French Baguette

I decided we needed to have soup for tea today, mostly down to me considering my lack of vegetable intake this week due to hectic schedules and just no desire to eat them.  Also the fact that the fiancé is away tomorrow night and Monday is usually soup day.  Hence Sunday had to be soup day!  And with soup comes bread, and it being a Sunday with no work meant that I could in fact make the bread myself.  

Originally I thought I'd just end up making the basic loaf or the bloomer again, because as I flicked through my book there were a lot of overly fancy flavours or things which just didn't appeal to me.  What can I say, I have a boring taste range.  But then I found the recipe for French baguettes and it all looked easy enough.  I even had all the ingredients...or I thought I did.  Turns out I didn't have plain flour so had to make a quick dash to the local shop for some.

Anyway, it was fairly successful.  I don't think it looked entirely like a French baguette.  It ended up much shinier than I think it's supposed to.  I also thought the taste wasn't quite right.  Not bad, it was still quite nice, but it didn't taste like the baguettes I'm used to.  The fiancé was perfectly happy though.  He ate most of it.  I will say though, it certainly smelt like a French baguette does, so that was something at least.  I may investigate different baguette recipes at some point because I do love me some baguette.

Recipe - adapted from The Big Book of Bread 

• 200g/7oz strong plain white flour
• 62g/2oz plain flour
• 1.25 tsp salt
• 1/2 sachet (3.5g/0.125oz) yeast
• About 170ml/6fl.oz warm water
• 1/2 tsp cornflour

1. Sift the flours and 3/4 tsp of salt together in a large bowl, then stir in the yeast.
2. Add the water a bit at a time until you get a soft dough.
3. Knead the dough on a floured surface, or inside your bowl if it is big enough, until it is smooth (about 10-15 minutes of kneading).
4. Roll into a ball and place in an oiled bowl.  Cover and leave in a warm place to rise until it has doubled in size.
5. Punch the dough in the bowl and then turn out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead for another 10-15 minutes.
6. Shape into a baguette that is about 25cm/10inches long.  Place between the folds of a pleated tea towel and cover.  Leave to rise until doubled in size.
7. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 and place a roasting dish full of water on the bottom shelf of the oven.
8. Make a glaze for the bread by mixing the cornflour and the remaining 1/2 tsp of salt together with 1 tbsp of water.
9. Put 65ml/2.3fl.oz of water into a small saucepan and add the cornflour mixture.  Bring the boil, stirring the whole time, and then take off the heat.  Set aside.
10. When the baguette has risen, slide onto a baking tray which has been floured.
11. Use a sharp knife to cut slashes into the top of the bread at even intervals.
12. Use a pastry brush to cover the bread in a layer of the glaze.
13. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes.  Every 10 minutes add another coat of the glaze to the bread.
14. The baguette is ready when it is brown, crisp and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
15. Cool on a wire rack.

Baby Bloomer

Ah, the baby bloomer.  So called because it is a bloomer, but a small one, since I only needed to feed two of us with it.  Today the boyfriend suggested he make soup for our dinner and because we usually buy a nice loaf of bread to have with it I figured I would make some for a change.  And I actually had time to do so today, so why not?

I decided to try a bloomer.  The recipe wasn't that different from the basic white bread I made the other day, except for the inclusion of milk, not using a tin and giving it an egg wash coat.  I got a bit confused with the rolling bit but it came together easy enough and whilst I was a bit concerned with its size, after the second rise and going in the oven, it beefed up a bit.  It made a nice accompaniment to the potato and leek soup.

It tasted lovely.  Once again we polished off the entire loaf.  Possibly the only complaint was that the crust was overdone.  Not inedible but it certainly took a bit of extra effort to cut it.  I think I had my oven slightly higher than I meant to for the first stage of baking.  Oops.  Definitely need to get that oven thermometer.

