Bread

Adapted from the Hairy Bikers

Ingredients

• 175ml (3/4 cup) full-fat milk
• 175ml (3/4 cup) water
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 7g fast-action dried yeast
• 250g rye flour
• 200g bread flour
• 1/4 cup rye berries, cooked and cooled
• 1 tbsp salt

Method

Put the milk, water and sugar in a small saucepan and heat very gently, stirring constantly, for just a few seconds until the liquid is lukewarm and the sugar has dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the mixture into a bowl.

Stir in the yeast and leave for 10 minutes until there is a light froth floating on the surface.

Put all the flour, rye and white, and the cooled rye berries in a large bowl, stir in the salt. Pour the warm yeast mixture on to the flour and mix to form a soft, spongy dough.

Knead for 10 minutes or until it is smooth and elastic.

Put the dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl and cover loosely. Leave to rise in a warm place for about 1½ hours or until it has doubled in size.

Put the dough on a floured work surface and knock it back with your knuckles, then knead for another minute.

Shape the dough into a fat oval or round loaf, pulling the dough from the top and sides and tucking it underneath to make a neat shape.

Place the loaf on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and score the surface 4 times with a sharp knife. Cover it loosely and leave to proof for a further 40–50 minutes until it has doubled in size once more.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350″F. Bake the loaf in the centre of the oven for 40 minutes or until it is well risen and the base sounds hollow when tapped sharply. Cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

adapted from King Arthur Flour

• 3/4 to 1 cup lukewarm water
• 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
• 1 large egg
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast

Directions

Mix and knead all of the dough ingredients to make a soft, smooth dough – about 10 minutes.

Cover the dough, and let it rise for 1 to 2 hours, or until it’s nearly doubled in bulk.

Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a round ball; flatten to about 3″ across. Place the buns on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, cover, and let rise for about an hour, until noticeably puffy.

Brush the buns with egg wash – 1 egg white and water.

Bake the buns in a preheated 375°F oven for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack.

This flour comes from Anson Mills in Columbia, South Carolina. It’s an heirloom variety that is really outstanding.

This recipe can be used for loaves or rolls. Bake rolls for about 18-20 minutes.

• 2 pgk yeast
• 6 cups flour, divided
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup neutral oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 egg

Stir together 2 cups flour and 2 packages dry yeast.

Heat over low heat, 1 cup milk, 1 cup water, oil, honey, and salt until warm – about 125 ° F.

Cool slightly and stir into flour / yeast mixture and mix until smooth – about three minutes.

Beat in 1 egg.

Slowly add remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough.

Let rest about 10 minutes.

Knead until smooth and satiny – about 10 minutes.

Cover and let rest about 20 minutes.

Divide dough in two and form loaves. Place into greased loaf pans and brush tops with oil.

Let rise until doubled – 60 to 75 minutes.

Bake in a preheated 400 ° F oven for 35 to 45 minutes.

Immediately remove from pans and brush tops with melted butter, if desired, for a softer top crust. Cool on racks.

Thus recipe requires an active sourdough starter.

The day before you want to make your bread, feed your starter:

• 50gr sourdough starter
• 200gr bread flour
• 200 gr water

Mix well, cover, and leave out overnight.

For the bread:

Remove 50gr starter and save for next loaves.

Mix together:

• remaining starter
• 200gr bread flour
• 150gr sprouted wheat flour
• 50gr rye flour
• 150gr water – more or less

Bring everything together to form a soft dough. It will be a bit sticky at this point. I usually use a mixer but this can easily be done by hand.

Cover, and let rise about an hour to an hour and a half.

Place dough on a lightly-floured board and pat out to a rough square. Sprinkle with 10gr salt and mix in

• 150gr raisins
• 150gr chopped walnuts

Knead until salt, nuts, and raisins are evenly distributed and dough begins to feel silky.

Form into a ball, place in lightly greased bowl, and let rise until doubled – about 1 1/2 hours.

Remove from bowl onto a lightly-floured board. Fold dough over itself several times – like folding a letter – and form into a loaf. Place on a cornmeal-lined peel or baking sheet.

