Sunday, 8 January 2017

Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato and Red Pepper Soup.


Verdict: delicious!

Ingredients:
SERVINGS 4-6
1 butternut squash
1 large sweet potato
3 medium carrots or 2 large carrots
1 large red onion
2 celery ribs
1 red pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 vegetable stock cube
salt and pepper
1 large fresh parsley sprig

Directions:
Peel the squash, sweet potato, carrots, and onion.
Dice the above ingredients and the red pepper and parsley.
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and soften all the above ingredients for a few minutes.
Make up a pint of stock with the stock cube and pour this over the softened vegetables.
Add the salt and pepper to taste, add more water if required.
Put a lid on the pan and simmer until the carrots, sweet potato and squash are all completely cooked.
Take the pan off the heat and leave to cool a bit, then liquidise the whole lot until smooth.
Serve with nice fresh crusty bread.

Wednesday, 4 January 2017

Homemade minestrone.


Tested and proved! Verdict: delicious!
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, peeled, sliced
150g streaky bacon, diced
4 celery stalks, chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped.
2 carrots, peeled, diced
2 potatoes, peeled, diced
1 litre beef stock
30g tomato purée
400g canned haricot beans, drained
1 bay leaf
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
handful chopped fresh parsley
400g tomatoes, chopped
100g spaghetti, broken into 2cm/1in pieces
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the croûtons
1 crusty white bread loaf, cut into thick slices
1 tbsp olive oil
200g mozzarella, torn

Method
Haricot beans.
You need to start this recipe by soaking the beans.
You can do this by covering the beans with twice their volume of cold water, then soaking them overnight.
Alternatively, on the same day, boil them for 10 minutes then leave them to soak for a minimum of 2 hours.
Or you can buy canned haricot beans.
Canned beans just need to be drained and rinsed - then they're ready to use.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion, bacon, celery, garlic and carrots for 2-3 minutes, or until softened.
Stir in the potatoes and fry for a further 2-3 minutes.
Pour in the stock and bring the mixture to the boil.
Stir in the tomato purée and simmer for 45 minutes.
Add the haricot beans, herbs, chopped tomatoes and spaghetti and continue to cook until the pasta is tender.
Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

For the croûtons, drizzle the bread with the olive oil.
Heat a griddle pan until hot and fry the bread on one side for 2-3 minutes, or until golden-brown.
Meanwhile, preheat the grill to high.
Remove the bread from the pan and top the uncooked side with the mozzarella.
Place under the grill for 2-3 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling and golden-brown.
To serve, ladle the soup into 4 soup bowls and top with a croûton.

Recipe from "Something for the Weekend recipes" by BBC food.

Tuesday, 3 January 2017

Braised Lamb With Flageolet Beans by Delia Smith.


Tested and Proven - delicious Cassoulet /A dish consisting of white beans and various meats/!

Ingredients
900 g lamb neck fillets
225 g cherry tomatoes
salt and freshly milled black pepper
225 g flageolet beans
2 tablespoons oil
2 large onions, peeled, halved and cut into 1 cm rounds
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
25g plain flour
1 level dessertspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves plus 4 small fresh thyme sprigs
570 ml supermarket lamb stock or water
3 small bay leaves

Method
You need to start this recipe by soaking the beans.
You can do this by covering the beans with twice their volume of cold water, then soaking them overnight.
Alternatively, on the same day, boil them for 10 minutes then leave them to soak for a minimum of 2 hours.

When you're ready to cook the lamb, pre-heat the oven 140C, trim off any really excess fat and then cut it into rounds about 2 cm thick.
Now place the casserole over direct heat, add 1 tablespoon of oil, then, as soon as it's smoking hot, brown the pieces of meat, a few at a time, wiping them first with kitchen paper so that they're absolutely dry when they hit the fat (don't add more than 6 pieces at a time).

Then as soon as each piece is nicely browned on both sides, remove the fillets to a plate and carry on until all the meat is browned.

Next, add the other tablespoon of oil and, keeping the heat high, brown the onions round the edges, moving them around until they take on a nice dark caramel colour – this will take about 5 minutes – then add the garlic, stir that into the onions and let it cook for another minute or so.

