69]

Baked my first loaf tonight, strawberry multi-grain, almost like muesli bread, delicious!!

Little bit denser than intended, might need to knead for a bit longer next time.

Awesome first effort!

Brown flour can be quite difficult to get a light loaf out of and it's always come out dense for me. I find it has a habit of flopping flat as soon as you move it once it has risen. Quite a lot has gone to the ducks in the park

Try using 2/3 white flour to 1/3 brown if it's coming out too heavy.

 

[Jonny69]

Chaps, I've missed some of these replies. There's some good bread going on here! Haircut, that's some pro shizzle going on there

I've baked quite a lot of bread now and I know when a loaf is going to be good or not. I can tell by how much it has risen, how fast, how much it popped up in the oven and the weight when it's baked, what it sounds like if you tap it... Tonight is a good one and I couldn't resist a picture:

First pic next to half a glass of home brewed blackberry wine. Happy days

 

[Jonny69]

Well it turned out alright, saying I didn't have a bread tin and used the wrong flour, and the wrong yeast. A bit stodgy, I guess I need to do more kneading next time (and perhaps use the right flour!) but it's a good first attempt, all things considered.

Yeah, use the right flour. Don't forget if you use self raising it'll come out more like a cake than bread. It won't have the stretchy springy nature of bread, so it'll snap when you try and fold a slice in half.

 

[Jonny69]

Half of the loaf has gone already before it'd even cooled down.

Welcome to home made bread

Some people say, after they've raised an hour - take them out, "knock them down/punch" them on a floured surface, then re-raise them for 30 mins before baking them - do you do that?

I rise the dough in a mixing bowl covered with clingfilm for about an hour. Then I take the dough out and shape it to either put in a tin or on a baking tray and leave it to rise again until it's the desired size. This is effectively the "knock them down/punch" and re-raise. The best tasting bread I've made has had 3-4 re-rises. Literally let it rise in the bowl, pull it out and form it back into a small ball, let it rise, repeat twice more then shape it into a loaf, rise it a final time and bake it. The bread takes on a really lovely flavour when you do that but you need the time to keep going back to it.

 

[Jonny69]

That stromboli looks amazing. I'm going to have to give it a go!

 

[Jonny69]

Anyone know any good wholemeal/granary/oatmeal roll recipes, for some reason I can't seem to find any on the interwebs

Hovis granary flour is the nicest granary flour I've bought. Makes lovely fluffy bread with a good amount of seeds in

 

[Jonny69]

Not a bad looking loaf! I might try the overnight fridge trick. What sort of time do you put it in the fridge at night and bake in the morning?

 

[Jonny69]

I'm looking to make some granary type bread. I had some waitrose bread that was like a ciabatta with some seeds and wheat in, it was very nice. It was made with spelt flour and contained spelt wheat grains.

I've since got some spelt wheat flour and a mix of grains containing: pearl barley, rye, wheat gains and spelt wheat grains. I also have sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds that I could add.

Anyone know a good recipe or have some tips to make a nice granary loaf with those kind of ingredients?

Spelt is a bit dense by itself (something to do with the gluten). I mix it 50/50 with white flour usually and it adds a nice texture and nutty/grainy flavour.

I'd mix up some dough and sling in a small handful of each of your grains. You can't really go wrong and you'll get a white granary. I know someone who puts pearl barley in their bread but I think it might be a bit too chunky for me

 

[Jonny69]

Looks like a really nice loaf BigDude

How come that much water though? Do the oats soak a lot of it up or something?

 

[Jonny69]

Bah, I'm not going to get much time this week to make bread. I might even have to resort to supermarket bread for a few days. Hmm, on second thoughts maybe I'll switch to pasta

 

[Jonny69]

You just need a bigger knife

 

[Jonny69]

I did rolls last night as well. Must be the weather

 

[Jonny69]

How did yours turn out Jonny?

Pretty good. I used Hovis granary flour

 

[Jonny69]

Most of my brown loaves have come out very very dense. I've not been successful with them at all. The only brown flour I get good results with is Hovis Granary, because it seems to have a lot more gluten in it and holds its shape when it has risen. All the other brown loaves I've made have collapsed when I've moved them and made very dense bread.

 

[Jonny69]

Don't know what his recipe is, but from what I could see on The Great British Bake Off it looked like it had WAY too much water in the dough. Focaccia does need a wetter dough than normal, but not as wet as it was depicted. You'll never be able to work it like that.

I've based my focaccia recipe on the one I saw in Dough. 300g flour, 200ml warm water, teaspoon salt, teaspoon yeast, 2 tablespoon olive oil. Mix all that lot together and knead as normal. Instead of shaping into a loaf, put it onto an oiled baking tray, pour olive oil all over it and press your fingers right into the bottom of it so you get a flat bread full of finger holes. Cover with cling film and leave to rise. repeat the finger thing, cover with clingflim and let it rise again. Repeat, making sure each time it's got lots of oil on it. Bake it quickly because it's thin, and sprinkle it with crunchy grains of salt just before you put it in.

 

[Jonny69]

WHOOP! Calzone!

I've been meaning to make one for soooooooo long!

 

[Jonny69]

I've always kneaded for about 10 minutes as per all recipe instructions and left it to rise for 1.5-2 hours in a warm place. So, did a bit of reading on the effects of kneading and stumbled across a recipe by Doris Grant. Long story short, she sieveheaded kneading dough once and accidentally baked a loaf. Became a wartime hero of the kitchen or something. More here if you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_loaf

First things first, I've seen a few chefs show a no-knead loaf on TV, but I can't see how you'll get decent results. It's basically a scone recipe with yeast at that point, and the baked result will crumble rather than stretch. I only say this, because that's what happens when you don't knead the dough enough; you end up with bread with a slightly cakey texture which breaks when you bend it over. It should fold and not crack or split if it's fresh.

For your brown loaf, try using 50/50 white flour and brown flour to lighten it up. All my all-brown loaves have been very dense, unless I've used Hovis Granary flour. This seems to make a nice light loaf

 

[Jonny69]

Previous loaves have been 500g flour, 350ml water and a glug of oil. The latest efforts were 570g flour and 400ml water with a glug of oil.

That sounds about right. If anything it's slightly on the wetter side, so maybe make a wider flatter loaf so the base doesn't end up thick and doughy

I flour the top of my loaf heavily and use a dry tea towel. A damp one is both heavier and evaporation will have a slight cooling effect. Think what it feels like having a damp flannel on your face - it does the same to bread dough. Also try doing the first rise in the bowl with clingfilm stretched over the top. The clingfilm traps some heat in the bowl and helps the yeast work

 

[Jonny69]

Interesting, and very interesting articles. I must try.

Edit: in fact, I'm tempted to try it overnight over the weekend.