Category Archives: Baking Bread

Apricot and Sunflower Sourdough

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I have four new comers in my little kitchen at the moment and I love them all equally.

A flat bottomed wok- who knew cooking could be so quick and easy with this little fella.

A hand made wooden Huon Pine mini rolling pin- beautifully made. I fell in love with the workmanship and needed a smaller one than my broken handled marble one. It really is the perfect little roller. Light and smooth…(not generally like my pastry.)

A super sharp lame (French blade for cutting my sourdough)- slash, slash, slash!

and….my new Banneton. Otherwise known as Brotform or Brotformen…Other, otherwise known as a little basket to prove your bread in. This I have to say is my favourite. Lovingly stored away at night, ready to work its banneton magic on my bread the next day. If I tucked it up and gave it a good night kiss, I wouldn’t be surprised.

… Mr Chocolate might be though.

Apricot and Sunflower Sourdough

200gms starter

2 1/2 cups flour

1/3 cup dried chopped apricots

1/3 cup sunflower seeds

1 tps salt

3 heaped spoonfuls natural yoghurt

water: enough for elastic dough consistency

Mix ingredients together, then leaving for an hour or so. Into fridge for a lovely long and slow ferment for 12 hours. Out of fridge and fold the dough. Leaving to prove for approximately two hours. Fold again and popped into my lovely, lovely new banneton. Prove until, I couldn’t stand the excitement any longer and had to pop the dough in the oven to see how my new basket had shaped up. Baked at 250C with steam on top shelf for approximately 20mins and then down to the bottom shelf for a further 10 minutes.

This loaf I have made a few times now and I’m really happy with the results. It keeps beautifully and still toasting well a week later. Topped with the Lime and Cumquat Marmalade and my morning begins.

* This post submitted to Yeastspotting.

Potato and Rosemary Sourdough- Frugal Friday

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There always seems to be one more loaf of bread to make. If I had the time, and sizeable pants. I would happily be making a different type of bread 7 days a week. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I don’t have that sort of time and my pants aren’t that stretchy. So if I have a bready idea I usually have to sit on it until we are out of bread again or a suitable meal comes up that we can accompany the bread with it.

Frugal Friday seemed like a good accompaniment. A simple salad and a wedge of bread.

Potato and Rosemary Sourdough

sourdough

3 partially roasted roughly diced potatoes

3 rosemary stems

This little number was a normal white sourdough. The potatoes I had cooked half way through while I had one tray of biscuits in the oven and the second tray being free. Sourdough folded once before popping into the fridge, for an overnight ferment. During the fold,  2/3 of the cooked potato were folded through, leaving aside the remainder 1/3 for the next day. Also adding 1/2 the rosemary roughly chopped again. When it came to shaping time the next morning, rolling out  a short fat snake shape and loosely spiralling round. Lightly pressing in the remaining potato and roughly chopped fresh rosemary. Allow for another prove, approximately 1 hour, a good grind of sea salt all over the top of the dough. Then popping it into the oven at 250C, with steam. Bake until golden and hollow sounding when tapped on the bottom.

it’s all gone a rye

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When I was a little kid all I wanted for lunch was a white sliced sandwich in triangles. Ideally with devon, tomato sauce and slapped together with so much butter it would make even a French chef frown. Why did I want that? Because that’s what I didn’t have. That’s what other kids had.

I had the sensible bread with grains or wholemeal, with nutritious things inside. Up until about 9 years old I could potentially have a cheese, chutney and sprouts sandwich. This was my mum’s idea of a delicious sandwich, and perfect for a healthy growing-at- a-cracking-rate young girls lunch. At 9 years old though, enough was enough. My palate wasn’t that developed yet. Not developed enough for chutney and sprouts anyway.  Although I never threw my sandwich out, I did hastily eat it hoping it would just quickly fill me up and no one would see it and say ….ewww whats that? On the odd occasion it may have found itself under my bed…where it may have sat there, next to a book (The Secret Seven) and slowly grow its own penicillin…

Alright that only happened the once, but at 9 years old I decided that I would take over the reins of making my own sandwiches. No more chutney and sprouts thanks. Salami and cheese would be fine. Salami and tomato. Tomato and cheese. They were the three combinations I had pretty much throughout my school career. Until I got to my final year of highschool and I stepped it up a notch and had capsicum and cheese. They were certainly exciting sandwich times.

How things have changed now though. As an adult…phew. Bread and all its loveliness. All the wonderful concoctions you can have for a simple sanga. Since embracing the heady world of sourdough, those concoctions have got even more enticing. This Apple Walnut Rye included…

* So will The Monkeys be having white sliced bread with devon and tomato sauce for their school lunches? Hell no! Do you know what’s in that stuff?!