Now sprinkle in the flour and give it all a good stir, allowing the flour to soak into the juices.
Add thyme leaves, then gradually add the stock, stirring all the while as you pour it in.

Next, return the meat to the casserole and season it well with freshly milled black pepper, but no salt at this stage.
After that, drain the beans, discarding their soaking water, and add them to the casserole as well.

Finally, add the thyme sprigs and bay leaves and, as soon as everything has come up to simmering point, place a tight-fitting lid on and transfer the casserole to the centre shelf of the oven to cook for 1 1/2 hours.

Towards the end of that time pour boiling water over the tomatoes and then, after 30 seconds, drain off the water and slip the skins off.
Add these to the casserole, along with a good seasoning of salt, then replace the lid and carry on cooking for a further hour.

Before serving, remove the bay leaves and sprigs of thyme and taste to check the seasoning.

Monday, 2 January 2017

Cassoulet.

Cassoulet: a rich stew originating in southwest France containing beans and various meats (such as sausages, pork and preserved duck or goose).
Cassoulet Recipe - LifeStyle FOOD: Recipe by Rick Stein.
ingredients
500g home-salted belly pork
65g duck or goose fat
1 head garlic, broken into cloves, peeled and sliced
1 large onion, chopped
1kg dried haricots, blancs beans, soaked overnight
large bouquet garni made from leek, celery, thyme sprigs, bay leaves and arsley stalks
6 good quality Toulouse sausages
4 legs duck confit, cut into two at the joint

1. Cut the piece of belly pork lengthways into three thick slices, then cut each piece across into two.
2.Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
3.Heat 50g of the duck fat in a six-litre flameproof casserole dish.
4.Add the garlic and onion and fry gently until soft but not browned.
5.Add the beans and the pieces of salted belly pork, cover with 1¾ litres/3 pints water and push in the bouquet garni.
6.Bring to the boil, skimming off any scum as it rises to the surface, then cover, transfer to the oven and bake for one hour or until the beans are just tender (this will depend on the age of your beans).
7.Heat the remaining duck fat in a frying pan and brown the sausages all over.
8.Lift them onto a board and slice each one sharply on the diagonal into three pieces.
9.Remove the cassoulet from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
10.Add the sausages and the pieces of duck confit to the casserole and push them down well into the beans.
11.Return the casserole to the oven and bake uncovered for a further 45 minutes or until the liquid has reduced and the cassoulet is covered in a dark golden crust.
12.Serve straight from the pot at the table.

Sunday, 1 January 2017

Smoked salt, toasted onion and juniper butter by Nigel Slater.

I have not tasted yet!
Uses for this smoky, aromatic butter go well beyond spreading on a loaf.
Melt slices over potatoes served hot from the steamer; use it to sauté salmon steaks or haddock; toss wedges of lightly cooked cabbage in it.
The recipe makes 250g and it freezes well.

onion 1, small
unsalted butter 250g
juniper berries 8
dill 10g
smoked salt

Peel the onion and cut into quarters from root to tip, then slice each piece thinly.
Melt 30g of the butter in a shallow pan, stir in the sliced onion then let it cook over a moderate heat for 15-20 minutes.
Remove from the pan and leave to cool.

Place the rest of the butter in a mixing bowl and beat to a soft, lightly whipped consistency with a wooden spoon.
Bash the juniper berries with a heavy weight, such as a pestle, so they release their fragrance then add them to the butter.
Remove the dill fronds from their stems, then chop them finely and add to the butter.

Add the salt to the butter, then the cooled, toasted onions and combine gently, taking care not to overmix.
Serve the butter with the bread.

The butter will keep for several days in the fridge.
You can freeze it, too.
Roll the butter into a fat cylinder shape, then place on a piece of clingfilm, wrap and seal.
Freeze until needed.
Alternatively, and to make defrosting easier, refrigerate the butter until cold enough to slice, then wrap and freeze in individual slices.

Linseed and treacle bread by Nigel Slater.




Tested and Proven - delicious!
I heartily recommend putting a baking stone in the oven to heat up first.
Makes a medium-sized loaf.

rye flour 200g
strong white bread flour 200g
barley flakes 50g
sea salt 1 tsp
black treacle 2 tbsp, lightly heaped
warm water 350ml
fast-acting yeast 1 x 7g sachet
rolled oats/oatmeal 40g
pumpkin seeds 35g
sunflower seeds 25g
golden linseeds 30g
golden sultanas 75g

Warm a deep, wide mixing bowl - the warmth will help your dough rise more quickly.
Combine the flours and barley flakes then lightly crush the sea salt flakes in the palm of your hand and stir them in.

