So, I’ve been a bit behind with my posts, I think Dan’s been kind and not put too many on his side?! My mum was here for 10 days and I demanded she bake a treacle tart – something I used to love her making as a kid. I may have to post a picture as a guest blog – it looked wonderful. Prior to that I made another loaf from the Dan Lepard book, using a leaven for the first time. It went rather well actually! This is quite a dense rye sweet(ish) bread and is best toasted. It’s pretty involved, what with the leaven and all (starting 6 days before) so I won’t go into the recipe here, just get his lovely book!

It went wonderfully with this Dan’s jam.. what kind of jam was it again Dan? Very tasty.

Well, in my small windows of opportunity this morning I managed to make a loaf successfully with fresh yeast – yay! For some reason I’ve tried twice before and have ended up with a brick. I don’t think I got the temperature of the liquid quite right before. This is a recipe from the Dan Lepard book, the Handmade Loaf, that Dan gave me for my birthday. It’s a lovely, homely, milk loaf meant to be good for sturdy sarnies.

It smells wonderful! Can’t wait to try it. I’ve discovered that making bread is actually OK with a bambino in the house, so long as there’s not an emergency whilst I’m covered in sticky dough. The gaps between kneading and rising are quite handy.

Window’s closing.. gotta go!

Ale? Cheese? Two of my favourite things, so I had to try this recipe from David Myers and Simon King, aka The Hairy Bikers, aka The Hairy Bakers. Their telly programs might have a slightly annoying format, but some of their recipes look great.

You can really smell and taste the ale and cheese (cheddar and parmesan) in the finished loaf.

Here’s their recipe, over on BBC Food.

When I make it again, I think I’ll experiment, as mine were tasty but not perfect – you might be able to spot the deformities in the photos.

I’d reduce the yeast a tad. I’d add a first proving stage, letting it rise for say an hour or two then knocking it back before shaping the loaves for a second proving. Finally, I’d cook them in a hotter oven.

Just to compare… I had a good loaf experience this week too. I decided to make double the quantity as we always get through one loaf so quickly. The loaves rose really well and are lovely and rustic looking. I used mainly white flour this time with some wholemeal (perhaps this is why) and added some linseed.

Recipe for one loaf:

450g bread flour (recipe is for wholemeal only)
300ml warm water
1tbsp brown sugar (any)
2tsp easy yeast (I sometimes use the live stuff – then you  need to minus the amount of liquid used from the 300ml)
Half vitamin C tablet, crushed
pinch of salt
50g unsalted butter (but i often use salted)

Put warm water, sugar and yeast in bowl, stir well, (then add linseed if using). Add flour, salt and Vitamin C,  mix well to a soft dough, pour over melted butter and squish through. Knead lightly. Leave for 10 mins, knead lightly three times over half an hour. Then roll our into a rectangle and roll up tightly to fit into a loaf tin. Leave to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hour. Dust top with flour (prevents burning) and score down the middle.
If fan assisted oven, heat to the max and bake for 20 mins then turn down for the last 5 or ten. This loaf seems to bake well in 25 minutes for me.

This is of course another Dan Lepard

My basic bread recipe is 250ml warm water and 1 tsp easy yeast mixed up with one and a half cups of strong white flour. At this stage I also add some seeds – linseed, poppy, sesame, sunflower, whatever I’ve got or feel like. I reckon the yeast can happily feed on the wheat without recourse to sugar or honey if you leave it in a sponge for long enough. So I tend to leave the sponge at least three hours, if not longer – like all day.

To make up the dough, add 1 tsp salt, 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid powder (which I’m experimenting with) and another cup and a half of flour. I tend to mix it up flour-wise – wholewheat, granary, whatever I’ve got, whatever I feel like!

I’m pretty casual about my kneading – maybe do the Dan Lepard method of three short kneads over the course of half an hour, or loose variations of that. Then leave for another hour or so to rest, knock back, put in tin and leave. I forgot I had one proving and left it for nearly two hours – I thought it’d over-rise and have bit airy gaps, but it was actually great, so I tend to leave them quite a while in the tin now, till they’re coming over the edge nicely. Then 25 mins in hot oven (fan over at 220c).

When it’s baked and a knock on the base sounds good, wrap in a damp tea towel – this keeps the crust nice and soft.

With this one (which was about two thirds white, some wholemeal, some granary, some other seeds), it was last thing at night, so I wrapped it in the towel then put it under a large mixing bowl to stop the cats getting at it. This kinda steamed it, as there was a fair bit of condensation in the bowl this morning. The result is lovely and soft. Best loaf I’ve made and long way from some of the dense, hard-crusted breads I’ve made during the old learning process.