Fresh from the oven - White Tin Loaf

Since baking my own bread I can't remember the last time I bought a sliced loaf. As much as I love all the artisan style bread I bake, sometimes only a traditional white tin loaf will do and shop-bought bread certainly doesn't cut the mustard for me any more. When I found out that this months Fresh from the Oven's host was going to be Linda from With Knife & Fork and she had chosen White Tin Loaf I was really pleased.

This recipe uses a different kneading method to what I'm used to and sometimes the urge to whack all the ingredients into the KitchenAid can be to much, but this time I stuck with it and was genuinely impressed with the results. When I initially read the kneading instructions I could see how it could work, but I was proven wrong.

It produced a loaf with amazing oven spring and the perfect texture and size for bacon cobs. Although it doesn't have the strong taste like some of my bread does this makes it great for simple sandwiches. Everyone once in a while wants a basic, comforting sarnie be the filling ham and pickle or cheese and tomato. Don't be put off by the long looking method. It is truly worth it.



The 1 tip I would give would be that 10 min before the end of baking turn the loaf upside down in the tin. This helps the bottom of the loaf to crusten up.

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Dan Lepard says he developed this when he was working full time in commercial kitchens (that made artisan hand kneaded bread) because there wasn’t time for full 10 minute knead of all the different bread batches so he switched to short kneads spaced out and found it works just as well, part of the development of a good gluten structure is dependent on the time elapsed not the vigorous kneading. I liked the idea because I’d not been getting good textures with either a machine or a normal hand knead. I am now a wholesale convert.

Note:

You must use oil not flour on the kneading surface and your hands. Something like vegetable oil is good.

The dough must be quite sticky and soft to start with. It will firm up when kneaded and as time progresses.

Steps:

* Once you have soft sticky dough leave it covered in the bowl for 10 minutes.
* Now oil your kneading surface and hands and tip the dough out.
* Knead for about 12 seconds by folding in the edges to the centre, a bit like shaping a round loaf, rotate the dough as you go.
* Flip the dough over, leave it on the surface and cover with a cloth. Wash out the bowl and then oil it lightly. Put the dough back in the bowl and cover.
* Leave for 10-15 minutes and then do another 12 second knead. You will notice the dough is already less sticky and firmer.
* Leave for 20 -30 mins and repeat the fast knead. You are aiming to have kneaded the dough 3 times in the first hour.
* Leave covered to rise until at least 50% larger but not more than double in size.
* Tip out onto the oil surface and press the air out of the dough using the tips of your fingers so its square-ish in shape. Repeat the fast knead process (or fold in to thirds then rotate through 90, flatten again and fold into 3rds again).
* Shape the dough as required for the particular loaf you are making. Put it in a tin, or supported in a floured cloth in a bowl.
* Leave to rise until at least 50% larger and preferably almost double in size.
* Slash top and bake as per your recipe.

White Tin Loaf (based on Dan Lepard’s Quick White Loaf, p63 of the Handmade Loaf)

2lb loaf tin greased and floured or lined with baking parchment (no need to line the short ends just oil them).

Oven to be pre-heated to its maximum setting (R10/250C) and with a tray of water in the bottom to create steam.

Ingredients:

200g semi skimmed milk at room temp (Dan uses whole milk but semi skimmed seems to work fine)

150g water at room temp (remember 1g = 1ml but its easier to be accurate weighing fluids)

1 tsp fast action yeast (or 2 tsp fresh yeast crumbled)

200g plain white flour

300g strong white bread flour

1 ½ tsp fine sea salt

Method:

Mix the flours and salt together in a bowl.

Mix the water and milk together in a separate bowl and whisk in the yeast.

Add the liquid to the flour and mix with the fingers of one hand to a soft sticky rough dough. You may need to add a little more liquid do this a teaspoon at a time until you have a soft sticky dough.

Follow the kneading instructions above.

The first rise will probably take about an hour from the last knead.

To shape for a tin loaf, flatten the dough to a square about the same width as your tin. Roll the dough into a cylinder and press the seam firmly, fold under the two short ends and place in the tin seam side down.

Allow to rise (covered) to 1 ½ to 2 times volume i.e. to the top of the tin.

Slash the top of the loaf along it length and put it straight into the oven for 10 minutes at maximum temperature. After 10 minutes check how it’s browning and drop the temperature as follows (these baking guidelines are from the River Cottage Bread Book):

R6/200C if the crust is pale

R4/180C if crust is noticeably browning

R3/170C if crust is browning quickly

And cook for a further 40-50 minutes.

