On Bank Holiday we had a bit of an easy day and decided to lots of cooking and baking. We decided to have some friends over as well to have pizza from the earth oven.
I set our Middlest to lighting the fire and getting it going. She was very proud of it, only asking me to help her push it back into the main part of the oven. she maintained it all afternoon as well, stoking it often.
On Thursday we were confined to the house really. The weather was rubbish and my eldest was poorly.
So I decided to keep my middle one entertained we'd make some rolls. After a trip to an amazing burger joint a few weeks ago I'd got a hankering for some brioche buns to make some epic burgers and I'd been given a recipe I wanted to try.
I did make one fairly large mistake at the beginning. I didn't pay attention to the amount I was making. I made the flying sponge (the bit that gets the yeast working early on) and thought, wow that's quite a bit to make.
Turns out when I started to look at the other ingredients I was looking at bakery quantities. Turns out I made enough for 4 dozen rolls!
Never mind.
My biggest problem was not having a mixing bowl big enough! In the end we used my big preserving pan. You can see in the video above how near to the top that was. It makes me laugh when parents set out "messy activities" for their kids, just make them work for their food, they'll get messy in the process!
So after an hour we added the flying sponge to all the other ingredients and luckily for me I had a really good little helper who was keen to mix the mixture and then knead the dough.
I gave her about 1/5 of the dough and she kneaded right through to where it needed to be, I didn't help her at all but you could tell she'd done it enough because the dough started to look smooth and just felt right.
I was impressed with her because she's only three and she stuck at it for well over half an hour and didn't moan once .
I split the dough into two big bits and worked it at the same time. Sometimes I'd slap it down on her hands and she's laugh her head off!
I rolled these out and set them on baking trays. Most went into the freezer like this and were then put into freezer bags to be enjoyed at a BBQ in the near future (hopefully!).
I kept eight back for tea, covered them with an egg glaze and sesame seeds before leaving them to prove and cooking them.
They looked amazing when cooked!
So we couldn't have homemade buns with out homemade burgers so we got some beef I minced last year out of the freezer and made up 1/4 lb patties with a burger mould I've got. My little girls didn't mind this at all and was straight in there making them all for us! Just beef in the patties and seasoned before I cooked them in a hot pan.
I cooked them medium so they were still juicy and I have to blow my own trumpet and say they were amazing. I'm not normally a fan of something sweet with savoury but these buns are only ever so slightly sweet and really work with the meat.
Can't wait to have a BBQ now - we've got a few rolls to get through, only another 40 in the freezer - good job we liked them (I also made 8 other rolls from another batch of dough that day so 56 made in total!)
Anyone else make burger buns like these?
Anyone ever started a recipe and realised that the quantities were huge and made far too many?
At Christmas I was completely spoilt by my brother and his wife as they paid for me to go on a bread making workshop.
They know I love making bread, but it was after I came home from the two hour bread demonstration by Peter Cook a few months ago and I was really impressed by what he did that they decided to get it for me.
I was glad they did!
The selection of bread we came home with
From left to right, clockwise, rye loaf topped with sesame seeds, half a ledbury loaf, basic white loaf, local ale and walnut loaf, a local ale and walnut roll, stoneground wholemeal loaf, soda bread and a few slices of ciabatta
The course ran from 10 until about 4.30, it was really well structured and although Peter himself didn't run it Carl, the baker who took the course, really knew his stuff with over 40 years in the trade. He was also assisted by Ruth who was also very knowledgeable on the subject and she also kept everything running smoothly and provided us with drinks and snacks throughout the day.
There was six of us on the course and it seemed a good number, we could (and did) ask questions at any time. during the day we made five different types of bread, with proving times and mixing times working well to keep us doing something the whole time.
100% rye bread which was very sticky to mix!
The loaves we made were a basic white loaf (although it didn't seem very basic compared to mine!), 100% rye bread, Stoneground wholemeal, local ale & walnut and a oaty soda bread.
Soda bread read to go in the oven
What I really enjoyed was the hands on demonstrations then getting to try yourself, I think my kneading technique has improved no end, the way I'll roll my rolls from now on has changed forever! This is the kind of thing you won't get from a book. Also I ask many (many) questions through the day so hopefully my own bread will improve loads now as well!
Folding in walnuts in a walnut and local ale loaf
Ruth feeding their sour dough starters ready for the week ahead
They put on an amazing lunch for us, the best I've ever had on a course. It's not very often that I'll fill up before the food runs out but by the end we were all stuffed and there was still more to go at! I think there was six or seven loaves for us to try, three massive chunks of cheese, a tray of cured meats and a salad, far more than we could eat and it was all delicious!