Put the black treacle into a jug then stir in the warm water, dissolving the treacle as you stir.
Tip in the yeast, let it dissolve then pour into the flour and barley.
Using a wooden spoon rather than your hands – the dough is sticky – stir in the rolled oats, pumpkin, sunflower, golden linseeds and sultanas.
Mix for a full minute, so the flour, liquid, seeds and fruits are thoroughly combined.
The texture of the dough should be very moist, poised between that of a bread dough and a cake mixture.

Dust the surface lightly with flour, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place for an hour or so.
Any warm, draught-free spot will work.
Check the bowl occasionally to make sure it is warm, but not too hot.

Get the oven hot – it will need to be at 220C/gas mark 8.
If you have one, place a bread or pizza stone, generously floured, in the oven to get hot.
Failing that, a baking sheet will do.
When the oven is up to temperature and the dough has risen to almost twice its original volume, transfer it to the hot baking stone or sheet, reshaping it into a round loaf as you go.
Bake for 35 minutes, until the crust is lightly crisp and the base sounds hollow when tapped.

Transfer the warm loaf to a cooling rack and allow to rest for a good 30 minutes before slicing.
The loaf will keep, wrapped in clingfilm and foil, for 4 or 5 days.



Note:
Barley Flakes:
If barley flakes remind you of oatmeal (rolled oats), it’s because they’re created the same way, by steaming kernels, rolling them, and drying them.
As with barley grits, flakes can be made from whole grain barley or from pearl barley, with only the former considered to be whole grains.
Barley flakes cook faster, because they’ve been lightly steamed and because of their greater surface area.
Substitute flaked barley: the oats will work just fine!

Rolled oats:
- Quaker is one of the best known and most widely distributed brands.
Quite often oatmeal is sold 3 forms and you should use the type labelled as "quick cooking oats" as this is the type that is the same as UK rolled oats.
Avoid "instant oatmeal" as this is made from oats that are too finely ground.
The other form of oatmeal is labelled as "old fashioned oats" or sometimes as "jumbo oats".
These oats are slightly less processed than rolled oats and could be used in the recipes but tend to be more fibrous and chewy.

Friday, 30 December 2016

Black bread.


Makes 2 loaves
2 packages (1 1/2 tablespoons) active dry yeast
Pinch of sugar
1/2 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
2 cups water
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
3 cups medium rye flour
3 cups unbleached, all-purpose or bread flour
1 cup bran
2 tablespoons caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1/4 cup cornmeal (optional)
1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour (optional)
1 teaspoon caraway seeds (optional)

Special equipment: Spice grinder (optional), instant-read thermometer

1. In a small bowl, combine yeast and sugar with warm water.
Stir to dissolve and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Heat two cups water, molasses, vinegar, butter and chocolate until the butter and chocolate are melted.
Set aside and let cool to lukewarm warm.
3. Combine whole-wheat, rye and white flours in a large bowl.
Set aside.
4. In bowl of a heavy mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine two cups mixed flours, bran, 2 tablespoons caraway seeds, fennel seeds, salt, espresso and shallots.
At low speed, add yeast and chocolate mixtures.
Mix until smooth and beat at medium speed for three minutes. (If you don’t like whole seeds in your bread, grinding them in a spice grinder, coffee grinder or mortar and pestle allows their flavor to come through without the texture. I always make my black bread this way.)

