The Bread and Baking Thread

Referring back to the small sourdough loaves in post #337:
The first loaf didn't sit still long enough to be photographed but here's the second one:

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It's really tasty, the texture is 'tight' and moist - and suits me very well indeed. This evening it accompanied some homemade broccoli, potato and celery soup with super-mature cheddar cheese.
Because I deserved it.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
To date I've made sourdough loaves in a lidded casserole dish. This is because the advice I've been given and the recipes I've seen advise that the steam generated in the lidded casserole during the early stages of baking helps the crust to develop. I guess the theory is that the steam helps keep the crust soft while the loaf rises during the early stages of baking.
The resulting loaves generally look:

View attachment 56774

.....and certainly suit my taste.
I've experimented a fair amount in order to reduce the time and effort I spend at all stages of the bread making process, and I thought that I'd now try baking a couple of small loaves in conventional 1lb. bread tins without covering at any stage while baking.
So I made my standard sourdough bread dough (see post #322 for the recipe) and, instead of placing the whole dough batch in a lidded casserole, I split the dough in two and baked a couple of loaves in 1lb. tins at 250°C for 35 minutes each:

View attachment 56775

The crust is good, though not as dark as my usual loaves because I didn't want to risk drying the smaller loaves in the oven.
I'll let you how the crumb and taste is in due course, but right now I'm happy with the experiment.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
You could always put a roasting tin of water in the bottom of the oven while they bake
 
Maggy also makes those, they taste lovely and last a long time in an airtight container as well, I think everyone who has a starter has to keep finding different recipes for sourdough
Thought we would have to scoff them all at once, nice to know they keep!
 
Is that 100% starter, Sue, or have you added flour, eggs, water, milk.......

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
These are American measures. I have seen recipes using olive oil instead of butter, these are the first ones I have tried - so easy

½ cup sourdough discard
2 Tbsp butter, melted
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp sesame seeds

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the sourdough discard, melted butter, salt and pepper.

3. Spread the discard onto the parchment paper in one thin layer. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
https://assets.blog.foodnetwork.ca/...6/17145538/sourdough-crackers-before-bake.jpg
4. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, pull out the pan and cut into pieces with a knife or pizza cutter. Continue to bake in the oven for another 20 to 24 minutes until golden on the edges.
 
I'm a sourdough bread baker and yours looks great. Do you bake on the oven shelf with water in the bottom of the oven or on a Dutch oven?

I bake in a casserole dish, Millstone Grit. About 35 minutes with the lid on to trap the steam that comes from the dough then about 20 minutes or so to brown the crust and finish the loaf. I haven't used a water container in the oven.
My recipe and method can be found earlier in the thread.
Just recently I've been experimenting with baking as per a conventional loaf - again, method a few posts back.
Some photos of your loaves and recipes would be great, Millstone Grit.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
Whilst shuffling through the store cupboard I came across some self raising flour which is nearing it's best before date.
I decided that this presented a perfect opportunity to try my hand at something completely new to me - cheese scones:

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They're uneven in shape and size because I formed them by hand - but that doesn't affect the taste and texture, which I liked very much indeed.
This is the half of the batch that survived lunch.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
I'm getting low on the sourdough bread that I brought away in the Moho so this morning I made some flatbread roughly to the recipe that Jagmanx posted at #21.
I made one batch 'au natur' and a second batch sweetened with a couple of teaspoons of sugar and a handful of dried mixed fruit:

IMG_20201025_143958.jpg

For a first attempt not at all bad. I'll be eating some with the mussels I collected from a partially submerged wreck just a short distance from the Moho here in Kent. They'll be cooked in white wine.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
I'm getting low on the sourdough bread that I brought away in the Moho so this morning I made some flatbread roughly to the recipe that Jagmanx posted at #21.
I made one batch 'au natur' and a second batch sweetened with a couple of teaspoons of sugar and a handful of dried mixed fruit:

View attachment 57247

For a first attempt not at all bad. I'll be eating some with the mussels I collected from a partially submerged wreck just a short distance from the Moho here in Kent. They'll be cooked in white wine.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
Bit chilly for skinny dipping?
 
The weather has pretty much trapped me in the Moho alongside the beach at Seaford, East Sussex today.
So I thought that I'd spend a bit of time trying to refine the flatbread recipe that I used a couple of days ago.

Ingredients:
100g white bread flour
100g wholemeal bread flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
15g olive oil
About 100ml water to make a soft, pliable dough.

Method:
Mix all the dry ingredients thoroughly in a bowl. Add most of the water and all the olive oil and mix with a spoon to combine the ingredients, then get your hand in the bowl and kneed the mixture (I don't kneed much - I'm lazy with this!). If the mixture is too dry, add more water. If it's too wet, add a sprinkle of flour until you have a pliable, non sticky dough.
Cover (I put the lid on the bowl but a shower cap or tea towel works well, I'm told) and leave to 'rest' for perhaps 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Sprinkle a little flour on your chopping board and roll out a portion of the dough to a disc about 15-20 cm diameter (my 'discs' were pretty much not discs!). I used a water bottle as a rolling pin.
Heat a frying pan on the hob. Drizzle (what a pretentious word - pouring works) a little olive oil in the hot pan and put in the dough 'disc'. It'll puff up because it's got baking powder in it.
Cook for 2 - 3 minutes until there are brown patches on the bottom then turn over and repeat on the other side.
Voila! Delicious flat bread.
Repeat for the other portions of dough.:

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(I rolled each dough portion as a flatbread was cooking in the frying pan. Rolling them all out in one go might allow them to dry out before cooking).
This may seem like a bit of hassle but from start to 4 cooked flatbreads took about 30 minutes maximum hands-on time plus the 30 minutes resting time if you choose to do this step.

I'll be trying extra flavourings next.
 
Here’s Susie’s flatbread.



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And recipe

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I love it with the nigella seeds with a curry.

Thanks for posting Susie's flatbread recipe, Bill. It looks delicious!
May I double check what the ingredient just below the flour is:

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I can see that I need 75g but am not quite sure of what.
Many thanks to you both.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
It’s 0% Fage Greek yoghurt, though as you get plenty of exercise on the Brompton you could use the 5% version.

Thanks, Bill.
I'll be trying Susie's recipe - flatbreads are well suited to making in a Moho and Susie's look really good.
I promise to exercise should I use anything other than 0% yoghurt!

Colin :):):)
 
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I just love making and eating sourdough bread:

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.......and have also made some flatbreads with herb and onion filling this morning.
Rubbish weather and a wonderful way to enjoy time indoors.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 

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