Apple Walnut Rye Sourdough

200gms starter

225gms of rye flour

225gms of plain flour

200mls water (approx)

1 1/2 tps salt

1/2 chopped apple

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

a shake of cinnamon

Mix up rye dough as usual, when it’s time for the first fold, add apple and nuts. Folding them carefully in. I did an over night ferment, then baked at 250C until top was golden looking. Then popped it out of the tin and baked a further 10 minutes, while turning the oven down to 200C.

The top came out a little messy, but I was happy with the consistency and it just feels so healthy when you eat it. I’m loving this one for breakfast at the moment. And to totally cancel out the health factor, slap some peanut butter on there- so thick you could walk on it…mmmm.

Light Rye Sourdough

350gms starter

300gms rye meal

300gms bakers flour

480 mls water

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1 1/2 tps salt

Mix ingredients. Wait for 20 minutes, then add salt and mix again. Let it prove for 1 1/2 hours. First fold. Prove for another 1hour. 2nd fold. In oiled tin, rise for another hour. 11 hour ferment in fridge. Out for 1/2 an hour on the bench. Slash. Then baked at 250C for 20mins top shelf, (steam) then a further 15 mins on the second shelf.


*This post submitted to Yeast Spotting

Pan de Leche- the starfish

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Ahhh….the monkeys off my back.

Not MY Monkeys, but this monkey, (my Monkeys are frequently on my back.)

The starfish. No more shall I go to sleep muttering the words…starfish, starfish….no more shall I wake with bleary eyes, poke around for my days clothing, and wander as if pulled by an invisible chain to the kitchen muttering…starfish, starfish…

After stumbling upon this post, mentioning it to Celia who in turn sent me the instructions, then prompted by Heidiannie, then again asked by Joanna, who also sent me this post….I really just had to do it then didn’t I.

Pan de Leche dough sounded right for it. Pliable, not as eggy as a challah, it rolled perfectly and tasted like brioche. Got to love anything that tastes like brioche.

Pan de Leche- the starfish

200mls luke warm milk

2 tps dry yeast

1 egg

100gms softened butter

1/4 cup raw sugar

450gms flour

3 tbs olive oil

1 tps salt

Mix yeast in luke warm milk and set aside for 10 minutes. Mix remaining ingredients together (I used a mixer with dough hook) and also adding milk. Once mixed together, knead well until smooth and elastic. Cover and leave until doubled in size. Divide dough into 16 equal portions. Roll each portion out into a long snake, (leaving one aside to become a disk). Each snake should be the same length.

From here on in please refer to these posts, (one and two) as they will describe what to do far better than I will. The only difference being for the centre, I made a dough disk of about 1cm high to fill in the hole and then wound round a three strand plait, then tucked in again for the centre. Just before popping it in the oven, I brushed it all with milk. Baked at 220C until tips golden and then turned the oven down to 180C for a little further cooking.

* I’ve had a few posts about bread making recently. For so many people bread is a daily staple that plays a big role in the days meals. Making your own I can’t recommend it enough. It certainly doesn’t have to be like this, nor sourdough (although I’m sure you would love it). A simple bread maker machine quite often is enough. Comparing it to so many available shop breads, there really is no comparison in taste. Even if you only made one loaf a week it’s worth it.

Weaving bread and why its fun to play with your food

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I have this very fond memory from when I was a kid. Staying at my Nana’s house and being ‘let loose’ in the kitchen. She gave me a plate full of flour, sugar, milk, sultanas, an egg and spices. With these ingredients I could do what ever I wanted and then she would cook it. Blissfully happy, I have no idea how it tasted, but I remember vividly the pride I had that I could choose what ever I wanted to do with those ingredients. It never happened again, and if I was cooking at home I always had to follow a recipe. Mum said I had to learn the basics first before I tinkered. Actually she was right, darn right. Because I know a lot of the basics now, tinkering with food makes more sense then when I cooked that flour, milk, sultana  concoction.

Playing with food and its different flavours can be so much fun. The last few months I have been playing with sourdoughs, love it, love it, love it. The last few weeks I’ve been playing with plaiting sourdoughs, plaiting, plaiting, plaiting. Then just I was about to embark on a certain ‘starfish’ that needed an intricate amount of plaiting, my brain said oh oh oh…but what if we did this instead?…Cross this with that, then that with this…Oh ok…Lets give that a whirl.

sourdough woven bread

…and that dear people is why it’s fun to play with your food. As you never know what you’re going to get.