Pre-heat oven with baking stone to 425°F. Place a pan under stones for adding boiling water.

When dough has doubled, make several slashes and place on baking stone. Add about 2 cups boiling water to pan to create steam.

Bake until loaf is completely cooked – about 30 minutes. Start checking at 25 and keep in oven until hollow sounding on bottom when tapped.

Let cool before slicing.

• 1 tbsp yeast
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups bread flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup rye flour

Dissolve yeast in the sugar and a bit of the buttermilk. Blend flours and salt together.

Add remaining milk to yeast mixture. Add butter. Mix in flour.

Knead by machine for about 8 minutes or by hand for 10 – until dough is smooth.

Roll into a ball and proof until double in size – about an hour.

On a lightly floured board, form dough into a loaf and place into a well-greased standard bread pan.

Lightly cover and proof, again, until double in size.

Bake in a pre-heated 350°F oven for about 35 minutes – until top is nicely browned.

Immediately remove from pan and cool before slicing.

This recipe comes from the BBC – and British Food Personality, Mary Berry.

Ingredients

• 500g/1 lb 2oz bread flour, plus extra for dusting
• 75g/2 3/4oz sugar
• 2 tsp mixed spice powder (cloves, nutmeg. allspice…)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 lemon, finely grated zest only
• 10g/1/4oz salt
• 10g/1/4oz fast-action dried yeast
• 40g/1 1/2oz butter
• 300ml/10fl oz milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 200g/7oz sultanas
• 50g/1 3/4oz finely chopped mixed candied peel
• oil, for greasing
• For the topping
• 75g/2 3/4oz all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp golden syrup, for glazing

Method

Put the flour, sugar, spices and lemon zest into a large bowl and mix together. Then add the salt and yeast, placing them on opposite sides of the bowl.

Separately, melt the butter and lightly warm the milk. Add the butter and half the tepid milk to the dry ingredients. Add the egg and use your hands to bring the mixture together, incorporating the flour from the edges of the bowl as you go. Gradually add the remaining milk, to form a soft pliable dough (you may not need all of the milk).

Tip the dough out on to a lightly floured work surface. Knead by hand incorporating the sultanas and mixed peel into the dough. Lightly knead for 10 minutes until silky and elastic and forming a smooth ball. The kneading can also be done in a food mixer with a dough hook.

Oil a bowl and place the dough in a bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rest in a warm place for about 1½ hours or until doubled in size.

Turn the dough out on to a floured surface and divide into 12 balls. Line 1-2 baking trays with paper and place the balls on the tray, placing them fairly close together and flattening them slightly.

Cover with a loose tea towel and let rise for 40-60 minutes until the buns have doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 220C / 425F

For the topping, add the flour to a bowl with 100ml/3½fl oz water. Mix together to make a paste and spoon into the icing bag.

When the buns have risen, pipe a cross on each bun. Bake for 15-20 minutes until pale golden-brown, turning the baking trays round halfway through if necessary.

Heat the golden syrup and while the buns are still warm, brush the buns with a little syrup to give a nice shine, before setting aside to cool on a wire rack.

From The Hairy Bikers

Ingredients

For the starter dough

• 150ml/5fl oz warm water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 3 tsp fast-action dried yeast
• 125g/4½oz strong white flour

For the bread dough

• 200ml/7fl oz warm water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp fast-action dried yeast
• 225g/8oz white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
• 100g/3½oz whole wheat bread flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing

Method

For the starter, pour the water into a medium bowl and stir in the sugar. Lightly stir in the yeast and leave in a warm place for about 10 minutes or until a beige foam floats on the surface. Stir in the flour to make a thick paste, then cover with cling film and leave at room temperature for 24 hours. At the end of the 24 hours the paste will smell yeasty and slightly fermented – a bit like beer.

For the bread dough, pour the water into a jug and stir in the sugar. Lightly stir in the yeast and leave in a warm place for about 10 minutes or until a beige foam floats on the surface.

Stir the flours and salt together in a large bowl, then make a well in the centre and add the yeast and water mixture, the starter dough and the oil.

