Turkish Bread Delight

Further to my previous post on Hummus Bi Tahini, this was the Turkish bread that I made to accompany it. I used the recipe from Glutten Cat, who generously had translated it into English. This bread not only looks fabulous, but tastes wonderful. It is the perfect scoop for hummus or any meal that has a sauce or gravy, or just eat it as is. I was a bit heavy handed with the nigella seeds, which I used in preference to caraway seeds. Next time I'll combine both.

The finished product and (below) the proved dough, ready to be put in the oven.

This recipe makes a lot of dough, so depending upon the size of the bread you require, halve or even quarter it, which is what I'll be doing next time.

I really loved the effect of spreading yoghurt over the top, which not only held the seeds in place, but gave it a beautiful shine, texture and flavour, once out of the oven.

BBD #12 Small Breads

Krispy Kreme © donuts are not common in Australia...yet. Their franchise has obviously hit the major capitol cities, but not the small rural communities, and hopefully it will be a long time before they do, if these copycat donuts are any indication as to why people are raving about them. Who needs another fast food franchise in their town? Not me. Bread Baking Day #12 is travelling to India this month, where Aparna, from My Diverse Kitchen has chosen small breads as the theme. This is a monthly event created by Zorra from Kopchtopf, and I was just in the right mood to make donuts this last weekend. And as I'd just whipped up a batch of delicious lemon curd, I thought I would incorporate the tangy flavour with the sweet bread, and fill the donut "holes" with it. Personally, I think the holes are the best part!

Copycat Krispy Kreme© Donuts

DONUTS:
2 cups scalded milk
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar, divided
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons yeast
4 eggs, beaten
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
7 cups sifted flour

GLAZE:
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup cold water

Melt butter in hot milk. Add 1 teaspoon sugar and salt. Allow to cool to lukewarm.

Beat in yeast, nutmeg, eggs and 3 cups flour.

Add rest of flour (dough will be sticky). Knead for 5 minutes then allow to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Roll out dough, cut into shapes. Do not re-roll dough. Allow to rise for 30-45 minutes.

Mix together ingredients for glaze; set aside.

Heat oil to 365F.

Fry donuts 2 minutes on each side or until brown.

Dip in warm glaze.

Makes 48 donuts

This makes a lot of donuts, so be prepared to be chained to the deep fryer for a fair amount of time. Also be prepared for the plate of donuts to disappear before the next batch has finished cooking. Make sure at least one is saved for the cook!

Bread Baking Day # 11 - Sprouts

Happy Birthday BBD! One year old already, and growing stronger each month. Congratulations Zorra. You must be proud of your baby. So for this month, Zorra from Kochtopf is hosting her very own event's birthday party and chosen sprouted bread as the theme. I must lead a very sheltered life, because I had never heard of sprouted bread, let alone tasted it. So of course I had to do some research on the subject. Essene bread was a noticeably popular search result, and this bread dates back to prehistoric times when a grain/water paste was made to make a thin wafer, cooked on warmed stones. If you visit Zorra's site, there is a very interesting history of how this type of bread originated, and the scientific reasoning as to why it's so good for us.

I'm afraid that I'm more of a "modern" baker, not having the precious time to sprout my grains or wait around for a bunch of rocks to heat up in subzero temperatures. So after lots of reading about sprouted breads, and the methodology used, I opted for store bought alfalfa sprouts, which I love tossed over a salad, or combined in a sandwich. Sprouts and bread form a very nice partnership indeed.

Because I had a pot of vegetable soup bubbling away on the stove in readiness for an easy Sunday night meal, I thought mini sprouted bread loaves would make a pleasing and nutritional accompaniment to the meal. The addition of peppitas, which are shelled pumpkin seeds, enhanced the flavour to a new level.

At first I was hesitant about adding the sprouts to the unmixed ingredients, fearing that they would end up a mushy pulp, but this didn't happen surprisingly. You could still pick the odd sprout out of your teeth after eating! They tasted fantastic, and were the star attraction of the meal. What a perfect way to use up leftover sprouts, which continue to grow in the fridge, before they spoil. I will definitely be making these again.