If you would like to weave your sourdough. Make up your usual dough and when its time to do the shaping make your self a large square. Cut equal strips to go down and across. (For this one I did 8×8 strips) Making sure the strips are well floured, otherwise they will just blob together when having the final prove. Then tuck and loop, tuck and loop. For the edges, trim and then gently tuck under to tidy the sides up.

This bread makes for a good addition to soup, as it easily pulls apart.

* This post submitted to yeast spotting.

Coconut Sourdough with lashings of Strawberry Jam

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Many many moons ago, when I was a footloose and fancy free youngster, I worked in England for a little old lady. Charged with looking after this delightful old lady, it was up to me to make sure she was cared for and entertained. Being a little old lady she didn’t like big meals but she sure liked lots of little ones. There was breakfast, morning tea, 11’ses, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and supper…alright maybe it wasn’t that many. But it felt like it. Afternoon tea however was a must. At precisely 3pm, a cup of tea and a little something to tide her over until the next meal would be served. Now more often than not, she would be rather partial to a packet of crisps and a quick nod off in the comfy armchair. Only for her to wake up awhile later with fallen crisps surrounding her and only the backpacker carer to blame it on.

Sometimes though, she would like a piece of cake or bread and jam. Accompanied with a little recital from the poetry in “Alice in Wonderland”. As I  was always happy to make cake and love to read this was always a really nice way to spend the afternoon.

Winter sun peaking through the curtains, little old lady with jam and bread perched on her knee and footloose and fancy free backpacker reading… “will you walk a little faster? said the whiting to the snail, there’s a porpoise right behind me and he’s stepping on my tail…”

Coconut Sourdough with Strawberry Jam- just the thing for a little afternoon tea.

Strawberry Jam

750gms roughly chopped and hulled strawberries

750gms sugar

1 lime juiced

1/2 lemon juiced

Cook the strawberries and sugar together. As there is no water in this recipe, keeping stirring continuously until moisture comes out of strawberries (otherwise it will burn.) Add juice of lime and lemon and cook until gets to wrinkle stage or do the saucer test. Bottle it up or just keep in a bowl in the fridge, (it gets eaten pretty quickly round here.)

Coconut Sourdough Loaf

175gms starter

1 1/2 cups bakers flour

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

200-250mls water

2 tbs honey

3/4 tps salt

What I did was mixed, over night ferment, 2 folds over about 5 hours. Final prove in tin for about 20 minutes. Baked at 250C initially for about 15 minutes and then down to 180C for a further 10 minutes. This was only a small loaf as it was an experiment. I’m not sure whether it’s the honey or coconut which hinders the rising process for the sourdough, (or it could be both). There were a few holes, but it is a denser loaf compared to my normal sourdough.

A hit though for The Monkeys when they were whooping it up for a little something to tide them over until dinner time.

The Lobsters Quadrille Lewis Carroll

“Will you walk a little faster?” said a whiting to a snail,
“There’s a porpoise close behind us, and he’s treading on my tail.
See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
They are waiting on the shingle — will you come and join the dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you join the dance?

“You can really have no notion how delightful it will be
When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to sea!”
But the snail replied “Too far, too far!” and gave a look askance —
Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join the dance.

“What matters it how far we go?” his scaly friend replied.
“There is another shore, you know, upon the other side.
The further off from England the nearer is to France —
Then turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance.
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you join the dance?

Plaited bread and a frugal meal

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What to do when someone is coming over for lunch or dinner and all that is on offer is a simple soup. Budget, time, resources all point towards a simple nourishing, belly warming soup. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. But how to turn that flaccid celery, pumpkin looking like its going to produce its own penicillin and the odd carrot or two in the bottom of the crisper into a delicious meal?

Place some simple plaited bread that looks pretty in the middle of the table and your meal is complete. After being inspired by Heidiannie and all her plaited and beautifully presented bread, I had decided to give it a go too.

Pumpkin Soup

good slurp of olive oil

a couple of sticks of celery

big hunk of pumpkin chopped up

carrots

Cook them up in some stock, then wizz with hand held mixer when soft. Add a spoonful of ready made asian sauce, (rendang, green curry paste etc) to give it an extra zing.

Serve with some fancy looking bread, (that’s actually really easy…shhh).

sourdough plaited bread

sourdough plaited bread

For more on braiding bread check out Celia’s latest post.

Travels with Sourdough

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Almond and Raisin Sourdough

The underside of the Almond and Raisin Sourdough. A toasted almond crunch to a slice.

Wholemeal sourdough.

Sunflower and Linseed Sourdough Panini.