Note: This, or any bread, can also be made by hand, simply mixing the ingredients in a large bowl with a wooden spoon and kneading the dough on a counter until springy and smooth.
5. At low speed, add half cup of remaining mixed flours at a time, until dough clears sides of bowl and begins to work its way up paddle.
It will be very sticky but firm.
6. Scrape dough off paddle, flour counter well, and knead to make a springy yet dense dough.
You might not use all of the flour mixture.
7. Form into a ball and place in a greased bowl.
Turn once to grease top.
Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm area until doubled, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Combine cornmeal, flour and remaining caraway seeds, if using, and set aside.
8. Gently deflate dough.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface.
Divide into two portions and form into two rounds or loaves.
Loaves should be placed in a loaf pan sprayed with nonstick spray, while rounds should be placed seam down on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.
Sprinkle loaves with cornmeal mixture, if using.
Cover loosely with plastic wrap.
Let rise until doubled and puffy, about 45 minutes to one hour.
Slash an 'X' into the top of a round before baking it; no such slashing is needed for bread in a loaf pan.
9. Bake in a preheated 180°C/350°F oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until loaves are well-browned, or register an internal temperature of 93°C to 98°C on an instant-read thermometer.
Baking time in your oven may vary — check in on the bread when it is 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through the baking time to make sure it has not super-speedily baked.
Remove from baking sheet to cool completely on a rack.

Thursday, 29 December 2016

No-Knead Bread, 10 Years Later.

I was sitting at my desk at the Times 10 years ago when Jim Lahey – whom I knew only by reputation – emailed me: “I have a new method of making bread that requires no kneading and can give you professional results at home.”

I started baking bread in 1970, and, when my friend Charlie Van Over developed what I still believe is the best food processor method there is, I adopted that and never looked back. But Lahey’s invitation was intriguing.

It was a period during which the Times was experimenting with video, and I was one of the lucky guinea pigs. So on a bright November day (Jim insists it was election day 2006; I have no recollection), I walked over with two video people, we watched Jim do his thing, I wrote it up, the video people edited, and ….
It became one of the most popular stories in the history of the Times.

That level of popularity was a peculiar confluence of events, but that bread recipe (which I used yesterday, and will tomorrow, barely unchanged from the original), has legs. That original description by Jim remains true, and literally millions of people now make bread according to Jim’s instructions.

A few weeks ago, just before election day 2016, I met two video people from Food & Wine at Sullivan Street (which hasn’t changed much) and we taped a reunion, with Jim commenting on and critiquing my technique (which evidently isn’t bad).
You can watch (the extremely abridged version) here.
As you can tell – we had fun.









Tested and Proven - delicious!
So new recipe (12-06-2016):

2 2/3 Cup white flour
1 1/3 Cup whole wheat flour (Whole-wheat flour - in the US or wholemeal flour in the UK)
2 teasp salt
1/2 teasp yeast
2 Cup water

12 hour first rise
fold three times on floured surface
for 2-hour second rise

Bake 30 min at 500F/260C in covered dutch oven
Bake 15 minutes uncovered

AND old recipe (2015):
3 cups - 400 grams all-purpose or bread flour
1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) instant yeast
1+1/4 teaspoons (8 grams) salt
1 5/8 cups (1+1/3 - 300 grams in book) water.

Wednesday, 28 December 2016

Bread Stekka.

recipes for the future
Since we were talking about the bread for the day, which can be put on the table guests, how's that option?
This bread - brother of bread without kneading, the same principle, a very long fermentation of the batter to be mixed with a minimum of yeast.
The idea is not new, loved by the people pain l'ancienne is done in a similar way, but with a lot of yeast and fermentation with cold, but the result is unusual and enjoyable.
Although the name sounds very Italian, as far as I can see nothing very Italian in that there is no bread, it's our local invention.
Testreports:
400 g bread flour
3 g (1/2 tsp) salt
3 g (3/4 tsp) sugar
1/4 tsp instant yeast
350 g cold water (12-15 ° C)

1. Mix flour, sugar, salt and yeast, mix well.
Add water and stir the dough with a spoon or your hand until you have a rough, wet, sticky dough.
Tighten the bowl of the film and leave the dough for 12-18 hours.
Focus more on 12 than at 18.
The finished dough will rise much, and will be covered with bubbles.

2. Generously sprinkle the board with flour, pour (I kid you not) at her dough and carefully wrap it several times over the hand or scraper until the dough almost tighten.
Lightly oil the top of the dough with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt (about 1/4 teaspoon).

3. Take a linen towel and generously sprinkle simple or large corn flour or bran.
Turn the dough on the towel (here you will learn enough flour sprinkled on the board.) If the top of the sticky dough sprinkle with flour, cover with a towel and leave the edges rasstaivatsya for 1-2 hours, until the dough has risen about half and no longer springy when pressed with a finger.