Alfalfa sprouts and peppita bread

3/4 c Plus 2 tablespoons Water

1 1/2 ts Salt

2 tb Honey

1 cup of alfalfa sprouts

2 tb Olive or Vegetable oil

3 1/4 c Bread flour

1/2 c Unsalted raw pumpkin seeds (peppitas)

1 tsp Yeast

Instructions

Measure carefully, placing all ingredients in a mixer and knead for about 6 minutes, or until dough is not sticking to the bowl, and feels quite firm. Let dough rise until for 2 hours (it won't be visibly doubled but the oven spring is great). Divide dough into eight equal pieces and shape into mini loaves. If you have deep rectangular or round muffin pans, grease lightly with oil then dust over flour, and place your dough into pan. Let loaves rise again for another hour or so, and place in very hot oven (450 F) for 10 or 15 minutes, then turn heat down to about 350 F for another 15 minutes, checking that the edges don’t burn. When cooked, turn out onto wire tray to cool.

Fancy a bit o' crumpet?

Melissa from Baking a Sweet Life is hosting Bread Baking Day #10, and the theme is "breakfast breads". In Australia, our traditional breakfasts derived from English cuisines from the late 1700's, when this country was settled with mainly convicts from "The Mother Country". I know one of my ancestors was a convict, relocated to Tasmania, for stealing a sheep. Naughty Rufus!! Way back in those days of hardship, food was simple, with flour being one of the main staples, even though it was, more than often, weevil infested and acrid. Damper was a common staple among the poor, and whilst that is a treat to make in the camp oven when you're out camping (obviously), a more civilised and lady-like breakfast is a piping hot crumpet, with butter and honey oozing through the holes onto your plate, to be mopped up with the last piece of remaining crumpet.

According to Wikipdia "Crumpets, also known as pieclets, are generally circular though long and square varieties also exist. They have a distinctive flat top covered in small pores and a resilient, slightly spongy texture. Crumpets alone are bland and generally eaten hot with a topping (usually butter). Other popular accompaniments include cheese when melted on top of the crumpet, jam, Marmite, marmalade, honey, peanut butter, cheese spread, golden syrup, and maple syrup."

The term "crumpet" has also been given the slang meaning of reference to an attractive woman, however in this society of equal rights and feminism, that term is not bandied about in public as much now.

Although the preparation was time consuming, the end result was well worth the wait. Never again will I grab a packet of supermarket crumpets, which I now liken to discs of fluffy cardboard. The only bit o' crumpet to be had in this house are these babies.

English Crumpets

Preparation Time 30 minutes

Cooking Time 40 minutes

Makes 30

Ingredients

• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp (7g/1 sachet) dried yeast
• 250ml (1 cup) warm milk
• 250ml (1 cup) warm water
• 450g (3 cups) plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsp bread improver
• 1 tsp salt
• 250ml (1 cup) water, extra
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Vegetable oil, to grease
• Butter, to serve
• Honey, to serve

Method

1. Combine the sugar and yeast in a medium bowl. Gradually pour in the warm milk and water and stir until yeast dissolves. Cover with plastic wrap and stand in a warm, draught-free place for 10 minutes or until mixture is frothy.
2. Combine the flour, bread improver and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the yeast mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until well combined. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draught-free place to prove for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
3. Combine extra water and bicarbonate of soda in a jug. Use an electric beater to beat the flour mixture for 1 minute or until mixture deflates. Gradually add the water mixture, beating well between additions, until well combined and smooth. Cover batter with plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes to rest.
4. Brush a large non-stick frying pan with vegetable oil to lightly grease. Brush six 7.5cm-diameter non-stick egg rings with oil to lightly grease. Place egg rings in frying pan over medium-low heat. Pour 60ml (1/4 cup) of batter into each ring. Cook for 7 minutes or until large bubbles come to the surface, the base is golden and the top is set. Use an egg lifter to turn and cook for a further 1 minute or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack and remove egg rings. Set crumpets aside. Repeat, in 4 more batches, with remaining batter, greasing and reheating the pan and egg rings with oil between each batch. Serve crumpets with butter and honey.

Notes & tips

• Prep: 30 mins (+ 10 mins standing, 1 hour proving & 30 mins resting time). Keep the heat of the pan low, and don't be tempted to turn the crumpets until the top looks quite dry.

Source

Australian Good Taste - June 2003, Page 156

Thanks to Zorra from Kochtopf for creating and overseeing this wonderful event.

Slashing and inuendos

Finally!!! I did a worthy slash! However, I'm cringing as I type, because "a slash" in the Australian male vernacular, especially from the yobbo 70's era, is to urinate, and surprisingly Wikipedia even acknowledges the phrase "have a slash", evolving from the Scottish word slash, meaning a large splash of liquid. I can associate with that, as often that's what is on the floor of my bathroom (don't get me started on men and family toilets). I always associated the phrase with visions of guys doing a Zorro type "Z" on the urinal wall, you know, like with the slash of a sword. That's just my warped imagination though. None of this has a thing to do with my slash however.

