Cooking with Jonny69: baking bread.

Baked a couple of loaves at the weekend; brown seeded and white as well as a fruit loaf which was tasty as anything.

12519272_171419236548468_1030173259_n.jpg


12362157_173050449721608_1219590990_n.jpg
 
Baked a couple of loaves at the weekend; brown seeded and white as well as a fruit loaf which was tasty as anything.

12519272_171419236548468_1030173259_n.jpg

Duplo block for scale? :eek:

Fruit loaf looks brilliant! I could easy have a couple of thick slices of that with a good plastering of Guernsey butter.

They do a fruit loaf locally here that has candied peel in the recipe and really adds to the taste - something to try next time if you hadn't already tried it.
 
My basic bread recipe:

350g Strong White Bread Flour (Marriage's Canadian is the strongest I can find)
150g Water (yes, weigh it)
10g Live Yeast (crumble into smallest bits possible)
2 level teaspoons of salt

Mix it all up (try to keep salt and yeast apart as much as possible) and knead for 5 mins or so. Cover it and let it rise for a couple of hours, should double in size. Knock it back then shape into buns or loaf and leave for another hour or so. Preheat the oven to 180c with a tray of water at the bottom (steam for crustiness) then cook for 20-25 mins at 180c. Loaves take a bit longer than buns. Cool on a rack.

For variety you can swap out up to half of the flour for wholemeal or granary. You can add wheatgerm or seeds. Another variety I do is to brown off some lardons and knead them in during the knockback/shaping before the second prove. Obvs, seeds can be added on top.
 
Last edited:
My sister got me some 'beer bread', which is basically just a bag of flour, sugar and herbs. It says to just add a pint of beer, stir it then bang it in the oven. No mention of kneeing it, or allowing it to rise etc.

Should I follow the instructions? Or kneed and let it rise then bake, or just stick it in my bread maker?

I like the sound of beer bread, but have never heard of it before. What would you use it for? Was thinking of making a beef and ale stew and using it with that..
 
Cooked baguettes for the first time on Saturday. They were an unreserved success at the cheese club party I went to.

500g Strong White Flour
360mg (or ml, if you like) Water
30ml Olive oil
10mg Salt
10mg Fresh Yeast

Mix, knead, prove, knock back, shape, second prove, cook for 30 mins at 220c then another 10 at 180c.

20160319_181714_zps9takdn8u.png


20160319_205051_zps9iujy8xs.png
 
Been a while since I've had a bash at a baguette so I thought I would give it a go today.

About 70% hydration (didn't want to go too wet for my first go) Was pleased with the results. Ever so slightly underprooved, but not bad for my first go.

5f441016-54a4-418b-854d-f92fbfc3348d_zpsheekenxa.jpg
 
Last edited:
Made my first sourdough this morning. I started my starter last Saturday and added to it through the week. On 2 days it bubbled up out of my kilner jar so not sure if thats a good thing or not!

Used
300g of starter
500g strong white flour
150g water
10g salt
10g brown sugar

The first prove went well and it grew in size quite a bit, the recipe called for a second prove of about 3 hours but as it was late at night i left it overnight in a cake tin with tea towel over the top. Came to it this morning and i think the weight of the towel as restricted it a little leaving it with a flat top.

I stuck it in the oven with some water for steam for 30 mins at 220C and then another 20mins at 200C

4AOBfBS.jpg

It's got a bit of a weird taste to it. I can't quite put my finger on it. I've googled and some issues seem to suggest soapyness which it doesnt have. It might be a little bitter but not massively so. Could do with someone with a better palate to try a bit!

For a first attempt it's alright and i'm quite happy though. Plus now i have my starter i can keep going. It is a bit of a long process though compared to normal bread making.
 
Leaving the cloth over it all night probably killed it off a little, the dough will have also drawn out some of the "flavour" from the tea towl.
 
Back
Top Bottom