The Bread and Baking Thread

Now there's a coincidence.
Today's soda bread with date, walnut and sultanas:

View attachment 54271

I'm close to finishing a plain sourdough loaf, after which I'll be making a savoury soda loaf of some description.
This is a great way to enjoy at least some of the lockdown - and I mean both making and consuming!

Colin 🙂🙂🙂


Already halfway down the first loaf now. Haven't made any for a week or two, so its going down lovely!😋
 
................. can you find us a recipe for making our own flour?:love:..........

That made me laugh out loud!
Thanks for that one.
BTW, if sourdough bread is to your liking, you don't need to buy yeast. Similarly, of course, soda bread.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
That made me laugh out loud!
Thanks for that one.
BTW, if sourdough bread is to your liking, you don't need to buy yeast. Similarly, of course, soda bread.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
Cheers Colin, we have a sourdough starter running along nicely, Maggy makes pancakes with the bit she removes when she feeds it if we are not making bread, she feeds that more than me to be honest;)
 
Yes home-made is great.
I prefer bread that can be cooked quickly and having found Tesco's do good frozen Paratha I have experimented.
Not always successful BUT this one is good and easy
LINK
Milk-butter paratha

Prep time; 15 mins
Waiting time; 40 mins
Cooking time; 15 mins
Total time; 1 hour 10 mins

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour + 2 tablespoons for dusting and rolling
¾ tsp salt
3½ tablespoons butter
¾ cup milk
Butter for rolling and cooking

Instructions
In a medium microwave safe bowl, combine butter and milk. Heat until butter is just melted (you can also use a stove in a small saucepan)
In a bowl, combine flour, salt and the butter-milk mixture. Knead to make a non-sticky soft and pliable dough (if the dough is too hard, add 1 tablespoon of warm milk at a time until soft)
Using a clean tea towel or cling wrap, cover the bowl. Leave it to rest in room temperature for about 30 minutes
Knead the dough again and divide into 4 equal soft balls
Put the dough onto a floured surface. Let it rest covered for a few minutes more
Roll each ball into a thin round layer
Apply a thin layer of butter on rolled dough; about ¼ teaspoon
Fold in half .. oil/butter on surface roll out again
Repeat
Sprinkle some flour over and gently roll into a size of a chapati/ paratha
On a frying pan over medium heat, add the rolled paratha. Cook until the underside is light brown and bubbles begin to appear on the surface
Flip to the other side. Spread some ghee on the cooked side. Flip again to the other side and spread ghee too. Flip again on both sides until golden brown and well cooked
Serve as desired. Enjoy
tried this today very nice
 
I've been working on a soda bread recipe that would give me a conventional looking loaf with a relatively moist, more open crumb and no horizontal cracks around the sides.
Cracked sides has been pretty much a feature of my soda loaves. I think I now know what causes the phenomenon. I believe that the top of the loaf cooks relatively quickly and 'sets' a crust. At this stage the inside of the loaf hasn't started cooking or rising significantly and as it does so, because the top has 'set' a crust the inside can only expand by pushing the whole loaf top upwards, thus causing horizontal cracks around the sides of the loaf.
To get around this problem I score the top of the loaf before baking (I've always done this) but then recut the score a couple of times during baking to break the forming crust and allow the loaf to expand without cracking the sides of the loaf.
I hope that makes sense!
In order to have a more moist crumb I now use 25% more milk (non dairy for me).
In order to have a more open crumb (a greater 'rise') I now use 50% more bicarbonate of soda and 50% more white wine vinegar.

So the latest plain soda bread loaf was made as follows:

Dry Ingredients:
200g plain white flour
150g plain wholemeal flour
50g oats
1 teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

Wet Ingredients:
375ml milk (coconut milk for me)
1½ tablespoon white wine vinegar

Method:
1. Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly and, separately, mix the wet ingredients together.
2. Mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients together.
3. Tip the wet mixture into a greased 1lb loaf tin and score the top of the loaf longitudinally.
4. Bake at 210°C for 35 minutes, rescoring the top of the loaf after about 10 minutes baking and again after about 20 minutes baking.
5. Remove from loaf tin and place on a wire rack to cool.

The resulting loaf looks the way I had hoped:

IMG_20200501_092609.jpg

.... with no cracks, a moist crumb and, most importantly, tastes good!
I find that the loaf is great on the day of baking but, since I'm trying to lose weight, it also keeps well in the refrigerator for a few days if wrapped tightly in a plastic bag.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
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Another sourdough out of the oven this morning:

IMG_20200505_090253.jpg

This one has sunflower, pumpkin and linseeds in it.
Yummy!
Surely the bakers amongst us are still in production? Photos please!

