Wholemeal Loaf

Okay, so posts are not being done as quickly as I would like right now.  I started my post-grad course last week and it has already gotten slightly on top of me.  I think it's mainly due to not having so much to do in a long time and hopefully once I get used to it I won't be quite so overwhelmed.  That's the theory anyway.  Knowing my luck I'll get to grips with things and then lose them all when I go out on placement late October.

Anyway, there are still three posts, including this one, to get done from the birthday weekend.  I want to try and get them all done by the end of the month since they are August bakes.  I like to avoid posting about something in a different month to the one it was made in.  For the most part I manage it.  So, continuing on from where I left off, today's post is about bread!

Bread may seem an odd thing to be a birthday bake but the fiancé loves bread.  Thus I decided to make him a little loaf of wholemeal bread to accompany his birthday tea of tomato soup and onion bhajis (he's not that keen on white bread).  Half ended up being eaten with said tea and the rest became toast for the two mornings afterwards.

For a change, I did not have to resort to my favoured bread book.  I found a great recipe in a different one that worked out really well.  Nice and simple and the end product was great.  I admit, I was a bit on edge due to my last adventure baking bread and was worrying about it being raw inside right up until it was finally cut open.  Turns out it was fine.  The fiancé thought it was really delicious. 

Recipe - adapted from The Baking Book
Makes 1 x 1lb loaf

• 115g/4oz strong plain white flour
• 225g/8oz strong plain wholemeal flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp golden caster sugar
• 1 tsp fast-action dried yeast
• 225ml/8fl.oz warm water
• Vegetable oil for greasing

1. Sift the white flour into a large bowl.
2. Add in the wholemeal flour, salt, sugar and yeast and mix together.
3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add most of the warm water.
4. Stir together and then use your hands to shape into a soft dough.  If you need to, add some of the remaining water.
5. Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes until it is smooth.  
6. Grease a bowl with oil, shape the dough into a ball and place inside.  Cover with a clean cloth or clingfilm and leave to rise for about two hours, or until doubled in size. 
7. Grease a 1lb loaf tin with oil.
8. Punch the dough down on a floured surface and shape into a loaf.  Press into the oiled tin, cover and then leave to rise for another 30-60 minutes an hour.
9. Preheat the oven to 230°C/450°F/Gas Mark 8 and bake the loaf for 15 minutes.  Then turn the oven down to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, until the bread has risen and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.
10. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Honey Wheat Bread

 

It's been quite a busy few days for baking.  There are three entries I need to compile for the blog (including this one) so best get a move on.

So, to kickstart it all, I present honey wheat bread!  Been a while since I've done bread and this one was a PAIN.  It all started as a reason to use up the leftover buttermilk again.  I really wish I could get smaller pots of buttermilk sometimes.  I always have leftovers I need to use up.  Anyway, I was originally looking at cake recipes but then saw one for honey wheat buttermilk bread, which sounded like it would be a nice one to make for the fiancé.  I really wanted to make him something yummy since he had an eleven hour shift on Sunday, starting at 7:30am, with a 6 mile cycle to get there.  Not fun.  But this bread sounded perfect.

And thus I set about making it.  Seemed easy enough though the dough was ridiculously sticky.  I ended up adding a bit more flour just to make it more manageable, though still sticky.  It proved to be an annoying dough, since it really didn't want to rise on the first go around.  Then when I knocked it back, re-kneaded and put it in the bread tin, it did rise, albeit very slowly and with considerable help from the electric heater.  But fine, it looked alright and so in the oven it went. 

Now when baking bread, you know it's down when it sounds hollow when tapped on the base.  I cooked it for the time recommended, pulled it out, flipped it and tapped it.  Thunk.  No hollow sound.  Okay, I thought, I'll just put it back in.  I did this at least 3 more times and still wasn't getting a good sound.  So in the end, I just pulled it and left it to cool, thinking that maybe I was mishearing it.

But then the cutting came.  When I've made bread previously, we've always eaten it almost fresh from the oven and it's been scrummy.  So I was unbelievably disappointed when I cut into the loaf and discovered the bottom half was still raw.  The fiancé still thought it tasted good but I was not happy.

 

On to round two.  I decided there could be many things that caused the problem: needing new yeast; not kneading enough; the recipe was intended for a breadmaker; should have left it to cool completely before cutting.  One of those had to be the cause, right?  So I found a very similar recipe, this one not intended for a breadmaker, and had the fiancé pick me up new yeast when he went to the supermarket (along with more buttermilk).  Again, I did what the recipe told me and thought this time around would be more successful.  But it wasn't.  It was still raw at the bottom.  The oven temperature was right.  The internal temperature of the bread was right.  I left it to cool before cutting but nope, still didn't work.

Now I was determined.  I was going to give it one more shot and this time I was going to do what I had been avoiding, which was using a recipe from the only bread book I own.  I had not turned to it before because I feel bad posting recipes from just one book (despite how awesome it is).  But the past two failures had pushed me to it so I flicked through and found something fairly similar, though not identical.  This recipe didn't have buttermilk in it (though I added some in instead of some of the milk) and it wasn't a yeasted dough.  So it was a very quick bread to make.

And it worked!  I was so happy.  It rose nicely and looked good when I cut it up.  Plus it was cooked through.  Honestly, The Big Book of Bread never steers me wrong.  No wonder I only own one bread book.

The fiancé also enjoyed it.  Throughout the trials, I'd used varying amounts of honey.  The first had 4 tbsp honey, and you could really taste it.  The second had 2 tbsp and didn't come through at all.  This recipe also called for 4, but I made it 3, because the fiancé said that something between the two previous ones would be perfect.  So the honey taste is subtler in this one, but still clearly there and would not clash with any topping you chose to put on the bread.

Recipe - adapted from The Big Book of Bread

Makes 1 x 20cm/8inch round loaf

• 450g/1lb wholemeal flour
• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 25g/1oz butter
• 3-4 tbsp runny honey
• 55ml/2fl.oz buttermilk
• About 200ml/7fl.oz milk

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 and flour a baking tray.
2. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon together in a large bowl.
3. Dice up the butter and add it to the dry ingredients.  Rub it in with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
4. Add the honey and buttermilk and stir in.
5. Add the milk a little at a time, mixing everything together until you form a soft dough.  You might not need all the milk.
6. Knead the dough gently in the bowl or on a lightly floured surface for 5-10 minutes. 
7. Shape into a 20cm/8inch round (a flattish circle) and place on the tray.
8. Use a sharp knife to cut three slits across the top of the dough.
9. Bake for 25-30 minutes until it is risen and lightly browned.  It should sound hollow when tapped on the base.
10. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.