4. Pre-heat the oven to 260°C/500°F.

5. Take a baking tray (standard American baking with borders, so-called half-sheet size 30x42 cm, I highly recommend using steel trays without coatings) and lubricate it with olive oil.
Put the dough on a floured board and cut into 4 pieces with a scraper.
Do not cut the dough on the towel.
Take each strip of dough and transfer to a baking sheet stretching it to a length of the pan.
Simple stekka.
Grease with olive oil and sprinkle with large sea salt.
Stekka with tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes in half small (like cherry), press the dough in half at the same distance, place on top of a thin slice of garlic and a few leaves of thyme.
Grease stekku olive oil and sprinkle with large sea salt.
Stekka with garlic. Clean chives, lightly press down on them with a knife so that they cracked and push into the dough at the same distance.
Grease stekku olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and a large freshly ground black pepper.
Stekka with olives. Press the olives into the dough at the same distance and brush the dough with olive oil.
Pickled olives enough in themselves, and in addition to salt on top of them is not necessary.
Stekka with feta. Cut the feta into small pieces and push them into the dough at the same distance.
Grease the dough with olive oil.
Like olive stekka this salty enough on its own, in addition to salt it is not necessary.
Of lubrication oil.
From how much olive oil comes into play much depends.
If you lubricate the dough very thin layer, the crust is slightly crunchy, almost like a baguette.
If you do not feel sorry for oil, the bread soaked it becomes fragrant and soft, more like focaccia.

6. Bake for about 20 minutes until thick golden-brown crust.
Give stekkam cool 5 minutes on baking sheet, then transfer them to the grill and allow to cool completely.
from "My Bread" by J. Lahey

Tuesday, 27 December 2016

Bread: bread with re-milled durum flour.

- Pane con Semola Rimacinata di Grano Duro | The Fresh Loaf: bread with re-milled durum flour.
Durum Flour 60%
Bread Flour 40%
Water* 60%
Salt

- Rimacinata - STIR THE POTS: Rimacinata is a term for the finest milled semolina flour (aka durum) - bread with re-milled durum flour.

- Focaccia Barese - STIR THE POTS: "With some spare potatoes from home-made potato dumplings, cherry tomatoes from my mom's garden and some sourdough, I whipped up a Focaccia Barese. It's a supple dough, usually made from semola rimacinata, potatoes and olive oil. In my minor adaption, I used kamut. With a couple hours of proof, I then baked it in my cast iron pan."

Monday, 26 December 2016

Our Bread. Speedy No-Knead Bread.

Brian's Bread!

Tested and Proven - delicious!
3 cups bread flour (408 grams)
1 packet (7 grams) instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
50g Butter or Marg

1. Combine flour, yeast, butter and salt in a large bowl, with fingers to resemble fine breadcrumbs.
Add 1 1/2 cups Warm water and stir until blended; dough will be sticky.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap.
Let dough rest about 4 hours at warm room temperature, about 21C.

2. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; fold left side to the middle the right side over that (you have 3 layers) turn 90deg and repeat,turn 90deg and repeat again.
Place dough in the floured washed out bowl Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place 30 minutes more.

3. While the dough is proving for 30min, heat oven to 230C.
Put a 6-to-8-Liters heavy covered pot (22cm cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic with lid) in oven as it heats.
When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven.
Slide your hand under dough and put it into pot, seam side up.
Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.

4. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 20 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned.
Cool on a rack.

Yield: 1 big loaf.
Lara's Bread!

How to Make No-Knead Bread.

- How to Make No-Knead Bread | Food & Wine: video!
These days I usually use:
1 cup of whole wheat,
2 cups of unbleached white bread flour,
handfuls of pumpkin, sunflower, poppy and sesame seed, and
one heaping half tsp of instant yeast.

And more: - Five Seed Bread – lovinghomemade:

No-Knead Bread.

No-Knead Bread Recipe - NYT Cooking: 2015.
YIELD: One 680 Gram loaf.
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

- In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt.
Add 1 5/8 - 1.5 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap.
Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 21C.

- Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles.
Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice.
Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

- Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball.
Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal.
Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours.
When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

- At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 230C-260C.
Put a 6- to 8-Liters heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats.
When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven.
Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K.
Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.
Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned.
Cool on a rack.

