Tag: bread

The brownie recipe!

The brownie recipe

The brownie recipe! Yes, it is uploaded HERE. This is my recipe for a brownie, chocolatey, gooey, not too sweet.  I made it one day when friends were visiting between the very short time of ending a bushwalk and them getting back on the road with what was going to be an empty stomach.

I have read a number of good posts about brownies, wondering when I would finally find a recipe I would really like.  This blogger went on a mission of recipe testing,  others (there is a good post I read a couple times, just can’t find it now)  discuss the different versions: with cocoa (which I must say I have not yet tried) vs with chocolate, more cake-like, more fudge-like.  As for me I tend to like a brownie with some texture and a melting centre.

The brownie must be not too sweet, this is important as many brownies recipes have enormous amounts of sugar. Note that it is not sugar free either.  One of the keys of a good brownie is using brown sugar. It holds moisture better than white sugar due to the molasses.

Another important ingredient is the chocolate you use.  I like using 70% dark cooking chocolate. For some of you, it may be a bit strong, you can then use a bittersweet chocolate or 60% dark chocolate of good quality. If you are going to use milk chocolate for the choc chip in this recipe, decrease the white sugar by 40 g.  Now if you want a brownie for the children, try this brownie recipe with dulce de leche (i.e. caramel sweet concentrated milk) , my children love it!

chocolate and nuts soft brownies

Bread and brioche

A good brioche is a treat.  I use this start brioche recipe on this blog but do not necessarily shape it as a star brioche.  How beautiful!  Note that for a nice brioche, you will need a dough hook mixer.

This bread is our usual family stapple, I have now years of baking our bread. If you started on the journey and ended up with a brick, don’t be disheartened, try again.   If you have started going into sourdough bread making, you may want to read the tips on my sourdough bread making recipe. I do mostly baguettes now (I started with loaves, balls).  Sourdough baguettes are made from pretty much the same recipe but wetter (i.e. more sticky), see HERE.

briochhe parisienne et baguettes au levain
French brioche and sourdough baguettes, all homemade

 

Pain perdu

Pain perdu means “lost bread” in French.  In France, it is traditionally done with bread from the day before and often served as a dessert.  This is a way not to waste bread as families would buy fresh bread each day.  In Australia, we follow the American trend of doing pain perdu as a breakfast staple.  This recipe uses pre-cut commercial brioche which I buy from time to time.

Count one slice per person, two for bigger eaters.  I like to add yoghurt and fruits.  I do not necessarily add sugar over the pain perdu as the brioche is already quite sweet.  If you do it with left-over bread, adding brown sugar, honey or maple syrup is then quite justified.

brioche pain perdu breakfast

Ingredients:

For 5 slices

  • 5 slices of brioche
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup of mil
  • a nut of butter
Preparation:
  1. Beat the eggs and milk together in a large bowl
  2. Heat up a nut of butter in a non-stick pan.  When melted reduce the heat to 2/3 of full power.
  3. Take a slice of brioche, place it in the egg mixture (for 5 seconds) if the top of the slide was not submerged turn over and repeat, then transfer to the fry-pan.  You may be able to fit 2 or 3 slices in the pan.
  1. After 30 seconds to 1 minute (depending on the heat) turn over, it should be golden brown.
  2. Once the bottom is also golden brown transfer to a plate and serve.
  3. Eat warm with fruits, yogurt and honey or brown sugar as wished.

Yum!

brioche pain perdu breakfast

brioche pain perdu breakfast

Sourdough Baguettes

This recipe will make four  sourdough baguettes.  The baguette length is about 40 cm ( to fit in a home oven).  These sourdough baguettes have  beautiful crust and great bubbles inside.  They are delicious.

baguette

There is no dry yeast added in this recipe (not necessary). You will need an active starter.

As for all sourdough bread making, there is flexibility in the timing of the dough making and baking. Assuming STEP 1 (see below) is complete (24 hours required), in terms of timing for the making of your baguettes,  I propose two approaches:

  1. Shorter time-frame: start in the morning and have  sourdough baguette by mid-afternoon or dinner.  In that case, the second rising is done at room temperature.
  2. Longer time frame: if you want your baguette for, let’s say, Sunday morning, you would start the making sometimes on the Saturday, the latest mid-afternoon. Your sourdough baguettes will do the second rising in the fridge overnight.

NOTE: I posted this recipe a few years ago. I have slightly changed the ratio of starter to flour&water since. In the end, the wet to dry ratio is the same. What changes is the proportion of starter in the mix.   These days I do not use the Kitchen id for the baguette dough. I would punch it once  about half an hour after mixing the dough and forget the bowl (covered with a tea towel) in the fridge until the next day.  That leaves plenty of time for the yeast to slowly develop and grow. The next day, I shape them, let them rise, and bake them.

sourdough baguettes
A recent photos which I uploaded when updating this recipe
Starter

You will need 500 g of active starter. Once your starter is developed, don’t forget to save a little for next time.  I do not cover here how to develop a starter.  Here are a few pages that can help:

sourdough baguette
Healthy starter (developed)

For my starter I used organic rye flour and bottled water. Organic rye flour because it has the natural yeast you are after and bottled water because there is no added chlorine.  Then you will want to use unbleached white bread flour, organic or not. It worked every time, give it a go.  For the water, once the starter is established, tap water is fine, the yeast will at that stage be strong enough to resist a little chlorine.