Simply an amazing lunch!
It was also really interesting being in a traditional commercial bakery and seeing some of the equipment they use and how they were set up, with charts on the wall to record times of when things were started and when the next stage was going to happen.
I came away from the day with a huge box of bread that I had made (see the top picture) and a recipe book containing the recipes for those loaves, I'm really looking forward to making some of them again.
A brilliant day and one I'd 100% recommend to anyone interested in making bread, his courses can be found here if anyone is interested.
(and I'm in no way affiliated but I am a big fan of his bread and what they're doing)
I'm very fortunate to live in an area that seems to have a lot of people who care passionately about food. Locally there are people that make cider, cheese, grow good livestock and a great butchers in the village. The butchers also sells fresh bread.
Now I bake bread most days but I still think it's great that there is fresh bread available just a mile from my door, when I have bought some it's been lovely and very different to what I bake; sour doughs, cider crumb, rye breads, ciabatta, etc.
Kneading techniques
I saw on Facebook that the hotel in the village was having a 2 hour demonstration by Peter Cook, the man that bakes the bread and sells it to local shops around the area. He has quite a following in the village and everyone raves about his bread (rightly so) so I thought I'd go.
Showing some focciaca dough
It was just £5 for 2 hours and I picked up so many tips and learnt that I'm doing quite a few things differently to him (some might say wrong but I still make good bread!). He made, but didn't cook, some Chelsea buns, a focciata and talked about his sour dough loaves. I'm planning on making some Chelsea buns for the school bake sale on Friday so hopefully I should make them even better this time round!
Rolled up ready to be cut into pieces to make Chelsea buns
What really came across was this mans passion about what he did and that he believes in good local real food and real bread. His loaves are all made by hand and some of them are three days in the making, he even says that some gluten intolerant people can eat his loaves just due to the fermentation times that the yeasts have to work. He could name all his suppliers and even collected spring water from the Malverns to use in his sour doughs.
I think I might have to book on one of his day courses and do some more learning.
I was saying to my mum today that my house might be messy, but I get a lot done, we're all very happy and we eat really well!
I've been making a lot more "free formed" bread lately.
I was getting fed up of making a loaf in the bread maker and only eating 3/4 of it, instead if I make a batch of rolls I can pop what ever isn't eaten into the freezer for another time. Much better use of flour and electric.
I've also messed about with other types of loaves, my friend was talking about fougasses and I thought they sounded like a great idea to add to the freezer as a lunch that my wife could just grab on her way to work. Each loaf has cheese, salami and sun dried tomatoes in and is then topped with finely chopped rosemary and see salt with an egg glaze.
I also mixed up a batch of dough the other day and took it on a play date with me, a great way to get kids interested in what they're eating (although mine don't normally need much encouragement!)
My little baker making a loaf
Next year I'm going to make a real effort to grow some more poppies, they are simply my favourite thing to add to bread, as a topping or in the dough, they add such a great, subtle, flavour.
I have some great plans in the extension to make a "prooving cupboard" above the new fireplace (but accessed behind it) so I have somewhere warm to keep my bread while it increases in size. Has anyone else done this?
The other day dad and I were working when I saw my wife loading the kids into the car,
"what's up?" I asked.
"Something wrong with your bread I need to go buy some for lunch."
I went in and saw my "loaf", I knew what had happened, as I was putting it all in the bread maker one of the girls had asked me a question and I forgot to put the yeast in.
An unleaven loaf.
Although it was a annoying it was quite funny as I think you could knock someone out with that loaf. It reminded me of the time I forgot to put the paddle in for stirring, so when I came to eat my lunch there was just a bowl of burn flour!
So it got me wondering if anyone reading his has any stories of bread failing to do what it's meant to or doing something unexpected? I'd love to here your stories!
Last week I decided to make a project just for me in the evenings. I've been making lots of bread on my bread stone lately (sorry to keep going on about it) and I really fancied having a little "peel" to slip the dough onto the stone rather than plop it on with my hands.
It didn't need to be a massive one for a proper bread oven, just a board with a handle really for our standard oven, if I ever build a outdoor bread/pizza oven I'll just make another!
The project started with my brother and me looking through some of his timber he's got milled. He picked up a short oak board that he'd obviously sawn freehand with the chainsaw. It also had a huge knot in it and a lot of sap wood. Not much usable wood in it, but just enough for what I had planned.
Rough board
I got the board into the workshop and went at it with the handheld electric plane to see what was under all the dust and to try and level it out. Luckily this board was pretty much quarter sawn so it will be nice and stable when it's finished.