I'm talking bread. A rye sourdough from my rye starter, flavoured with caramelised onions and caraway seeds. The bread looked as if was cooked before I even put it in the oven!


My previous attempts at slashing have been a long way from acceptable, and I think because the dough was quite dense, this assisted in my result.


I love eating this bread with sliced radishes, or a bit of cream cheese. The flavour is sensational, even if it does take a few days to prepare it.

I adapted the recipe from Peter Reinhardt's New York Deli Rye recipe, using a barm from my sourdough starter, adding the onions to the barm and refrigerating overnight. With this loaf, I refrigerated the final dough overnight as well, not especially to achieve more flavour, I just didn't have time to bake it that day. Artisan bread dough can be very forgiving sometimes.


So to all the Aussie blokes out there, women can slash too!

Bread Baking Day #7 =Flatbreads=Fougasse

Fougasse, pronounced FOO-gass, is a French flatbread typically associated with the Provence region, but also found in many other regions, differing in variations. Very similar to one of my all time favourites, the Italian foccacia, it is often slashed in a trellis pattern to resemble an ear of wheat or the tree of life. Well, my "branches" started off widely spaced with lots of room in between them, but once cooked, the branches had all reached out to each other and united in solidarity, a perfect simulation of the unpredictability of the tree of life itself.

Petra from Chili and Ciabatta is hosting this month's BBD#7, a monthly event created by Zorra, and has chosen flatbreads as the theme. I had a small amount of mashed potato left over from last night's dinner, so decided to incorporate that into a bread. "Waste not, want not" my mother always said. Originally an Aloo Paratha leapt into my head, but I kept hearing my overgrown rosemary bush calling to me in the breeze....pick me, pick me.

Potato Rosemary Fougasse

Ingredients

2 cups cooked mashed potato
1 ½ tsp yeast
1 tsp brown sugar
1 ½ cups warm water, divided (you could use the water the potato was cooked in)
5 cups all-purpose flour, divided (more or less depending upon your flour and humidity)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh or 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
2 teaspoons salt
Cooking spray

Preparation

Dissolve yeast and sugar in ½ cup of the warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Add 2 cups flour, mashed potato, oil, rosemary, and salt to the yeast mixture; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Stir in 2 ½ cups flour. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes); add enough of remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands.

Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 45 minutes or until doubled in size. Divide dough into two pieces, and roll or shape into an oval. Place on a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Slash dough into desired pattern, gently pulling slits open, ending your slashes before you reach the edges of the dough. Cover and let rise 30 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 425°.

Uncover dough, and bake at 425° for 25 minutes or until browned. Remove from pan. Cool bread on a wire rack. Cut loaf in half lengthwise; cut each half crosswise into 12 pieces.

Shaped Breadbaking Day #6

Zorra from 1x umrühren bitte is the creator of the monthly Breadbaking day event, and the theme for this month chosen by Sweet Sins, is shaped bread, so I'm submitting Pane Siciliano from Peter Reinhart's book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice.

This is one of the best tasting breads I've ever made, on par with the Pugliese, and I think it's the high percentage of durum flour that gives it such a unique and beautiful flavour.

The loaves take 3 days to make unfortunately, but they are well worth the effort. Some say that the last overnight retardation in the fridge after they are shaped, is not necessary, but why settle for less flavour?

Shaping loaves can be quite difficult, and lots of practice is sometimes required, however shaping Pane Siciliano is so easy. Divide the dough into three pieces and shape each piece as you would a batard. Then coil each end simultaneously, but in the opposite direction, toward the centre to make an "S" shape. Much easier than trying to say "pane siciliano" after a couple of glasses of wine!

I'd run out of sesame seeds for these loaves and only had nigella seeds to sprinkle on top, which were not as complimentary to the bread as the sesame seeds are.

The bread is chewy, the crust has a slight crunch, and it's superb with a soft cheese such as brie or camembert.

Pane Siciliano recipe can be found here at Google Books.

World Day of Bread 2007 - From Baps to Brioche

Sadly I was too late to enter last year's World Day of Bread, but this is what I would have submitted.

Zorra from Kochtopf is hosting this prestigious event again this year, and going by the fabulous entries from last year, I'm sure there will be many hours of good reading as a result.