A starter takes a few bread cycles to develop to its full strength.

Alternatively, contact me and we can explore options of me sending you some starter (I have done so before).

Ingredients:

Note: flour in this recipe is bakers flour.

  • 500 g of starter
  • 750 g of bread flour
  • 550 of water
  • 14 g of salt
  • spare flour for dusting

UPDATED RATIOS:

  • 225 g of starter
  • 890 g of bread flour
  • 640 g of water
  • 14 g of salt

You will also need:

  • Optional – a stand mixer with a dough hook (see tip in method if you do not have it)
  • a dough scraper
  • baguette tins (enough for 4 baguettes).  You can do without, the baguettes will be a bit flatter on the bottom.
  • a few clean tea towel
  • a large plastic bag
Method:
STEP 1:  Starter development and pre-fermentation.

Twenty four hours before preparing the dough, feed your starter to obtain 500 g of active starter. In my case I mix the kept starter (150 g) with 200  of flour and 200 g of water and leave in the corner of the kitchen for 24 hours. Leave at room temperature until it is about three times the size. If you are starting from another quantity of saved starter develop to obtain 550 g .  The 50 g extra is what you save to keep your starter for the next batch.

At the same time, mix in a plastic box the 750 g of flour with the 550 g of water, make a very rough dough. Place the lid on and put in the fridge overnight.

STEP 2: Dough making

Have your starter for the next batch? Take 50 g of developed starter from the starter, add to those 50 g, 50 g of water and 50 g of flour. Mix and place in the fridge for up to a week. If you are not a frequent baker, decrease the water to 25 g, this will keep the starter fed for longer, about two weeks.

Place the 500 g of starter, the water-flour mix and the salt in the mixer bowl.  Mix on low-speed for about five minutes or until the dough forms a ball and no longer stick to the side of the bowl.  Do not exceed ten minutes, you then run the risk of over-developing the dough.

Tip: if you do not have a mixer or prefer to do it by hand, this works as well. In a large bowl, place the flour, the developed starter, the water and the salt. Ensure the salt is not directly in contact with the developed starter at this point. With your hands (use the 2 of them), mix until it is homogeneous.  Let to rest covered for 30 minutes to an hour. With one wet hand, grab a corner of the dough and punch it in the middle, give a quarter turn to the bowl and repeat about 4 times (imagine taking each cardinal point and placing it to the centre, do this twice). Alternatively, after the first punching round, place in the fridge covered with a tea towel overnight. 

Tip: Because the baguette dough is more sticky than the bread dough, don’t forget to have a wet hand while doing the punching.

Place the dough in a large bowl, cover with a tea towel and allow to rise to almost double size.

Tip: The rising time will depend on the temperature and humidity level.

STEP 3: Preshape

This step is not strictly necessary, I often skip it.  It is possible to skip it as long as you cut your dough in 4 balls gently and are not tempted to rework it.

The dough has risen. Dust the kitchen bench and gently pull the dough on the kitchen bench. Using a  knife or the dough scraper, cut into 4 portions (4 baguettes).

sourdough baguette

One portion at the time, spread the dough gently (up to 20 cm wide) by pulling on it, this time in the shape of a circle.  Again imagine four corners and pull each towards the centre. Repeat another time or two. You are close to having a ball. Pinch the centre to close the ball, turn around and using your hands firmly placed on the kitchen bench (they must not lift), scoop the back of the ball and bring towards you. The dough should roll tucking the front underneath and simultaneously tightening the skin. Turn 90 degrees and repeat. If the ball does not tuck or roll, often it is because there is too much flour on your bench.

Rest covered  loosely with the tea towel for 10-15 minutes.

STEP 4: Shaping

It is now time to shape the 4 baguettes.

Take one ball of dough.  Pull it gently until you get a rectangle about 20-30 cm by 10-15 cm. Be mindful not to push the dough but to pull it gently.

Tip: Here it is very important to understand that you want to keep as much as possible all the bubbles and air in the dough, so you need to be gentle with it.

The short edge will be facing you:

  1. Imagine a line in the middle of your rectangle parallel to the narrow edges. Fold each narrow edge towards that line, the edges should just meet.
  2. Using the heel of your palm, flatten the dough pressing down on the new line. Repeat the previous step (alternatively fold only to a quarter length each end then another quarter so that the halves meet in the middle). Now pull the upper edge 2/3 towards you. Next, pull and stretch the lower edge over as to wrap the log as much as possible.  pinch the line where the dough stops to close the log.
  3. At each end of the log pinch the end to close the baguette.
  4. Turn the log seam down on the workbench.
  5. Roll the baguette back and forth and lengthen it (remember your high school pottery class!) to the length of your baguette tin.
  6. Transfer (seam down) on the baguette tin.