Date and Pecan Sourdough

350gms starter

600gms flour

2/3 cup chopped medjool dates

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 tbs raw sugar

good shake of cinnamon

1 1/2 tps salt

I made this sourdough on the warmest day so far that I have toyed with the sourdoughs. Consequence- a lighter sourdough then I would normally make as it rose so quickly. I did two lots of folds in between proves. Verdict- um yes please! (My mum liked this one too, and said that I could make some next time I came down to visit. Have starter…will travel.)

Sourdough Apple Rolls

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“Mama my taste buds can’t believe how good this is, they just want to keep eating and eating this” Monkey Boy

Right. Mental note to self, must make these again. And I did, then I did again.

Sourdough Apple Rolls

sourdough, into round parts- flatten a little

add some sliced cooked apple

a sprinkle of sugar

a sprinkle of cinnamon

some sultanas

Then pull the edges into the middle and slightly twist to make sure it binds.

Now turn it upside down so the smooth side is up, and let it rise for awhile. Cook as you would normal bread.

This picture was of a sultana free one, and the first batch that I did. Perfect for a breakfast on the run, snack, lunch etc. Easy to freeze, and delicious eaten slightly warm. Monkey Boy loves them in his pre-school lunch box. I love them as an instant breakfast, then I can keep doing other things.

Sourdough Flat bread

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Sometimes I don’t feel like thinking “what am I going to cook for dinner”.  I really love cooking, but sometimes I get tired of trying to hide vegetables, mixing tasty and healthy together, and generally being in the kitchen…. Sometimes the call of the outside is just too strong and the The Monkeys are just begging for rumbles in a park, rather than watching me cook another dinner in the kitchen.

Times like that I cook Bolognese. Whats so exciting about that? It will last 3 days and no one will ever realise that just ate the same meal that got upcycled…huh?

Follow if you will…

Day One– Cook up a lovely BIG batch of Bolognese Sauce. Finely dice those all those vegetables so the kids/partners don’t actually suspect there might be a whole garden in there.

DINNER- Spaghetti Bolognese… Buon Apettito!

Day Two- Now in another pot add oil, lots of lovely cumin, coriander, red kidney beans and perhaps a little chilli. Now add it to your bolognese. Bolognese just turned into Mexican flavours. Cook up some rice and spoon your mexican beans on top. A dollop of sourcream on the side, and a wedge of lime.

DINNER- Mexican Beans and Rice… Pass the Corona please.

Day Three– Now you still have a bit of the Bolognese/Mexican Beans in a pot but it surely isn’t enough to feed every one again. However if you add, a fried egg on top of the beans, some chopped up fresh tomato, spanish onion, coriander, a little avocado and a dollop of the sour cream, and serve with some lovely flat bread, your away.

DINNER- Huevos Rancheros… Would please any Mariachi band member.

I didn’t ‘pretty’ this one up at all. But you get the picture.

Sourdough Flatbreads

1 cup of sourdough starter

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tps salt

1/2 tps bicarb soda

1 1/2 tbs olive oil

water (I’m not sure how much I put in, go slowly until the right consistancy)

Let it rise in a lovely warm spot until double in size. A quick knead, and then divide into equal balls. Rolling dough out until quite flat, then cook under the grill and turning once. Should cook in just a couple of minutes. Serve straight away or freeze them for a rainy day.

Sourdough Oat Cakes

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Are they a pancake or are they a pikelet? Or a they simply an oat cake? I started making pancakes with oats in them quite awhile ago.

1/ It was something to do with left over porridge. (as an alternative to my grandmothers staple ‘mock brains‘).

2/ I added a lower glycemic index to the old pancake.

3/ I thought it was a bit tastier and more substantial than a traditional pancake recipe.

Not that I don’t love the traditional kind, but I am always hungry not long after, and with the added oats it keeps The Monkeys going longer as well. One day while talking to a Scottish friend, these little pancakes came up. She said that she had always made them and back home she called them oat cakes. There you go… oat cakes sounds much more appealing than porridge pancakes.

Now seeing as though I was well and truly aboard the sourdough train, I thought lets see what happens if I add some starter. I had originally wanted to make sourdough crumpets, but didn’t have any rings to cook in them so this was somewhere between. I was mixing it all up and Mr Chocolate went past asking what I was making… just playing. Seeing what will happen if I add this and this and then do this…

Verdict?

Deeelicious! Well thats what Monkey Boy said anyway. I’m sure the Little Monkey meant it too with his cheeks stuffed full like a squirrel. My oat cakes will now always be sourdough oatcakes. Gobbled up with in minutes.