I usually check again part way through this time and either adjust temperature again or cover the top with foil if it’s brown enough. Also note that with a traditional gas oven (i.e. one without a fan) the top may brown far too quickly on the side near the heat at the initial temperature so you might want to start at a lower setting of R8/9 for the first 10 minutes. Adapt the setting for what you know about your oven and how things usually bake.

When it’s cooked turn it out of the tin and allow to cool.

Fresh from the oven - Beer Bread Bowls.

October's Fresh from the oven challenge was hosted by Corry. She recommended a fantastic recipe inspired by from Richard Bertinet’s fabulous book Dough – Simple Contemporary Bread

I tried this particular recipe last year, but keen to adapt recipe and in keeping with my sudden preoccupation of baking with beer, I wanted to try this recipe to make beer bread bowls, specifically to be served with scouse.

I use quite a bit of Sam Smiths beers in baking as their fruit beers give great taste to the likes of ice cream & brownies and their other beers have a strong defined taste that is perfect for stews and bread. The oatmeal stout I decided to use has a definite oaty aroma and I thought it would be perfect for bread.

This time the dough seemed to work better than my first attempt last year and they worked well. I now have ideas to make these bowls as a fruit bread then filling them with custard..mmmm..

Beer Bread Bowls
makes 6 16cm bowls

500g strong bread flour
20g course semolina
15g fresh yeast (or 5g fast action yeast)
10g salt
50g olive oil
320g beer
chilli or spice (optional for added flavour)

1) Preheat the oven to 250˚C (500˚F). Mix together the flour and semolina and rub in the yeast as if you were making a crumble (Richard Bertinet’s method – see below for video link). If using a mixer, switch it on to the slowest speed, add salt, olive oil and beer and mix for 2 minutes, then turn the speed up to the next lowest speed and mix for 6 to 7 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.

2) If you are kneading by hand, knead for approximately 10 to 12 minutes or until you have a nice smooth elastic ball of dough. Richard Bertinet has a unique kneading technique referred to as the French fold that can take approximately 5 to 10 minutes depending on practice. You can view his method in a online video at the Gourmet Webpage. In this video, he is actually doing sweet dough but the same technique can be used for most bread dough.

3) Place the dough into a bowl that has been floured, cover with a tea towel and leave in a draught free place for approximately 1 hour or until doubled in volume.

4) Lightly oil or spray with non-stick spray, the outside of 6 ovenproof bows (I used pyrex bowls). Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and divide into 6 to 8 pieces (depending on the size of your baking bowls). Taking one piece of dough at a time and using a rolling pin, roll each piece into a circle (similar to making pizza). Shake off excess flour and shape each piece over an upturned bowl, patting into shape and pressing gently to remove air bubbles from between the dough and the bowl. Rest the dough for 10 minutes. Place the upturned bowls, two at a time, on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, then into the preheated oven. Turn the oven down to 200˚C (400˚F) and bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes. Using a fine-bladed knife, gently loosen the bread from the bowls and ease off. Cool on a wire rack.

It is probably safer to serve the bowls on a plate, as they do become soggy after a while and the soup may leak through.

Fresh from the oven - Stuffed Buns

This months Fresh from the oven challenge has been hosted by Ria where she proposed Stuffed Buns. I've never made stuffed buns before let alone eaten them, but I'm always up for a challenge!

The dough turned out very different to the type of dough I'm used to working with. The best way I can describe it would be of the texture (and weirdly the smell) of playdoh. I had to add more flour to get it to a kneading consistency. This extra flour may be down to me converting the recipe into grams incorrectly. I also mucked up the oil. Thinking Sunflower oil would the best as it is the lightest flavoured oil I had in the house, I had completely forgotten until I poured the oil in that I had used this oil for frying fish a while back and filtered the unused oil back into the bottle giving the dough a slight eau d'fish-and-chip-shop. Thankfully once the buns were cooked you couldn't smell or taste the oil. I chose to make the buns with a curried paneer filling which was very tasty.



Given all the stumbling blocks I had with this dough the buns worked well. Hubby and his workmates raved about them. They have requested some more soon.

