Friday, December 31, 2010

The raisin connection


The end of the year is a time for reflection. A good moment to thank all the people who are willing to share their recipes and experiences. Sharing makes the world a better place to be. The shape I choose for this bread is the symbol of a connection. Everything is connected and so are we.

Today I will bake raisin bread with almond paste. We still had some almond paste left in the refrigerator. A gift from Holland and I treasured it. Peter loves raisin bread with a lot of almond paste. I like sweet but not too sweet. In this bread there are raisins, kiwi, preserved orange peel and macadamia’s. So I added a little almond paste. But, if you are a sweet tooth like Peter use as much as you like.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Brown Crown


We love dark brown bread in our house. Since I have found roasted malt I bake at least once a week a dark brown bread. But since I like to bake different breads, I look around. There are so many good blogs with recipes to take a life time. I had baked this bread before without the roasted malt.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Thai Orange-Macadamia buns


In 'Bread' van Jeffrey Hamelman is a delicious recipe for Hot cross buns. I’ve baked them many times before with just raisins. Thai people eat rice every day and all day, but they also like my raisin buns.

Today I will use a different filling for the buns. For the Bread Baking Day #35 I give these buns a Thai flavour. I use orangepeel and macadamianuts from Thailand. Don't know where the raisins come from. Because the orangepeel was preserved it had a strong taste, but combined with the macadamianuts and the raisins it was a delicious bun.

Pain de Beaucaire

I am intrigued by what I see. This time it is a photo of Pain de Beaucaire. You can almost taste the bread. I found this on the blog of Wild Yeast and on the site of Breadcetera. The use of slurry and placing the dough seam side up, did the rest.
Have a look at the blog of Wild Yeast Susan. She gives good tips to keep in mind. Also you find the amount for 3 loaves.

As usual I start the first time with a smaller amount. Till I have experienced it for myself. The other reason is that I love to bake bread and there are just two people, Peter and me, to enjoy the breads. Unless I give away the breads, which I also like to do. The more bread there is in the freezer, the longer I need to wait to bake bread.
But, using the smaller amount has a down side to it. The original recipe of Wild Yeast Susan gives 3 pieces of rectangular dough. I ended up with 2 pieces of smaller rectangular dough. The result is

Monday, December 6, 2010

Bread with biga


This bread is inspired by Semolinabread. But, I made it from 100% flour. I made it several times, with 100% flour, and/or mixed with 7-granes, or with a bit of buckwheat and/or some rye. It is an easy bread and delicious one.

It is bread with a thick crunchy crust and soft dough. It needs a biga, which needs 14 – 16 hours to mature.

Biga:
• 250 gram flour
• 150 gram lukewarm water
• 1 gram dry yeast
Dough:
• 250 gram flour
• 150 gram lukewarm water
• 2.5 gram dry yeast
• 10 gram salt
Biga: Put flour, water and yeast in the bowl of the mixer and knead it for 5 minutes till firm dough. Put it in a light oily greased bowl and cover it up. Leave it for 14 - 16 uur to mature at roomtemperature.

Dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the water and the yeast. Add the biga in chunks. Add the flour. Knead the dough for 5 minutes. Let it rest for 5 minutes (autolyse). Add the salt. Knead another 5 minutes till it is smooth dough.
Transfer the dough to light oiled bowl and cover it up with plastic wrap. Leave it to rise till it doubles in size, about for 1.5 hours.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled counter. Gently deflate the dough. Cover it up and leave it for 10 minutes. Shape into round ball. Slip into a floured couche or linnenlined banneton.

Cover it up with plastic wrap and leave it proof at room temperature for about 60 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven, with a baking stone, to 230ºC. Place your steaming apparatus at this time. I use a old cake form with black stones with hot water to create steam. Turn the proofed loaf onto a floured (preferably with semolina flour) parchment.
Slash the surface of the dough with a cross. Slip the loaf onto the preheated baking stone.
Pour hot water on the hot stones for steam. I use a glass bottle with a long neck filled with hot water. Quickly close the ovendoor.
Bake the bead for 20 minutes on 230ºC. Remove the parchment and the stem apparatus. After 20 minutes lower the temperature to 200ºC and bake another 15 – 20 minutes till the bread is done (93 ºC in the center of the bread). Take the bread out of the oven and place it on a rack to cool completely.

Inspired by: Arden