Sourdough oatcakes

1 cup sourdough starter

1 cup plain flour

1 cup milk

50 gms butter

2/3 cup whole oats

1/2 tps bicarb soda

Put butter and oats in microwave together, (butter on top) and heat till melted. Add starter, flour, milk, buttery oats to mixer (I used a dough hook) and mix until well combined. Fold in bicarb soda and let sit for 3 hours in warm spot. Spoon into frying pan and cook as you would pancakes.

sourdoughs

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Sourdough tastes good. It tastes reaallly good. Give me a fruity sourdough, with a little butter and I’m a happy woman.

I had toyed with the idea of making a sourdough starter for awhile, but it just seemed too hard. Too time consuming and too confusing as to what I was supposed to be doing. I read and I read, so many different ways to ‘start’ the starter, that my head hurt. All the pages were rolling into one, the words a blur, and nothing was sinking in. I closed my eyes at night thinking of starters and woke again, only to find my first thought of the day was sourdough starter…. Now what do I need to do again? Slash before prove or after? Steam? Oven at the hottest setting or turn it down a tad? Feeds beforehand? Ratio of starter to flour?…..?……?

Enough! Just do it girl. Get cracking.

Yes, there are a number of different ways to do it. Does that mean its complicated or versatile? Lets hope with versatile. I went with the “Bourke Street Bakery Cookbook” method, and for the next 3 weeks diligently fed dear “Suzie” (she had to have a name if she was going to be a permanent fixture in my kitchen) and hoped for the best.

* Now it must be said before I go any further. I’m a hack cook and a hack baker. I look for short cuts, I change recipes, and sometimes it could be said I completely bastardize recipes. Lets put it this way…. I’m not a sifter. Now this can be a downfall at times as the impatient me wants to take over and the delicate french chef in me gets thrown to the back of the kitchen. However, most of the time it works. The food is edible, and The Monkeys go to bed with a full and happy tummy. So for me, hack works… that being said, I wasn’t so sure hack was going to work in doing a sourdough starter.


I decided to do a rye starter. The rye apparently gets going easier and then you can switch over to normal flour, it just gives it a head start,(it’s then just a white starter.) So with rye flour and water in a bowl sitting on top of my fridge, the feeding began.

According to the method I was following, the starter wouldn’t be strong enough until after 3 weeks. But in the mean time I did play around with the portions I was supposed to be discarding.

Batch made with 'ferment'- oops

First up, a batch made at day 5. A Light Rye and Apple. Yeast used as a raising agent. Starter used more as ‘ferment’ taste. I have since read that you shouldn’t be using it at all at this stage as the bacteria levels are not right….. oops. I did wonder about this, as at this stage it smelt weird. Not like vomit, as I had read it could smell, just different… vomit didn’t sound so good.

Sunflower and Linseed with a small amount of dried yeast for backup. Fermenting overnight in fridge

Seeing if it would work in the bread maker. Yep it did. No yeast added and rose beautifully. It did go dry quite quickly though, when used in sandwiches, but fine for toast. I did try and start the bread maker in the morning and then left it sitting for a further few hours to prove before continuing on to cook. It rose beautifully again but then I worked out there wasn’t a just cook button and it had reset itself. So won’t be doing that one again…. dense, (the bread not me…or maybe a little of both.)

no commercial yeast, 10 hour prove

Light Rye with no yeast, two bulk proving times, and cooked 10 hours after starting.

Sunflower and Linseed, one feed 8 hours before mixing ingredients, 2 x 1 hour proving times with a knock back in between, then a slow ferment overnight in the fridge for 10 hours.

I still have to try the Bourke Street Bakery method of feeding the starter 3  times in 24 hours before adding other ingredients, then a long ferment over night. Some people do the extra feeds to build it up and some don’t. It seems there are so many methods in working with natural yeasts, and it’s just a matter of finding what works for me. That being said, if by chance anyone that knows what they are doing reads this and sees something that screams out- No you shouldn’t be doing that! Please let me know. Or just a sourdough tip, and the best methods that work for you.

Overall- I am really happy with the outcomes. I should have done a bread making course so all of this makes a bit more sense, and am hoping to down the track. But until then, I have a starter bubbling away happily, I’m producing edible bread, (actually it’s more than edible it’s really tasty!) I don’t have to rely on commercially made yeasts. I’m saving a bucket of money by not buying shop bread. (For the same price of 2 shop bought sourdoughs, I am getting 12 kilos of flour which in turn makes…. lots more loaves.) Then just playing around with different flavours, etc. like sunflowers, rye, bran, pepitas, apple.

I’m finding it so satisfying to make these breads, it really does feed my soul. I’m truly amazed that they rise and taste good, I just wish I knew more of the how, where, why part of bread making with natural yeasts.

In the mean time though, hack is working.