Mix with a wooden spoon and then with your hands until the mixture comes together and forms a slightly lumpy and sticky dough. If the dough feels a little dry, add another tablespoon or two of water.

Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead for a good 10 minutes until it’s smooth and elastic. As you knead, push the dough away from you with the heel of your hand to stretch it as long as possible, then fold it back towards you. This will help strengthen the flour and trap air bubbles inside the loaf. Resist the temptation to add too much extra flour as it could make the dough dry. You should feel the dough change in texture as you work, so don’t be afraid to be fairly robust with your stretching and folding. Put the dough in an oiled mixing bowl, cover it loosely with oiled cling film and leave it to rise for about an hour or until it has doubled in size.

Line a baking tray with parchment and dust with flour.

Loosen the dough with a spatula and tip it on to the baking tray. Stretch the dough very gently until it’s about 30cm/12in long, then fold it in half and stretch again. Do the same thing twice more. This should help to give the dough a more holey texture.

After the third stretch, shape the dough into a long loaf shape and slash the top a few times with a sharp knife. Dust with a little flour and leave to prove in a warm place for 45–60 minutes or until it has risen again and feels light and puffy.

Preheat the oven to 240C/450F/Gas 8.

Bake the loaf for 20–25 minutes or until golden-brown and crusty. The base should sound hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

This is one of my Mom’s favorites. I make it regularly…

adapted from Richard Burr

(makes 8 small rolls or 2 loaves)

• 650g white bread flour
• 25g rice flour
• 9g salt
• 6 g active dry yeast
• 250ml warm water
• 125ml beer – I used Old Speckled Hen
• 40g honey

Mix together the bread flour, rice flour, and salt.

Mix the water, beer, honey and yeast, stirring well.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients. When mixed, tip out onto a floured counter.

Knead by hand for about 10 minutes until you have achieved a smooth dough.

Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and allow to rise for about 2 hours.

When the dough has risen, punch down and divide the dough into eight equal pieces for rolls or in half for loaves.

Shape each roll into a round, and leave to rise for 45 minutes on a baking tray/sheet covered in baking parchment. (I use a peel and corn meal.)

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Dust with flour and slash with a sharp knife.

Bake rolls for 20 minutes or about 25 minutes for loaves.

Allow to cool and enjoy!

You’ll note that the loaves are more elongated rather than round. It’s because of the way I slashed them. By slicing them in the same direction, the bread takes the path of least resistance and pushes back along the slit. If I had made more of a cross on top – cutting equally in both directions – the dough would have remained more round.

The inspiration for this loaf comes from Nancy Birtwhistle – winner of The Great British Bake Off, season 5. Her Wholesome Loaf was my starting point for this.

I had actually planned to make her recipe as written, but as I was gathering ingredients, I received a shipment of 5 lbs of hard red wheat I had ordered, so I milled some in a food processor and made the loaf with it, whole wheat flour, and rye flour. Food processor milling is not the easiest thing to do, so… you may want to go to Nancy’s site and check out her recipe.

It came out really good – but absolutely nothing like Nancy’s.

• 300g freshly-milled hard wheat – or 200 gr whole wheat flour and 100 gr white bread flour
• 100g rye flour
• 100g whole wheat flour
• 10g salt
• 7g active dry yeast
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 300 – 340ml water

Proof yeast in 1/4 of the water in mixing bowl. Mix together the flours – 500 gr total – and the salt. Add the remaining water and flours to mixing bowl. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic – 10 minutes by machine and up to 20 minutes by hand. Whole wheat is heavy, so you want lots of water. Don’t be afraid to add more.

[As a side note, I started out with my KitchenAid mixer but it just wouldn’t come together right, so I ended up working it by hand.]

Gather dough and form into a tight ball. Grease a large bowl, add the dough, cover, and allow to double – about an hour in a warm room.

Punch down dough, knead a minute, and form into a tight round loaf.

Place dough onto floured parchment paper and allow to proof, again, until doubled – about an hour.

Meanwhile, place baking stone in oven and preheat to 425°F.

When dough has risen, make cuts on top and slide onto stone. Bake for about 30 minutes or until well browned.