Starting to see the grain
Once I could see where all the knots, sap wood and splits were I then planned out how I wanted the board. I could see by the way the grain went in the board that the handle would have to slope away otherwise there would be short grain and the handle might snap off.
Drawing out the board
I then got the jig saw and cut it out, the shape kind of presented itself so I just went with it, shaping the handle around the knot and following the grain.
Rough shape cut out with the jig saw
An almost quarter sawn board meaning that it should be much more stable. Put simply the lines in the wood above won't try and straighten out quite so much.
I then planed and sanded it until I was happy with the finish and it felt right to the touch. The whole thing tapers to the end as well.
I treated it with a food safe oil and left it to dry.
The finished board
I'm really pleased with this for a simple project and hopefully it'll get quite a bit of use. It's a really tactile piece and it made me laugh when I brought it into the house as the girls kept rubbing it with their hands!
I'll put this into action next week and let you know how I get on with it.
Anyone else have a bakers/bread makers peel that they use?
If you've been reading my blog lately your know that I've been making a lot of bread. It's been a great activity to do with the girls but it can be tricky with the timing and proving times, sometimes they just don't want to play ball and that can wreck a loaf. I've cooked using no kneed recipes but it normally takes lots of planning and I'm not great at that.
So I've decided to take the plunge and buy a bread maker, or more to the point -get one for my up coming birthday. Every time I write about bread I get comments about how good the bread makers are now, so we've managed to find a space for it in the dinning room, not ideal but it will do for now.
Some homemade focaccia form last week
The question is which do I go for? I'm planning on using it most days, either just to make the dough so I can cook free form in the oven, or on a timer so we can have the bread ready to make my wife's sandwiches for work in the morning.
My friend who uses one daily swears by a Panasonic bread maker but I was interested to see what other people are using and how they rate it?
Which would you go for or would you not bother at all?
For tea last night I made a squash soup with a sour dough loaf to have with it, followed by chocolate brownies.
I followed the "no kneed recipe" on Ngo family farm blog, although I made my loaf free form on my bread stone instead of in a pot.
Starting the starter, left by the fire.
Starting the starer was quite interesting and to begin with I thought I was never going to cook with it as it smelt like sick! Every time I walked into the room I'd get the waft of sick and think that the starter needs to go in the bin. I stuck with it though and kept it running a few weeks before I used it, now it smells yeasty and slight alcoholic, not unpleasant at all. to start it I used the recipe from the River Cottage bread book (a link to what is written is here).
My starter bubbling away
Not a great photo but it shows that it did rise quite well.
This is my first ever sour dough and it was really good, I loved the yoghurty like after taste. We ate the whole loaf while it was still warm, covered in butter and dipped into our soup - it was a good dinner to have.I think I did knock some air out of it when I put it on the bread stone but it still had good sized air bubbles in it. I plan on making a peel for it when I get time so I can slip the bread on the stone without loosing so much air. It was a great tea and I should say that even with a large tray of chocolate brownies and enough soup left over to feed a football team, the total cost wouldn't be much more than £2, anyone that says food is expensive needs to try cooking from scratch!
This last week or so I've been experimenting with making soda bread for the girls and me to eat at lunch time.
We normally buy all our bread in one go for the week then freeze it, but then there are times when guests turn up or you get through more than you thought you would have and need some more.
I hate going to the shops so the best option for me is to make it! Trouble is I normally only realise I need it when we come to eat it. No time then to let the yeast do it's work and prove the dough.
Soda bread always sounded like a good option. but when I tried it first of all it was far too bitter. I followed the recipe from River Cottage Bread book but it uses four teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, it turns out that this makes it so bitter it's inedible. Evalyn pushed her plate away and said "I don't like", I didn't like either.
So I searched the internet for a better recipe and to figure out where I was going wrong. In the end I did my usual thing of bastardising a recipe and then messing with it until it tastes nice and turns out good every time.
Here is what I've come up with so far:
500g white flour,
teaspoon of salt,
Teaspoon of Bicarbonate of soda,
350ml milk with a teaspoon of lemon juice in,
Extra flour for dusting,
Crank the oven up to max with your bread stone in.
Add the lemon juice to the milk to make it sour.
Sieve the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and mix together well.
Add the milk and mix quickly, kneed for a short while (minute) to pull it all together.
Split it in two, dust it with flour and then slap it on the bread stone.
Turn the oven down to 200 degrees and wait for 30 minute for it to cook.
It should sound hollow when you pick it up and tap it's bottom.
Eat it while it's still warm with butter and peanut butter. this bread goes stale really quickly.
Anyone else got any good instant bread recipes or other soda recipes? I've heard adding oats or an egg can make a difference as well.