Sunday, 25 December 2016

Sourdough pain de campagne recipe by Carl Legge.

Sourdough pain de campagne recipe » Carl Legge:
recipes for the future
The recipe is made over 3 days and only needs a little time at each stage. It’s a very forgiving and flexible method. If you work weekdays, you could start on a Friday evening and have beautiful bread for Sunday lunchtime.

The 3-day method allows the dough to slowly develop good structure and flavour without being too sour.

I (mainly) use a small wholemeal rye starter. There’s a great post here from Weekend Bakers which shows you how easy it is to make. I find this uses less flour and it’s very responsive. If I screw it up, I can make another starter from scratch in a couple of days with no problems. To keep things simple, I use equal weight of flour and water when refreshing: so it’s a 100% starter.

You could replace the wholemeal rye flour with any wholemeal flour. I find the rye is very good as a starter and gives an excellent flavour to the finished bread.
I normally make 3kg of dough at a time for 4 loaves to make the most of a hot oven The recipe here makes about half that, for two loaves. Just scale up/down the ingredients pro rata if you need to. I use digital scales for accurate measuring, it really does make a difference.

Finally, the flour I mostly use is from Shipton Mill: their organic dark wholemeal rye and untreated organic white flour No. 4.

Sourdough pain de campagne recipe
Day 1, evening – Starter
Wholemeal rye starter 100g
Wholemeal rye flour 40g
Tepid water 60g

In a small bowl mix this all together and cover with a lid, cling film or a clean cloth. Leave in a warm place. The following morning, you should have a little bowl of bubbly flour.

Day 2, morning – Poolish
Big Starter from above 200g
Wholemeal rye flour 35g
Strong white flour 80g
Tepid water 185g​​

In a bowl of about 2-3 litre capacity, mix all the ingredients together. A Danish dough whisk is just perfect for this. A spoon or fork will also work… Cover the bowl and leave in a warm place until the evening. Ideally the poolish will have at least 6 hours to stand, more is not a problem. You should end up with a bigger bowl of gently bubbling flour.

Day 2, evening – Dough
Poolish from above 500g
Strong white flour 650g
Fine salt 15g
Water 300g

Total weight is 1465g-ish

In the early evening, add the other ingredients to the poolish in the bowl and mix well to form a ragged and sticky dough. Cover the bowl and leave in a warm place for about 1 hour.

Then fold the dough. The dough will be slighty more sticky than in this video. Just keep the surface and your hands well floured and you’ll be fine.

I fold 3 times in total at roughly 1 hour intervals. Pop the dough back in the bowl, cover and leave in a warm place after the first two folds.

After the third fold, pop the dough in the bowl, cover and put in the fridge overnight. Bakers call this ‘retarding the dough’. It allows the dough to slowly develop a good flavour. Different flavour giving compounds in the dough work best at these lower temperatures to make the rounded flavour of the sourdough.

Day 3, morning – bake
Take out dough and divide it into two. In a warm place, allow the dough to rest and warm up for about 30 minutes.

Shape the dough and prove 1-3 hours. See these videos for shaping ideas.

How to simply shape bread to make rolls, a batard, a boule or round loaf and a rectangular loaf.
Once you’ve shaped the dough, put it into a banneton or just onto some baking paper, cover and allow to prove for 1.5-3 hours. The dough should increase by 30-50% and still be springy to the touch.

While the dough proves, heat your oven to 240°C. I bake on a granite baking stone which gives a good bottom to the bread.

Once the dough is proved, slash the top of the dough to give it somewhere to expand through (and to look pretty). Then bake for 15 mins with a tray with some boiling water in it placed at bottom of the oven. The water will help give you a nice crisp crust.

Then remove the water tray and bake for another 30 minutes at 190-200°C for 30 mins.

Take the bread out and allow it to cool on a rack. Wait a while and listen to the crust crackle and ‘sing’. And enjoy.

