Tag Archives: rustic

Honey Oat Sourdough

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I want to be a bread geek.

I want to know everything there is to know about yeasts, and flours. The whole process fascinates me. Every time I pull a loaf out of the oven I am amazed at what I have before me. Particularly the wonderful beast that is sourdough. Every loaf is different, each one with it’s own little personality. I want to play with so many different ingredients, then pull it all together into a simple loaf.

Will I ever get to be a bread geek?…I don’t know. My small to medium sized brain seems to struggle with the why’s, how’s and when’s, but I’m slowly getting better. I know I’m geekier than 8 months ago, when I first started on making my own sourdoughs. I also know there is a lot more to learn. I guess that’s all right though…

Bread is a fairly forgiving staple, my family all enjoy the experimenting and I get to muse on the next concoction of dough that I will play with. Wondering on the how, where and when of the loaf coming together, and  loving every part of it.

Pepper the conversation with hydration levels, protein percentages, lames, banettons, biga, poolish, wild yeast, epis and my interest will immediate be sparked. All words that less than a year ago I would have smiled politely and wondered what language you were speaking, as I hadn’t the foggiest idea what you were talking about.

I can put Mr Chocolate to sleep with my constant mutterings and musings when trying to nut out the next bready dilemma I’m having. Lying in bed I’m trying to juggle flour ratios and proving times, while he quietly says the occasional uhuh…and heads out to sleep land. I only realise he has stopped doing his job (being the sounding board that I like him to be), when my question of what do you think? Is greeted with eyes closed, soft nose whistles and the odd body twitch.

Leaving me to my own bready geek talk.

Honey Oat Sourdough

200gms starter

1 1/2 cups strong bakers flour (225gms)

1 cup whole rolled oats (I soaked these in 1/2 cup hot water first)

150mls water (approx)

2 heaped tbls honey

1 tps salt

Mix, prove, fold, prove, shape, long slow overnight ferment in the fridge, bring it back to room temperature. Slash. Bake at 250C with steam.

 

This post is submitted to the wonderful yeastspotting.

 

Rustic Apple Plum Pie

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Have some pastry, and fruit? Dessert doesn’t have to be fancy to taste good. I will quite often make a double batch of pastry, so it’s always in the freezer and ready to go. For this use what ever fruit is  season, or if you have a batch of fruit from last season still lingering in the freezer, then it might be time to reacquaint yourself with it.

Roll out pastry, dollop on either cooked fruit, fresh berries, thinly sliced apples/sultanas/spices and then simply fold up the sides of the pastry and bake at 180C until pastry is golden. Done. Super easy, yes it is. Dust it with a bit of icing sugar if you want to ‘fancy’ it up.

If you would like to make your pie to look a little different, but not too much extra effort, try the stretched lattice look for a pie top. First up a pastry that is not going to crumble if you look at it.

Pastry

150gms chilled butter

1 2/3 cups plain flour

1/3 s/r flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 heaped dessert spoons of natural yoghurt

In a processor add the cubed butter, flour, and sugar. Process until it resembles bread crumbs. Turn out to a bowl and add yoghurt. Mix well and then knead until well combined and smooth. Pop it in to the fridge and let it have a little rest (approx 30 mins). Now roll your pastry out to the thickness that you require. Line the pie dish, cutting any extras off. Spoon in the pie middle. I used a plum and apple mixture but you could use anything that you have at hand. Roll out the remainder of the pastry and slit it intermittently with a knife.

Once that is done, gently stretch the top over the pie. This stretches out the the slits, opening up the latticing.

With this one I then brushed it with milk and sprinkled it with raw sugar. Bake until golden.

Serve with a dollop of home made yoghurt or mascarpone.

Two easy ways to make a rustic* looking pie.

* Rustic meaning I didn’t spend hours making it look pretty. Still tasty and still got The Monkeys jumping up and down yelling for PIE!!