Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

[Big Kev]

Interesting looking loaf, I like that.

[PanBiker]

I have set another sourdough loaf off this morning, on it's first prove.

[PanBiker]

I let the first prove rise until late evening by which time it was up to the top of the bowl. I knocked it back a made a plait and set it on tray to rise overnight. This morning it had expanded to the edge of the tray and lost all height and its plait!

I gathered all the edges in and tucked them underneath and formed a rough roll, floured it and shoved it in the oven. It has risen somewhat in the hot oven and come out very "artisan" with plenty of interesting crust. It will be edible.

[Big Kev]

Crust is always good

[Stanley]

Good enough to eat..... (Grrrr.!)

[PanBiker]

I am building a bog standard Bloomer at the moment. My sourdough starter is a bit depleted as I made some rich scones with it yesterday, its currently under a feeding regime to build it up again.

[PanBiker]

Its at the top of the bowl already on its first prove. Looks like its going to be a good one. Knock it back after a bit of lunch.

[PanBiker]

I formed it as a Plait rather than a Bloomer. I reckon it's turned out all right.

[Tripps]

That looks 'the business'.

Is the extra effort for sourdough worth it? Does it taste better? From very limited experience, I'd say not. Maybe I'm missing something.

[PanBiker]

The sourdough scones are somewhat like my mums when she made them using milk that had "turned". That was always more common back in the 50's and an option for using up the milk before everyone had fridges.

I think the excellent rise on this batch of dough was because I spent more than 10 minutes on the first knead. Worth the effort I reckon.

[PanBiker]

Why not?




375g flour, salt, yeast seeds and water. Sunflower Seeded Loaf.

[Big Kev]

That's a good looking loaf Ian.

[PanBiker]

Thanks Kev, problem is it's already half gone, will have to make another one.

[Stanley]

Never any problem with getting rid of good home made bread......

[PanBiker]

This looks like a good one. It's a seeded loaf with Sunflower, Sesame and Chia seeds. I made it in my willow banneton.

[PanBiker]

We have ended up with a surplus of milk so I have a rice pudding on the go in the slow cooker.

Bread wise I did a Google search to refresh my quantity memory for milk bread. I came across a Japanese variant though so am having a go at that. Shokupan is an enriched bread mixture with milk, egg, butter and lemon juice as part of the liquid component. It also uses a Roux or Tangzhong as it is known. This is made by heating flour and water until it reaches a temperature of 149F, easiest in the microwave with stirring breaks during the process which turns it into a porridge type consistency. You allow this to cool before adding it to the rest of the ingredients. You can do it all in a mixer with the dough hook but I found that after the original mixing it was easier to get the dough to the right consistency continuing the kneading by hand. I have enough experience now to know when it feels right.

When ready, you divide the dough into five equal portions, roll each one into a ball and then use the rolling pin to roll flatten it out, fold in the sides and then roll each section. These are then placed in a long tin and then set aside to rise. No proving and knocking back, it is baked on the first rise.

Here it is in a plastic bag waiting to get to the top of the tin.



After topping with egg wash and 45 minutes in the oven.

[Tripps]

You've got the knack all right - I'd say that was a candidate for "Best in Show"

[Stanley]

I have to agree Ian, a perfect loaf. If it tastes as good as it looks......

[PanBiker]

Thanks for the comments. I will let you know what it's like when I have had a go with it.

[PanBiker]

A bit later.....

The bread is nice and soft with a tight crumb, slices well and makes excellent sandwiches. I reckon it will toast well also. Overall a nice addition to the repertoire.

Quick to make as well as you bake it on the first rise so save two or three hours in the process. Bakes in a relatively low temp oven but for a full 45 minutes.

[Tripps]

Thanks for the info - I'm tempted to try it - but my big oven is out of action at the moment.

Speaking of bread - which is my major weakness - I went out of my way to to Waitrose yesterday seeking a Vogel Soya and Linseedloaf. I'd had one a few weeks ago and I like it. Couldn't see it anywhere - so like a gentleman I gave up. A glance round the rest of the shelves showed my favourite Ciabatta rolls were exactly double their price in Aldi, and looked identical. I think I'm in the wrong shop.

My reckless extravagance was a bottle of Stokes brown sauce. That's a crazy price too, but so much better than any other.

[PanBiker]

If you fancy having a go when your oven is fixed. This is the recipe I followed. It's American so a bit of a mix of Cups and proper weights. There is a multiplication or division selector by the list of ingredients, I used the 0.5 quantity. This needs 0.5 of an egg which allows you to keep a bit back for the egg wash.

Shokupan

[PanBiker]

We went round to friends last week for supper and while there, Kath who is an avid bread maker herself gifted me half a Kilo of Fermipan dried yeast and a couple of bags of strong organic flour, one wholemeal and one white. I have mixed up a sunflower seeded dough and am just about to knock it back and shove it in it's tin.

[PanBiker]

I ran out of sunflower seeds and Aldi didn't have stock to replenish either. I opted for a four seed mix as a substitute. I made my first loaf with it yesterday 2/3rds strong white, 1/3 wholemeal, salt a bit of sugar, 50g unsalted butter and five tablespoons of the seed mix, 8g or so of the Fermipan and 300ml or thereabouts of warm water. Just tried the crust end with butter and home made egg mayo. Very nice with a nice crunch from the hemp seeds in the seed mix which has sunflower, pumpkin and linseed as well. Will make that one again I reckon.

[PanBiker]

Not lost the touch, first home baked loaf for a while, much easier through summer.