The Scottish bap bread is a soft roll, usually round, sometimes oval, sometimes square. It's a flat topped bread roll, dusted with flour, and an indented hole is in the middle to stop it from rising to a dome. It's best eaten fresh out of the oven first thing in the morning, sliced in two and enveloping fried bacon and eggs. Beware of flour on your lips and nose!! People may think you have been indulging in an illicit activity;)

The Recipe

175 ml (6 fl. oz) tepid milk
175 ml (6 fl. oz) water
2 tsp dried yeast
1 tsp granulated sugar
500 g (1 lb) strong white flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tblsp milk, to glaze

• Combine the milk and water in a liquid measuring jug. Sprinkle the yeast and the sugar into 100 ml (3 1/2 fl oz) of the milk and water mixture in a separate bowl. Leave for 5 minutes, stir to dissolve. Stir in half the remaining milk/water mixture.
• Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the yeasted milk and water. Mix in the flour. Stir in the reserved milk and water as needed to form a sticky dough.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
• Put the dough in a clean bowl and cover with a tea towel. Leave to rise until doubled, about an hour.
• Knock back and let rest for 10 minutes. Divide into 8 pieces, and shape each piece into a flat oval, (or a round ball if you prefer) about 1 cm (1/2 inch) thick. Place on a floured baking tray. Brush with milk and sift over a fairly heavy dusting of flour.
• Leave to prove, uncovered, until doubled in size, about 30-35 minutes.
• Again sift more flour over each bap. Use your thumb to make an impression in the centre of the baps, about 1/2 inch deep.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until risen and pale golden. Cover with a tea towel and leave on wire rack to cool.

Next is my first attempt at making brioche, so full of eggs and butter, that this is definitely not your everyday bread. I think our cholesterol levels would soon swell to dangerous heights if we indulge in this beautiful bread too often. Especially if you turn it into french toast, or even to have with cheese or pate and some wine. A little of this bread would need to go a long way. The top notch kind of exploded a bit, and I let it cook for perhaps 5 minutes too long, but it looks "tres bon", oui?

The recipe for this came from Peter Reinhart's famous Bread Bakers Apprentice, and it is the Rich Man's version (of course). The recipe can be found here. (I just love Google Books!!)

Below is a pictorial of some of the breads I have baked, and actually taken photos of, over the past year.

On the left is ciabatta accompanied by apricot and sunflower kernel bread.

Partybrot infused with roasted garlic.

More ciabatta!

The famous "no knead" loaf

No Knead loaf baking in camp oven in my outdoor pizza oven.

Piadina, pie, pijda, pieda, pida or pita

Or just another type of pizza? Please yourself, whatver you like to call it, this Italian flat bread is yet another versatile luncheon choice, or a light evening meal. Very similar to the Torta al Testo as posted earlier, this one is a thicker version, more manly I guess, than the delicate Bread of the Tile. So it's one for the boys.


The piadina is from the Romagna region of Italy, however, it dates back to ancient Greece - piadina's etymology is the Greek word plakous - an unleavened hearth bread passed down from the Etruscans more than 3200 years ago. Today it is very popular in bars as an antipasto, served heated, cut into wedges and sprinkled with olive oil and salt. The authentic piadina does not use any rising agents, just flour, lard and water.


I'm not a great fan of lard. I liken it to the pictures of cholesterol filled arteries the health authorities kindly show us, or those cellulite dimples that mercilessly appear when you're not looking, so I chose a recipe from Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno's book, Bread..baking by hand or machine, which interestingly uses carbonated water as an ingredient. The recipe is virtually a mirror image of the Torta al Testo, with the exception of the carbonated water, so I wondered if there were any noticeable differences between the two.


I personally prefer this flat bread. Not only is it thicker (hence easier to slice into two), but when toasted, the crust has real crunch, (or for the men out there, real grunt). I also love the way it is very flexible and bends without breaking, almost like rubber, if you just want to use it as a sandwich or a panini. This one is a meal on its own. The tile bread maybe suited more for an antipasto with drinks. Either way, they're both delicious.


Ingredients

2 tsp dried yeast
75 ml (2.5 fluid oz) water
500 gm (1 lb) strong white flour
2 tsp salt
1 tblsp olive oil
250 ml (8 fl oz) carbonated water (I used a small bottle of soda water)


Method

1. Sprinke the yeast into the water in a bowl. Leave for 5 minutes then stir to dissolve. Mix the flour and salt together, make a well, and pour in the yeasted water mixture, the oil and 150 ml (1/4 pint) of the carbonated water.

2. Mix in the flour. Stir in the reserved carbonated water, as needed to form a firm, moist dough.


3. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and need until smooth, shine and elastic, about 10 minutes.