Tip: if you do not have a baguette tin, use a large tea towel and make little gutters, dust with flour and place your baguettes in each of them. 

STEP 5: Second rising

If you are baking the baguettes the next day, wrap the tins with a tea towel. You can place them in a large plastic bag to prevent them from drying (it depends on your fridge). Then place in the fridge.  You need to take them out of the fridge an hour or so before baking, you also need to ensure they have risen enough (almost double), else allow them to rise before baking.

sourdough baguetteIf you are baking them the same day, cover with clean tea towels and allow to rise.

You know the bread is risen sufficiently when a little poke bounces back slowly yet leaves a print.

 

SEPT 6: Baking

Heat up the oven to maximum (about 250 °C) with a pan of water at the bottom of the oven.

sourdough baguetteUse a scoring blade (available online) or a very sharp knife, do incisions at 45 degrees as suggested here on the left. Add a dusting of flour if wished.

Place in the oven without losing too much of the heat and steam.

Reduce heat to 200 °C and bake until golden. Remove from the oven, allow to cool down.

 

baguettes

 

Back to bread

Back to bread!

It has been a while since I last wrote about breads.  Let’s go back to breads!  I have updated my sourdough bread explanations with some photos and more details.

If you are still struggling with some aspects of the bread making, don’t be to hard on yourself, it takes time.  I remember posting on FB a photo two years ago of a bread I found amazing. Looking back, it was not such a good bread, a beginner’s bread starting to get the hang of it! Keep perseverating!

Just for fun, here is a gallery of sourdough overtime, all mine.

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More fun with 100% hydration breads

100% hydration bread is not to be confused with 100% starter hydration.  I am not blaming you if you are not sure of the difference, I wasn’t onto it myself for a bit, I thought this only related to the starter.  So, without being too technical, here you are:

100% hydration starter

This is when the starter contains exactly a ration of 1 to 1 of flour and water (by weight).  So, if you are always using a liquid starter (for those who make bread every day or every two days),  and feed it an equal weight of water and flour, you have a 100% hydration starter.

For those like me, who make bread from every two days to every week (or more), we would keep our starter as a stiff starter to ensure it doesn’t have a mega tantrum.  That is 2:2:1 (starter, flour, water).  In words: same weight of starter and flour, but half the weight of water.  It allows a slower development of the yeast and thus keeps for longer. When I save my starter, I take away 50 g of the developed starter (the rest will go in the bread I am about to make), 50 g of flour and 25 g of water. I mix it all in a ball and put back in the fridge!

Une petite disgression sur les ratios…./ lets explore these ratios….

As a result, when I develop the starter, the ratio of hydration is slightly less than 100%.  For a feed of 200 g water, 200 g flour, the starter is 25 g short of water to be 100% hydration (it is 90% hydration).

Does it make much a difference? It depends on the quantity of bread you make per batch.  For me 25 g out of a total weight of water (starter and bread) of 620 g of water (25 g in starter, 200 g in feed, 420 in the bread, minus removal of new starter assumed 25 g water), is a 4% difference in hydration.   In the end using the 90% or 100% hydration starter in the bread with the quantity I use does not make any difference.  The type and origin of the flour will have more influence at that stage that your hydration ratio.

When I go on holidays for a couple of weeks or more (it has worked up to 3 weeks, I have not tried more), I feed it additional flour and water keeping the ration 2:1 (twice as much flour as water).

Have I lost you? 

In brief, if you do a few breads at the time (750 g of flour or more), using a stiff or liquid starter before feeding it will not influence the end result.

100 % hydration breads, a trial

I have been reading blogs and following some keen bakers (Ca mia for example has great results with that method) working hard on 100% hydration breads.  This ratio applies when you make the bread itself (using 100 % hydration starter or your normal fed starter of course). For those breads, water is used in the same proportion as water. This makes for a very liquid dough.  Be assured, the process is completely different. Why do people do it? because of the bubbles! Big beautiful bubbles.

So, I gave it a go this week.  I doubled my quantity of starter at the feed stage (just making 2 “normal” sourdough as a back up!). And I had this watery mix which sticks so much to your hands and can end up in a big big messy kitchen before you know! That time you need plenty flour to prevent the dough from sticking onto the workbench or onto your banneton (I use a tea towel shaped in a “U” shape in my roasting dish).  When I baked it , I did not give it a chance to come back to room temperature thinking that the cold shape will be slightly firmer to move.  Even so, it is really very soft!

sourdough bread And the result? Yum!  In taste, much lighter, it is another bread! It is closer to the ciabatta.  One bread was a bit flat, the other bread was quite high but had a big bubble in the upper section in one part of the bread.  There is definitely a fault in my technique there.

sourdough bread

 

 

 

 

Breads

 

pile of baguettes

Sourdough Baguettes

Pizza!

Brioche torsadee

Star brioche

Sourdough Bread