Basis Artisan Bread - An English Bloomer

I have to admit that I came across this bread quite by accident. I was doing something I do a lot. I mean, I DO THIS A LOT! Search for recipes, especially for bread. Only recently I found a recipe for a 'tartine-like' bread a la Chad Robertson. Not his recipe, but apparently close enough. I will need a bit more time to get up the courage to try this bread. In the meantime, with my 'research' I found this bread. An English bloomer, so-called because it expands on the slash lines as it bakes and so it 'blooms'.

As you can see by my latest offerings, I have entered a 'European' phase with breads and this one fits perfectly. It's origin is England. It is a peasant bread with a slightly chewy crust and a soft moist crumb. Very stable, not at all crumbly and so it makes great sandwiches and even better toast. Yum!

Here's What You'll Need:

• 500g/1lb 2oz strong white flour, plus extra for kneading
• 10g/¼oz salt
• 1 x 7g package of instant yeast
• 320ml/11½oz cold water
• 40ml/1½fl oz olive oil, plus extra for kneading
• extra oil and flour, for kneading
  
  
  Here's What You'll Need To Do:
  
  
  1. Mix together the flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add the olive oil, then slowly, while mixing by hand, add the water. You may not need all of it. Mix just until you have a shaggy dough. It will be sticky.
  
  
  2. Remove the dough to a lightly-oiled surface (OLIVE OIL, PLEASE) and knead vigorously for 8-10 minutes. The dough will slowly become smooth and elastic.
  
  
  
  3. Place the kneaded dough in a lightly-oiled bowl, turn to coat, then cover to rise until at least doubled. This could be up to 2 hours.
  
  
  4. Remove the dough from the bowl, punch down to remove the air, then shape into a tight 'torpedo shape. Spray with oil, lightly, then cover to rest and rise again, this time for about 45 minutes, until half again its original size.
  
  
  5. Preheat the oven to 400F/190C. Just before baking, spray the loaf with water. Sprinkle some flour over the top. Then slash the bread 3 or 4 times. 
  
  
  
  6. Bake with steam for 30 minutes. Then lower the heat to 350F/180C and continue baking for another 10 minutes. The bread is done when it sounds hollow when it's tapped on the bottom.
  
  
  7. Cool on a rack.
  
  
  
  
  

Another European Classic - Pain aux Noix (French Nut Bread)

Sometimes you can just look at a bread, and know, before you even taste it, where it comes from. This is one of those breads. It is a dark brown in color, and with a soft, almost crumbly crumb. The crust is crunchy, and well...crusty. The best part of it is that the nuts of various kinds, chopped coarsely, are mixed into the dough and then baked together. Traditionally, this bread is made with hazelnuts, but truthfully, can be made with any kind, almonds, walnuts or even a mixture. If you want to give an American twist to a Eurpean bread, use pecans. Any way you slice it (pun intended) this bread won't disappoint. It fills the whole house with the most incredible aroma. And after it's baked, if you toast it, it does it again. This bread is also very versatile: the nuts make it perfect for a breakfast bread, but it works just great with smoked meats and mustard too. Please try this bread... you won't be disappointed. BTW, this recipe is adapted from one of my favorite bread baking books of all time, TheBread Bible by Beth Hensperger. A truly remarkable collection of bread recipes containing everything from traditional European breads like this one, to modern quick breads. It's all here and a book well worth adding to your collection.

Here's What You'll Need: (for 2 round loaves)

2 1/2 cups hazelnuts, roughly chopped skinned and lightly toasted (or other nuts)

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cups warm water

2 Tbs. dry yeast

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup warm milk (or water, or unflavored soy milk for non-dairy)

1/2 cup walnut oil (or hazelnut oil)

2 1/2 tsp. salt

about 3 cups AP flour

Here's What You'll Need To Do:

1. Combine about 1 1/4 cups of the nuts with about 1 cup of the whole wheat flour. Mix well to coat the nuts completely. Grind to a rough (not flour-like) consistency in a food processor and set aside.

2. Sprinkle the yeast over 1/4 cup the warm water with a pinch of brown sugar dissolved in. Let it stand for about 10 minutes to activate the yeast.

3. In a large bowl, combine the remaining water, the milk (or soy if using), oil, sugar and salt. Pulse to mix, then add the yeast mixture. Finally add in the nut and whole wheat mixture as well.

4. Add the remaining shole wheat flour and mix to form a soft fairly sticky dough. Then add in the AP flour, 1/2 cup at a time until the dough 'cleans the bowl' but remains soft and elastic. It will be just slightly tacky, and will not stick to your fingers.

5. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes to develop the gluten, then place it in a lightly-oiled bowl, turn to coat, and cover. The dough should rise until doubled, about 2 hours.

6. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and shape each piece into a round, tightening the surface as you shape it. Lightly spray some oil on the dough balls, and cover with plastic wrap to rest. This will take about 45 minutes.

7. About 20 minutes before baking time, pre-heat the oven to 375 F (190 C). Use a baking stone, if you have one. Just before baking slash the bread with 3 or 4 cuts about 1/4 inch (3mm) deep. Spray water into the oven and pour boiling water into a steaming pan to create a wet environment.