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
well i don't usually have a lot of luck with bread, but recently got a stand mixer ,a great help - i've never been a kneady person , and this does the work for me . so yesterday i tried Japanese milk bread , and it's really the best bread i ever made . light , fluffy , crunchy and chewy , lovely toast too . highly recommended https://www.carolinescooking.com/japanese-milk-bread/ mine didn't look like this , i couldn't spare an egg for glazing and didn't make such neat rolls .
 
View attachment 54339
Yesterday's sourdough. Just a plain batch this time, with a few oats sprinkled on top...

I see that you baked your sourdough in a conventional loaf tin, Greg. The recipes I've come across always seem to recommend having water in a container in the oven when baking to 'improve' the quality of the crust. I've not done that but do most of the baking in a casserole pot with the lid on to retain steam around the loaf, then remove the lid for ~20 minutes to bake the crust the way I like it.
So.........how did you bake your sourdough loaf in a conventional bread tin? With or without water in the oven, with or without a cover over the loaf for at least some of the baking time?
It looks great and I fancy doing a conventionally-shaped sourdough loaf.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
well i don't usually have a lot of luck with bread, but recently got a stand mixer ,a great help - i've never been a kneady person , and this does the work for me . so yesterday i tried Japanese milk bread , and it's really the best bread i ever made . light , fluffy , crunchy and chewy , lovely toast too . highly recommended https://www.carolinescooking.com/japanese-milk-bread/ mine didn't look like this , i couldn't spare an egg for glazing and didn't make such neat rolls .

Sounds good, Nigel. If you do another Japanese milk loaf, is there any chance that you could post a photo? I might want to try one of those loaves but might attempt to use non-dairy 'milk'.
BTW, ' .....i've never been a kneady person ......' made me laugh out loud!

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
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I see that you baked your sourdough in a conventional loaf tin, Greg. The recipes I've come across always seem to recommend having water in a container in the oven when baking to 'improve' the quality of the crust. I've not done that but do most of the baking in a casserole pot with the lid on to retain steam around the loaf, then remove the lid for ~20 minutes to bake the crust the way I like it.
So.........how did you bake your sourdough loaf in a conventional bread tin? With or without water in the oven, with or without a cover over the loaf for at least some of the baking time?
It looks great and I fancy doing a conventionally-shaped sourdough loaf.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
Hi. I just mix my dough, usually 3x recipe then place in loaf tons or sometimes straight onto a baking tray. These then go on a shelf in an oven pre heated to 200deg for around 30mins. If they are not fully cooked at 30mins, I find that if I turn the oven off but leave the loaves in the oven to cool for another 10 mins that usually finishes them lovely. To prevent sticking, I usually line the tons/trays with a piece of baking parchment or grease proof paper.
 
Hi. I just mix my dough, usually 3x recipe then place in loaf tons or sometimes straight onto a baking tray. These then go on a shelf in an oven pre heated to 200deg for around 30mins. If they are not fully cooked at 30mins, I find that if I turn the oven off but leave the loaves in the oven to cool for another 10 mins that usually finishes them lovely. To prevent sticking, I usually line the tons/trays with a piece of baking parchment or grease proof paper.

Thanks, Greg. So you've baked the sourdough loaf in the photo above in pretty much the same way as you bake your soda bread loaves?
Sounds good.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
Thanks, Greg. So you've baked the sourdough loaf in the photo above in pretty much the same way as you bake your soda bread loaves?
Sounds good.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
Sorry, slip of the tongue its soda bread not sourdough.
Haven't made any sourdough yet, keep meaning to try some but we just like soda bread too much!...👍
 
Sorry, slip of the tongue its soda bread not sourdough.
Haven't made any sourdough yet, keep meaning to try some but we just like soda bread too much!...👍

No problem, Greg. It looks brilliant.
I've been shopping on the Brompton today and bought some glacé cherries and mixed dried fruit. Tomorrow I'm planning on a new (to me) soda bread recipe - mostly inspired by one of your earlier posts.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
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No problem, Greg. It looks brilliant.
I've been shopping on the Brompton today and bought some glacé cherries and mixed dried fruit. Tomorrow I'm planning on a new (to me) soda bread recipe - mostly inspired by one of your earlier posts.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
Sound, you'll love cherry & walnut! Usually when I make that one the first loaf goes before its cooled down!😋
We like the savoury one too, jalapeños, sundries tomatoes & grated mature cheddar....
 

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