Recipe - adapted from The Big Book Bread

Makes 1 small-ish loaf

• 350g/12.5oz strong white flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp caster sugar
• 3/4 tsp dried yeast
• 12.5g/0.5oz butter
• 75ml/2.5fl.oz warm milk
• About 150ml/5fl.oz warm water
• 1 egg

1. Grease a baking tray and set to one side.
2. Sift the flour and the salt into a large bowl.
3. Add the sugar and yeast and mix together.
4. Rub in the butter.
5. Make a well in the centre of the mix and pour in the milk and half the water.  Mix.
6. Keep adding the water a bit at a time and mixing together until you get a soft dough.  If 150ml of water isn't enough then add more but only tablespoonfuls at a time.
7. On a lightly floured surface, or in your bowl if it is big enough, knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic.  This is about 10 minutes of kneading.
8. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl.  Cover with clingfilm and put in a warm place to rise until it has doubled in size.
9. Once it is risen, punch the dough in the centre to deflate it and knead for another 5 or so minutes.
10. Roll the dough out into a rectangle with a rolling pin until it is about 2.5cm/1 inch thick.
11. Start from a shorter side and start to roll the dough up like a swiss roll.  After you make each roll of the dough, pinch it together along the seam.
12. When the dough is fully rolled up, pinch the final seam together, tuck the edges of the loaf underneath it and place on the baking tray with the seam at the bottom.
13. Cover and leave to rise until doubled in size.  Again, I switched my oven on to preheat at this stage and sat the bread on top covered in a tea towel to let it rise.  So turn on your oven to 230°C/450°F/Gas Mark 8.
14. Once risen, beat the egg in a small bowl with a couple of tablespoons of water and brush over the top of the loaf with a pastry brush.
15. Use a sharp knife to cut 4 diagonal slits into the top of the loaf and then coat the insides of them with more egg wash.
16. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes then turn the oven down to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 and cook for another 25-35 minutes.  The bread should be golden brown and sound hollow when tapped underneath.
17. Remove and let cool on a cooling rack for a few minutes before serving.

Basic White Bread

What's this?  Bread?  That's certainly something that's not cropped up on here before.  Which is strange really, because I love making bread.  I just don't seem to have made any since starting this blog.  I used to make it a fair bit at university, and made some when I was living with my boyfriend's parents.  My cheesy loaf was very popular there.  

So today I decided I wanted to make bread (and a couple of other things to come later) so I grabbed the bread book which was among the first birthday presents my boyfriend ever got me and thumbed through.  Whilst I have found a lot of recipes I now want to make in the near future, I decided it was best to start with a basic loaf because the two of us would both enjoy it.  And enjoy it we did!  My GOD was this bread good.  It's not a very big loaf and we devoured it over lunch.  It's all gone already.  And I have to say, it is amazing served warm.  So if you can serve it that way then do.

 

Recipe - adapted from The Big Book Of Bread

Makes 1 small-ish loaf

• 350g/12.3oz strong white flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp caster sugar
• 3/4 tsp dried yeast
• 12.5g/0.5oz butter, diced
• About 225ml/8fl.oz warm water

1. Grease a 9.5x4inch / 25x10cm loaf tin and set to one side.
2. Sift the flour and the salt into a large bowl.
3. Add the sugar and yeast and mix together.
4. Rub in the butter.
5. Make a well in the centre of the mix and pour in about half the water.  Mix.
6. Keep adding the water a bit at a time and mixing together until you get a soft dough.  You probably won't need all the water.  If you put too much water in and make the dough too sticky, add a little flour to balance it out.
7. On a lightly floured surface, or in your bowl if it is big enough, knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic.  This is about 10 minutes of kneading.
8. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl.  Cover with clingfilm and put in a warm place to rise until it has doubled in size.
9. Once it is risen, punch the dough in the centre to deflate it and knead for another 2-3 minutes.
10. Shape into an oblong and press into the loaf tin.  Cover and sit on top of your oven.
11. Preheat the oven to 230°C/450°F/Gas Mark 8 and leave the tin sitting on top for about 30 minutes to let it rise to double its size again.
12. Bake the loaf for 15 minutes.
13. Turn down the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 and bake for another 15-20 minutes.  After this the bread should be risen, golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
14. Turn out onto a rack to cool for a few minutes before serving.