Stuffed Buns
makes 12 buns

For the dough:

3g fast action yeast
125ml milk
Salt to taste
125ml oil
250g plain flour
60g sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 egg white, for egg wash
Nigella seeds (Kalonji) for sprinkling
Method

1) Boil the milk and allow to cool down till it is warm to touch. Add sugar, oil and salt. Mix well with a wooden spoon till the sugar dissolves and add 1 cup flour and mix to a smooth paste.

2) Add the beaten egg, yeast and mix. Add the remaining flour and mix well till it forms a smooth dough. Knead well for 10 mins. Let it rest till it doubles in volume.

3) Punch down the dough lightly using your palm and divide them equally. Flatten them into small discs and fill them with 1 tbsp of the filling. Re-shape them into a ball. Sprinkle the top with Nigella seeds. Let it prove for another 20 mins.

4) Bake them in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees for 10 mins. When it starts to brown, give them an egg wash using 1 slightly beaten egg white.

Spicy paneer filling

200g paneer
4 Onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp garlic paste
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
Salt to taste
3 tbsp oil

1) Heat oil, add the garlic paste and saute till it gives out a nice aroma. Add the onions. Saute them till soft and transparent. Reduce the heat and add the groud spices and mix well for 2 mins.

2) Add the paneer and mix well. Take it off the heat and allow to cool before filling the buns.

Fresh from the oven - Tomato & Garlic Focaccia

This months challenge from Fresh from the oven is to make a Focaccia using which ever recipe we wanted to. Focaccia is becoming a staple in this house. I probably make some version of focaccia more than any other type of bread. It's perfect for barbecues or when we have people over to dinner because it is easy to share.

I made this variant for my Birthday BBQ and it went down very well. The tomatoes give it a nice change in texture and sweetness. The only slight alteration I would make next time would be to add the garlic to the dough as it caught a bit on top when added to the oil.

Tomato & Garlic Focaccia
Makes 1 large foccacia
Based on a recipe from River Cottage - Bread

500g strong white bread flour
5g fast action yeast
10g fine salt
325ml warm water (mix 100ml boiling water with 225ml of cold water)
1 tbsp olive oil (for the dough)
2 tbsp olive oil mixed with 2 minced garlic cloves (for the topping)
rosemary
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
flaky sea salt

1) Mix together the flour, yeast, salt and water. Once the ingredients are combined add the olive oil. Knead for around 10 min until the dough is smooth and silky. At the stage, if using a mixer, the bowl should be clean of dough.

2) Shape the dough into a round and leave to rise in a covered and greased bowl until it has nearly doubled in size.

3) Tip the dough out and work in a rough rectangle shape then place in an oiled baking tray. Cover and allow to rise for 20 min.

4) Preheat the oven to 250oc (or as high as it will go). When the bread has had its half hour rise prod it with your fingers to get the cratered texture then push the tomato halves into the dough. Drizzle with the garlicky olive oil then sprinkle with salt & rosemary.

5) Bake for 10 min then bake for a further 10min at 200oc. Leave to cool on a wire rack for around 10 min before serving.

Fresh from the oven - Rustic Loaf

At the end of last month via UKFBA Claire introduced me to a new baking group called Fresh from the oven. As I'm a keen baker, I was keen to join the group to help improve my skills. This months challenge was hosted by Brianna. She chose a Rustic Loaf recipe from from Jeffrey Hamelman's Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes. The idea behind the recipe was that it was a good, basic recipe that introduced a simple preferment, minimalist ingredients, and let us practice our shaping techniques.

I learnt all about preferment at River Cottage, though it was called the sponge dough method at RC. I've been keen to use the method and decided to set time to do it. It's by no mean the quickest loaf I have ever made, but my goodness did it taste good. The addition of wholewheat also made it filling. The preferment gives a very slightly sour taste, not too unlike sourdough.

Initially the dough was very wet and too difficult to work with so had to add some more flour (this may be due to me making a dodgy conversion with the measurements from cups to g/ml). I also have to admit I didn't let it prove for as long as the recipe said as 1) I was running out of time and 2) it was rising quite rapidly thanks to the hot, humid weather and I was worried about over proving the dough. Looking at the crumb of the dough the big air pockets are a sign that is was beginning to over prove so I caught it at about the right time.

I need to get better at making a tighter shape and have asked for some proving baskets for my birthday. What you can't see on the photo is that in both of the loaves Hubby & I made they burst a bit on one side due to how we shaped it and supported the dough during proving. Although I was initially unsure of the recipe I'm really happy with the loaf I managed to produce and will certainly be using this method again.

The full recipe for the loaf can be found on The Fresh Loaf.