'via Blog this'

Thursday, 22 December 2016

Bread /Denmark/.

recipes for the future from HVERDAGSMAD.DK /Denmark/.
The bread is FANTASTIC! Crispy, crunchy crust.
I've tried to bake the bread, both in an iron pot and a roaster, and both work fine. Iron pot, a white crucible was somewhat discolored, so I stick to increased sow, which I put to soak in water while I start on the bread.
Well, that's my bread!
Ingredients:
625 grams of flour (10 dl)
5 cups water
2 tsp salt
yeast the size of a pea (Yes so little use)
Method
1) Stir yeast into water in a large bowl.
Salt and flour are added.
Stir the dough together quickly to all the flour is wet - it should not be kneaded!
Leave to rise for 12 hours.
2) Carefully pour the dough out onto a meldækket board and fold it together just 3 times.
Set again to rise - like a large meldækket cutting boards for 2 hours.
Turn on while the oven at 250 degrees, it should be quite hot. Also put the saucepan or frying sow in, it must also be hot.
3) When dough has finished turned it over in the hot roaster. Sprinkle any. with a little salt and rosemary, put the lid on and place it into the oven.
It will bake in about 25 minutes at 250 degrees with a lid
4) After 25 minutes you let it bake for 15 minutes at 230 degrees uncovered.
Let the bread cool for at least 2 hour before serving.

Wednesday, 21 December 2016

Roasted Beet Bread.

recipes for the future
Roasted Beet Bread.
This bread is unique, delicious and beautiful.
Filled with pastrami, havarti cheese and mustard, it makes a delicious panini sandwich.
Makes 2 loaves.
Night before:
250 ml (1 cup) bread flour
1 ml (1/4 tsp) instant yeast
250 ml (1 cup) lukewarm water
In a large bowl, combine these ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon.
Cover with plastic wrap and let sit on the counter for 12 to 16 hours.
Day of:
250 ml (1 cup) pureed roasted beets plus any juice
125 ml (1/2 cup) stone-ground whole-wheat flour, plus extra for sprinkling
3 ml (3/4 tsp) instant yeast
15 ml (1 tbsp) chopped fresh thyme
8 ml (1 3/4 tsp) salt
675 ml (2 3/4 cups) bread flour (approx)
50 ml (1/4 cup) lukewarm water
Olive oil
Cornmeal

To “night before” mixture, add pureed beets and any juice, whole-wheat flour and instant yeast.
Mix with a wooden spoon till smooth.
Let sit, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
Add thyme and salt; mix till smooth.

Start to add bread flour.
Once it becomes too hard to mix in the bowl, turn dough onto a flat surface and knead for 10 minutes.
This will be a sticky dough, so be careful not to add too much flour.
Add just enough to prevent dough from really sticking to your fingers when kneading.

Add a little olive oil to a clean large bowl.
Place dough in bowl and turn over a few times to very lightly coat all sides of the dough with oil.
Cover with plastic wrap.
Let dough rise for 1 1/2 hours or till double in bulk.
Turn onto a flat surface.
Cut dough in half and mould each half into desired shape.

Place shaped dough on a piece of parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal.
Spray tops with a little oil spray and cover with plastic wrap for 1 hour or till double in bulk.

Heat oven to 200°C/400°F and place baking stone on centre rack.
Place a cast-iron skillet (filled with lava rocks if you have them) on oven floor or on lowest rack.

When loaves have doubled, sprinkle with a little whole-wheat flour and slash an X on top of each.

Place in hot oven directly on baking stone.
Pour about 250 ml (1 cup) boiling water into hot skillet and close oven door.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or till loaves sound hollow when tapped on bottom. (Or stick a meat thermometer into the centre of loaves; when it reads 82°C/180°F they’re ready.)

Let cool on a wire rack.

- No knead to fear bread-baking: Making fresh loaves at home on the rise | canada.com:

- The Knead For Bread – Bread Recipes for Baking Bread: website offers step-by-step, fully illustrated recipes for all kinds of bread and gets about 2,000 visitors a day from around the world.

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Tuesday, 20 December 2016

Sprouted Sourdough Bread for Fermentation Week.

recipes for the future
about Chad Robertson bread from Golubka
Golubka: Sprouted Sourdough Bread for Fermentation Week
Below are some things that I learned from trial and error with different flours, applying Chad Robertson’s technique:
1. You need to be patient. It may take time to get your starter going, but if you feed it every day, it will always respond to your efforts, even if it seems that it never will in the beginning.