Problem with it will be that the dough won't support a loaf that tall without the bottom sphere getting squashed out. You'll have to use a really dry dough and it won't be great to eat. You could do snowman rolls though?
Cooking with Jonny69: baking bread.
- Thread starter Jonny69
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They also take the time to knead their dough properly and bake it in proper ovens. Sainsburys claimed to use French flour but their bread stinks of underkneading and flour improver, and it's baked in steam ovens which is fast (saving them money) but doesn't produce a very good crust.
That does look good Stan 
I thought that was a fancy clear dome lid you had there for a second
I thought that was a fancy clear dome lid you had there for a second
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
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
It needs to be pretty warm in the kitchen to make it pop up nicely. What yeast are you using? What flour are you using? Any other ingredients?
I only use dried yeast but there are two types and I've had different results with both. There's the instant dried yeast for bread makers which typically comes in a box of sachets that you thrown in with the dry ingredients (but Waitrose do in a big packet which works out a lot cheaper). Then there's Hovis dried active yeast that comes in a small tin, which you have put in warm water with sugar to reactivate.
The instant stuff makes good bread for me. The other type I've found makes an odd texture when you knead the dough. It seems to break down the dough and makes a sort of chewing gum texture. When you leave it to rise, it sort of acts like it's runny and spreads out, rather than holding its shape, and the finished bread tastes like it is under-kneaded.
This is different to my experience with an overly wet dough (and instant yeast), which I've found has a habit of rising out rather than up. You end up with a big wide flat loaf with quite big rubbery looking bubbles.
Sounds like yours might have been a wet dough. If you stick a few cuts in the top just before you put it in the oven, it does make the loaf pop up when it bakes. The other thing to do is bake it in a tin, which supports the shape a bit more
The instant stuff makes good bread for me. The other type I've found makes an odd texture when you knead the dough. It seems to break down the dough and makes a sort of chewing gum texture. When you leave it to rise, it sort of acts like it's runny and spreads out, rather than holding its shape, and the finished bread tastes like it is under-kneaded.
This is different to my experience with an overly wet dough (and instant yeast), which I've found has a habit of rising out rather than up. You end up with a big wide flat loaf with quite big rubbery looking bubbles.
Sounds like yours might have been a wet dough. If you stick a few cuts in the top just before you put it in the oven, it does make the loaf pop up when it bakes. The other thing to do is bake it in a tin, which supports the shape a bit more
White or brown? Is it multigrain or anything? What brand?
- Just so we know what the flour might be doing, because white and brown act differently.
I did my first 'event' last night; 45 people at a wine tasting. Me and a few others provided the food, a selection of home-made quiches, cheeses, home-made canapés, home-made dips and I made the bread. I made up a big batch of dough for two rustic bloomers, a cob and two sandwich tin loaves. I did a separate wetter dough for a 40x40cm focaccia, then a slightly stiffer dough to make sausages of bread to slice thinly for the canapé bases. It went down a storm! The focaccia disappeared first, in minutes, and I was lucky to get a small slice to try! Then, because I'd left the loaves uncut, people got braver and got stuck in with the bread knife. great night and I made it back home with half a sandwich loaf for my eggs on toast this morning
I weighed mine up the other night and my current ratios for a while loaf are 300g of flour to 200g (or 200ml) of water, with one teaspoon of instant yeast and one teaspoon of salt. On a flat tray it doesn't support itself very well and tends to rise outwards, but with a couple of slashes in the top just before it goes in the oven it pops up quite well. If you turn on your oven to full whack before you start doing anything, and leave it on, it should warm the kitchen up and get the dough rising. It's one of my best tips. And clingfilm over the top of the bowl, which has a good greenhouse effect for the dough and stops it drying out
Stick them in at the end when you shape the dough for the final loaf
You can do. I try not to knead it too much once the filling is in otherwise you tend to squash up your filling into small mashed up pieces
Last night I was going to make flatbreads but the rise took too long to get going, so I deserted the idea in favour of past instead. I decided to leave the dough in the bowl for tonight, where I'll use it as a ferment for some ciabatta. It's certainly been busy in the night and looks great. Lovely and stringy and glossy.
Last night I was going to make flatbreads but the rise took too long to get going, so I deserted the idea in favour of past instead. I decided to leave the dough in the bowl for tonight, where I'll use it as a ferment for some ciabatta. It's certainly been busy in the night and looks great. Lovely and stringy and glossy.
It doesn't seem to affect mine. Lots of people are careful to keep the yeast away from the salt, too, but I've never observed it affect my yeast.
I've found the bubble size is a function of the length of the rise and the wetness of the dough. Longer rise = bigger bubbles; wetter dough = bigger bubbles (ala focaccia).
1 level tsp in a dough made with 300g flour is fine.
1 level tsp in a dough made with 300g flour is fine.
I just do mine on a well floured tray to be honest. A 300g flour loaf should pop up nicely in a super-hot oven
Hello David, good to hear we've lured you into the kitchen
I use a hand mixer with dough hooks, which takes about 5 minutes. Kneading by hand takes around double that, but it's worth looking on youtube to show you how to do it properly because you can cut the time down by doing it efficiently. I'm doing most of my loaves on a floured tray at the moment. Rise once in the bowl, shape into a loaf, dust with flour, allow to rise again uncovered, slash the top a few times and bake at top temperature for 30-35 minutes. Here is last night's oneEdit: Is it hard for a newbie to knead? I see some people use an electric or hand mixer for dough? (I'm a guy who can't even whisk no matter how much I work my wrists). And, do you need to use a bread tin? Haven't currently got one and wondering if you can just use a baking tray? (Sorry I am a total newbie to this
That one was 450g flour, 300ml warm water, 1.5 tsp salt, 1.5 tsp instant yeast. As above, rise once in the bowl, shape into a loaf, dust with flour, allow to rise again on a floured baking tray uncovered, slash the top a few times and bake at top temperature for 30-35 minutes. No water or ice added to the oven, just full whack
Oh yeah, forgot to mention it sticks like hell
300g flour / 200ml water / 1tsp each of yeast and salt should do you two decent size calzones. Give them a sprinkle of olive oil just before you put them in the oven. Use semolina underneath instead of flour and it gives them a nice crunch.
Haha, awesome
Definitely! And weigh the water as well as the flour.
As what BB said really. I just keep mine on the breadboard, cut face down.