4. Put the dough in a clean bowl sprayed with a little olive oil spray, cover and leave to rise until doubled, about 90 minutes. Knock back, then leave to rest a further 10 minutes.

5. Divide dough into 8 equal pieces, and roll out to form rounds 15 cm (6") across and 1 cm (1/2") thick.

6. Heat a heavy frying pan, preferably cast iron, over a medium low heat until very hot, about 10 minutes.

7. Place one of the dough rounds in the hot pan and prick all over with a fork to prevent air bubbles. Cook until golden brown on each side.


A popular way of eating a piadina is in the form of a panini, or type of sandwich, similar to a wrap.

Or you could treat it in the same way as a cafe focaccia; fill it with then toast it in a press.

Popular fillings are:

chicken, avocado, mayo and rocket; eggplant, provolone, zucchini and pesto; rocket, tuna mayo and roast veal to name a mere few.

For the traditional "lardy" version, the ingredients are:

TRADITIONAL INGREDIENTS
500 g (1lb) white bread flour

30 g (1 oz) salt

80 g (2.8 oz) lard

5 g (0.2 oz)g baking powder

warm water as needed

METHOD
· Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together. Chop up the lard and work into the flour with your fingers.
· When you have a bowl of crumbs and no lumpy lardy bits, gradually work in water until you have a moist dough. This will be a ratio of about 3:1 flour to water.
· When the dough has been fully kneaded and the dough is springy, bouncing back when you poke it, leave to rest.
· Cook as above.

Torta al testo

The fast food of Umbria has come to this backyard. I have found our new Sunday night (or any other night) "quick fix" dinner. Torta al testo literally means Cake of the Tile, but this is actually bread of the tile....a quick flat bread cooked on a tile placed over an open fire. In my case, it was cooked on a cast iron frypan on top of the stove, not quite as authentic as they do it in Umbria, but the result was more than satisfying. It is usually cooked, split into two discs, stacked, wrapped in foil to keep warm, then filled and reheated just before serving.

The options are endless with this type of bread. It can be filled with any combination of ingredients you have on hand. You could even use it as a pizza base, or a variation of panini, a sandwich toasted in a sandwich press...the possibilities are endless.

I chose to fill this one simply with rocket (aragula) from my garden, and some left over cheeses - camembert and mozarella. Simple as that.

I'm warming up for the World Day of Bread on October 16th, so expect a few more "practice runs" published in the meantime.

Ingredients:

For the dough -
2 tsp dried yeast or 15 gm (1/2 oz) fresh yeast
315 ml (10 1/2 fluid oz) water
500 gm (1 lb) strong white flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
I tblsp olive oil


For the filling-
250 gm (8 oz) melting cheese (fontina is recommended)
125 gm (4 oz) rocket leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper


1. Sprinkle the yeast into 200 ml (7 oz) of the water. Leave for 5 minutes then stir to dissolve. Mix the flour and salt together into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the yeasted water and the olive oil.

2. Mix in the flour and stir in the reserved water, as needed, to form a firm moist dough.

3. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured work surface, and knead until smooth, shiny and elastic, about 10 minutes. I used my Kitchenaid for this part.

4. Put the dough in a clean bowl and cover with a tea towel. Leave to rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. In the meantime, pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celcius (350 degrees F), or gas mark 4.

5. Knock back, then leave to rest for 10 minutes. Divide the dough into 8 pieces, and on a lightly floured surface, roll each piece to form a round of approx 20 cm (8 inches) across and 5 mm (1/4 inch) thick. If the dough resists rolling out, leave it to rest for a couple of minutes, and then continue.

6. Heat a heavy frying pan or griddle over medium low heat until very hot, about 10 minutes.

7. Place one of the dough rounds in the hot pan and prick all over with a fork to prevent air bubbles. Cook until golden on both sides, flipping it over frequently to avoid scorching and to aid even cooking, about 5 minutes. Repeat with the remaining dough rounds.

8. Stack the rounds on top of each other and cover with a tea towel to keep soft and warm. When cool enough to handle, use a sharp knife to cut around the edge of and bread, and using your hands, separate it into two halves. Top one half with the cheese and rocket and season with salt and pepper.

9. Place the other half on top and put the stuffed bread onto baking sheets. Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes until hot and the cheese has melted. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

If you're super lazy, like I was this night, and want to make a less delicate version, don't split the bread, just place filling on top of one round, then place the other round on top and proceed to heat in the oven.