8. Bake for about 45 minutes or until it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Cool on a rack.

Closer to Home - Greek Olive Bread

The latest diet craze - the Mediterranean diet - strikes me as very strange. Not the diet itself, but rather the whole idea of a 'diet' based on the most popular components of the foods eaten in this area. The reason it is strange to me, of course, is because this is the kind of food I eat all the time. Let's think about it for a minute. What is this 'diet'? Well, it all starts with what Rachel Ray calls, EVOO, in other words Extra Virgin Olive Oil. From there, it really depends on where you are in the Mediterranean Basin. For instance, think of Italian food, and you think of tomato sauce and pasta. Think of French food from Provence, then you must include, sharp cheeses, red wine and lots of herbs. Actually, when you think of it, Italian food, Spanish food and all North African food, also includes herbs, olive oil and spices (often very spicy!). Lately I've been baking all kinds of dishes (quiches, pies and breads) from this area. This is all in preparation for some workshops I will be teaching this summer on Crete, the largest of the Greek Islands.

This bread is fairly typical of breads from the entire region. It includes olive oil, and even feta cheese, in some versions. It takes a long time to rise in the winter but in the summer will rise quickly. Unlike many breads from the Eastern Mediterranean, it has yeast to help it rise. Many breads from this area are flatbreads, like the famous pita bread found all over the Mediterranean and Middle East in one form or another. This recipe makes one fairly large loaf and keeps really well for several days. The addition of olives and feta give it a distinctly Middle eastern flavor. Needless to say, it makes great sandwiches especially with a sharp cheese, or with some kind of smoked meat. And mustard, good strong dijon mustard.

Here's What You'll Need:

1 onion thinly sliced
1Tbs. olive oil
1 cup pitted and chopped green or black olives
400g (3 cups) bread flour
3/4tsp salt
about 150g (5oz) drained and crumbled feta cheese
2tsp instant yeast
1Tbs chopped oregano, coriander, parsley and/or mint
1 cup hot (45C/120F) water

Here's What You'll Need to Do:

1. Fry the onion in the olive oil until lightly browned. Roughly chop the olives.

2. Put the flour, salt, yeast and herbs in a large bowl with the olives and fried onions and feta cheese, and pour in 1 cup hot water (not boiling - about 45C or 120F).

3. Mix the dough until it comes together. Then place on a lightly-floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until smooth and just barely sticky. Add flour or water as necessary to get the correct feel.

4. Put in a lightly-oiled bowl and cover. Leave it to rise until doubled, about 2 hours (the onions and olive will weigh it down).

5. Preheat the oven to 220C (425F). Lightly grease a baking sheet, then shape the dough into a tight boule. Leave it lightly covered to rise again until doubled.

6. Just before baking, slash the bread with a sharp knife, about 1/2 in (3mm) deep.

7. Bake for about 35-40 minutes until it is a deep rich brown. Serve with unsalted butter, or as part of a meze table. That's the small salads and dips that you find everywhere in this area. In Spain called tapas, in Greece, meze.

 

 

Head of the Class - Hungarian Potato Bread

The everyday breads of Eastern and Central Europe have certain notable characteristics. Firstly, they are usually quite dense in texture and also sturdy. By that I mean they are 'designed' to hold smoked meats and cheeses, to absorb mustard and other condiments, to be chewy and just a little sour. Secondly, they are also known for using ingredients as fillers (because often regular ingredients were not available). Like potatoes, for instance. When you think about it, mashed, white potatoes are really just starch , very much like AP white flour. So... let's say you don't have very much flour and you do have lots of potatoes. What do you think we could do in this situation?

This bread exists in various guises all over Eastern Europe. Sometimes with caraway seeds, sometimes with butter. But always with potatoes making up some of the starch needed for the dough. This particular loaf, comes from Hungary, but like I said, it is really a generic loaf that can be found in one form or another all over Europe. Like tomato sauce in Italy sort of... A million variations.

Text for this post, (for printing without the photos), can be found here. 

Here's What You Need: (for 2 loaves)

about 1 lb. potatoes, peeled and cubed
700 g (25 oz) AP flour
300 g (10 oz) whole wheat flour
40 g (1.25 oz) salt about 4 tsp.
60 g (2 oz) butter, cubed (or margarine or vegetable oil)
20 g instant dry yeast (slightly less than 2 Tbs.)
1 tsp. caraway seeds (optional) or
about 200 g (6.5 oz) sharp cheese

Here's What You'll Need to Do:

1. Boil the potatoes in water until very soft (but not dissolved). Drain the potatoes reserving the cooking water for use in the bread. Set aside to cool.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the flours with the salt and butter and the yeast.

Add this mixture to the cooled potatoes. Finally, add about 330 ml (11 oz) of cooking water to the mixture and combine to for a smooth dough. Adjust the flour and water accordingly to make sure the dough is smooth and only very slightly tacky. If adding the caraway seeds, now is the time to knead them into the dough.

3. Place the dough in a lightly-oiled bowl, turn to coat, then cover and place in a warm location to rise. It should about double in volume in about 1.5 hours.

4. Divide the dough into two equal pieces, form each piece into a round ball without removing too much of the air, then cover to let it rest for another half hour.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 400 F (about 190 C). Just before baking, slash the bread 2 or 3 times to allow for even 'oven spring', i.e., so the bread rises in the oven evenly.

5. Spray water into the oven to add steam, then bake the bread for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350 F (180 C) and continue baking for another 25 minutes or so until the bread is deeply browned and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Jó étvágyat!  (Hungarian for Bon Appetit - Google translate!)
Text for this post, (for printing without the photos), can be found here.