Cooking with Jonny69: baking bread.

I baked a loaf just last night:

150 g strong wholewheat flour
350 g strong white flour
320 ml warm water
10 g sugar
7 g dried yeast
7 g salt

Kneaded and left to rise for a good 45 minutes, then a brief second knead and left to rise for half an hour on the tray. Lastly, I slashed the top and sprinkled with a little more wholewheat flour. Cooked at 240 °C for 35 minutes with a tray of water in the bottom of the oven.

Forgot to turn the oven down after the first ten mins. It came out fine, but I think the crust is a little thicker than it could be.

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After reading this thread it inspired me to get the GF to go and bake me some bread... This is her second attempt, a cheese and onion loaf and I must say it tastes damn lovely!

Ingredients:
1 Large Onion
1 Tsp olive oil
250ml water
1 Tsp salt
1/2 Tsp sugar
1 pouch of yeast
700ml of plain flour
200ml of grated cheese
Garlic - as much or little as you like

Fry the onions in olive oil, be sure to save a 1/4 of the cheese and onions to put on top of the loaf before baking.



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Just a quick tip to anyone getting into bread making:

The little sachets of yeast are a swizz! I buy a block of the stuff from Lakelands (of all places!) for a quid, and it lasts forever.

That, and use decent flour. I've really found it makes a difference. Either Doves, or if you are a bit poorer, like me, Allinsons.
 
Looking good everyone, I should post some of my bread in here at some point.

I have to say that getting a proper bread book helped me immensely (I used Bread but I'm definitely interested in the River Cottage book as well now I know about it.)

I used to create things that tasted better than shop bought bread, but were always a little stodgy and thick crumbed.
Since knowing how to do it properly I can bake things that rival any bakers and would definitely recommend a good book to any beginner as it's certainly more a science than an art.

My main problem previously was letting the bread rise too much on the initial rise thinking that it would make a lighter textured bread when that clearly isn't the case.
 
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jellybeard999 said:
Whenever I make homemade bread it comes out really dense and heavy. Tasty, but one slice of bread and you're stuffed :p

What causes this? Any tips to get a lighter loaf? :D
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My GF tells me there's several reasons why this might happen so I'll let her write this one:


Here's some reasons why a loaf might be heavy and solid:

- You put too much flour into your dough. A soft dough will make soft bread, a solid dough will make solid bread
- Heat and time; To make a dough fluffy you must let it stand in a WARM place before making it into a loaf (min30mins, preferably more, or until it's doubled it's size). Once you make into a loaf, move it on a tray with baking paper, make it stand at a warm place for another 30mins more before putting it into the oven. If you lack a warm place as I do, a good way to keep the dough warm is to run hot water into a washing up bowl and place the bread tray on top of that heat with a tea towel on top of it.
- Too coarse flour can make your dough heavy and solid. Always use some very fine flour to make your dough stringy. Fine plain white flour is the easiest way to go, try atleast 70% (100% for beginners) of plain white to start with and once you get that right, then start mixing in other stuff in. =)
- The amount of yeast matters a lot ofcourse. Some dry yeast comes in sachets, some in tins. I prefer fresh myself as it's more potent and... well, easier. For some strange reason it's also much harder to find in shops also. Be sure to follow the instructions for the yeast you use. Dry yeast usually needs a water/milk of 40-42C to activate it...and whenever I must use dry yeast I put a bit extra in also.
- You might have not kneaded the dough enough. I prefer doing this in a bowl myself, squeezing it from between my fingers.. but check youtube for this, easier to watch it there than it is to explain! Thatis if you don't know what kneading is.

I'm no pro at baking so I might have left something out... I'm sure there's others who will fill in the gaps for me... But with these basic things (Thickness, heat, time, flour, yeast and kneading) pretty much anyone can make a nice loaf. Just a matter of trial and error when it comes to trying new stuff out!

Oh and Tubes sends his best wishes to all bakers!
 
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WillyNelson said:
Nice work!

Any chance of a recipe for those muffins?
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No probs ;)


Makes 9

500g strong white flour
5g yeast
10g fine sea salt
325ml warm water
Light oil (light olive oil or rapeseed / sunflower)
Semolina

  • mix dry ingredients, the add wet.
  • Knead for 10 mins, till silky. It's a very wet dough, so stick with it.
  • Make into round, cover and leave to double.
  • Knock back, cut into 9. Flatten so about 2cm thick.
  • Dust generously with semolina. This stuff makes theses muffins so make sure you have some!
  • Leave to double again.
  • Heat heavy frying pan so medium heat.
  • Cook for around 10 mins, turning every few minutes, adjusting temp if needed.


It's a dead easy recipe, but whatever you do make sure you have semolina! I cook mine on a big double hob flat griddle, which is perfect!


Enjoy!
 
HeadlessChicken said:
It's a dead easy recipe, but whatever you do make sure you have semolina! I cook mine on a big double hob flat griddle, which is perfect!
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I used to like muffins as a kid but they taste vinegary and sweet these days and I avoid them. What the hell do the supermarkets do to them? :eek:

I hadn't even considered making them myself.
 
Jonny69 said:
I used to like muffins as a kid but they taste vinegary and sweet these days and I avoid them. What the hell do the supermarkets do to them? :eek:

I hadn't even considered making them myself.
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Preservatives, more than likely. I don't like to blow my own trumpet (but I will :P), but these are ****** fab. Split, lightly toasted with butter & griddled bacon from the butchers = major case of yum.

Only downfall being they last just 2 - 3 days (and that's in my bread bag). But it's not as if they would ever last that long intact anyway :D
 
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