Naan

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Meg

We love naan but it’s not very easy to find in the supermarket (or good ones at least) when you’re making your own curry at home. And surprisingly it can quite often be disappointing from Indian restaurants, even if the rest of the meal is delicious. Andy has attempted naan before and it turned out like stodgy cardboard – yep, it really tasted as good as that sounds! I’ve always put it in the too hard basket until I received Short & Sweet: The best of home baking by Dan Lepard from my brother-in-law & partner for my birthday. I came home from work and gave it a crack, the only trick is that it needs proving time so I had to start fairly promptly once arriving home if we were going to eat the naan with dinner rather than have it for dessert.
It might seem like a lot of ingredients but there’s really not much to it, just throw them all into the mixing bowl. I used half this quantity as there was just the two of us eating and we managed to get 4 decent sized naan out of it. The original recipe caters for only 4-6 naan for a full batch but they must be super big…too big for our frying pan. You can make plain naan or brush it with a little garlic butter, sprinkle with different seeds, it’s up to you, but start with the basic recipe and you can decide if you want flavourings later as you only add those during cooking.
Makes 8

Ingredients
100ml cold milk
125g low fat yoghurt
50ml boiling water
1tsp dried yeast
300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
50g wholemeal flour
0.5tsp bicarb of soda
0.75tsp sea-salt
1tsp sugar

Method
Combine milk, yoghurt, boiling water and yeast in the bottom of a mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and kneed until combined – I use my Kitchen Aid but you can easily knead by hand. It should be a soft sticky dough. Cover with cling film and prove for 30 minutes in a warm, draught-free place. Knock-down the dough (knead lightly) and then continue to prove for a further hour.
Lightly flour the bench top and tip the dough onto it. Divide the dough into 8 even portions. Working with one at a time roll out the dough until about 2-3 mm thick. The original recipe says to roll out to 1-2cm thick, however they puff up hugely in the pan and they were too thick and stodgy for our liking. The thin versions were still light and fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside.

Rolled to about 2mm thick, it’s much lighter

Rolled to 1cm thick it was very puffy!

Heat a large frying pan on a moderate heat and cook the naan one at a time. Each naan only takes a few minutes on each side. If adding flavour do it now. When you first put the naan in the frying pan brush it with whatever you like. In this instance I had crushed a garlic clove into about 20g of melted butter. The naan with bubble on top and brown on the bottom. Once the naan starts to brown on the underside (this will only take about 2 minutes) flip and cook for a further minute. Keep warm while cooking the remaining naan, either in foil or in a warm oven (about 100°C).
Although I haven’t tried it, apparently they freeze well.
This naan is perfect for mopping up the juices of either VJ’s chicken curry, black pepper and yoghurt curry or mussamun shanks. Or you might have another favourite of your own! It would also be great served with dips for a light lunch or pre-dinner snack.

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Hot Cross Buns

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Meg

With Easter just over 5 weeks away it’s definitely respectable to get stuck into hot cross buns. And, if you’re anything like me you’ll need a decent amount of lead time to get them done in time! I’ve been making hot cross buns for several years now with most attempts failing. The flavour was there but not the texture, they really should have been called hot cross rocks. I have finally tweaked a recipe that seems to produce fluffy, yummy buns. It is important to use the right yeast though. I find a massive difference between brands and I will only ever use Tandaco if using dried yeast. Most of the time I use fresh yeast, but that can be hard to come by. Some bakeries will sell it to you, and it’s super cheap. However, you could use either kind of yeast, as long as it’s Tandaco if using dried yeast.
It’s not traditional but I love adding chopped dried apple in my hot cross buns which gives the buns a certain lightness. I’ll typically use a mixture of mixed peel, dried apple, sultanas & currants, often in quantities reflected by what’s available in my pantry at the time. But you can really add whatever fruit you like – or no fruit at all, which is what Andy prefers. OR…thanks to certain bakery chains people have now cottoned onto chocolate hot cross buns, just swap the fruit out for choc chips. Whatever you do, have fun making them and even more fun devouring them!
Makes 12

Ingredients
465g strong flour, such as 00 (I will often substitute out 100g for wholemeal flour for a richer taste)
35g caster sugar
1tsp sea-salt
10g dried yeast, or 28g fresh yeast
1.5 tsp allspice
1.5 tsp cinnamon
235 g dried fruit (Last time I used 20g mixed peel, 80g dried apple, 35g currants & 100g sultanas)
Zest of 1 orange
200ml milk
60g butter, softened
1 egg, lightly beaten
Crosses
35g flour
40ml water
Glaze
25g caster sugar
0.25tsp mixed spice
50ml water

Method
In a small saucepan heat milk and butter until tepid. Remove from the heat and whisk in the egg.
Combine all ingredients in mixer bowl, adding the milk mixture last. Using the dough hook attachment knead on slow speed for about 2 minutes. Initially the dough may seem quite dry but will loosen up as it keeps mixing. Once all the ingredients are combined increase the speed to medium and knead for a further 6 minutes. Cover the bowl with cling film and set aside for 45 minutes, or until doubled in size, in a warm, draught-free place.

Remove the dough from the bowl and divide into two – I find it easier to work with smaller pieces. Roll the dough out into a sausage about 1.5-2″ in diameter. Divide into 6 pieces, shaping each piece into a ball. Place the buns in an oiled tray (I use a lamington tray, even if it is slightly too big. You may have a better sized tray than I). Repeat with the remaining dough. Tip: Place the bans fairly close together so that when they rise they will touch each other. This will encourage them to rise upwards rather than out so you get nice high buns…not flat ones. You can see in the picture that I haven’t spaced the buns evenly in my lamington tray, otherwise they would never make contact. It’s ok to have a bit of unused tray real-estate!

Cover the tray with a damp tea-towel and set aside in a warm, draught-free place for a further 45 minutes to an hour, they need to double in size. My favourite place if propped above the coffee machine! Don’t forget you will need to preheat your oven to 210°C so check on your buns after about 30 minutes to see if they’re almost done rising. Also, the cross mixture needs to be made. Simply mix the flour and water together and tip into a piping bag. If you do not have a piping bag you can use a sandwich snap lock bag and cut the corner off – it needs to be fairly robust plastic as the mixture is fairly still. Once the buns have risen sufficiently pipe the crosses onto the buns and place in the oven. Cook at 210°C for 10 minutes and then reduce the oven to 200°C for a further 10 minutes. The buns are ready once they sound hollow when tapped.
While the buns are cooling make the glaze. Combine sugar, mixed spice and water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Brush the buns with the glaze while they are still warm.
Enjoy your buns with butter or however you like! I prefer mine toasted with a little butter – the top half is always my favourite with the chewy cross and extra sweetness of the glaze!

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Baguettes

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Meg

The beauty about this recipe is that you can casually start this recipe in the morning (even if you sleep in…but not too late!) and have fresh baguettes ready for lunch. How good is that?!

If you’ve got a thriving starter but not ready to commit to sourdough in its purest form, then baguettes are for you. It is a semi-sourdough as yeast, as well as sourdough starter, is used as a leavening agent. As I said, baguettes can be made in a morning, rather than an 18+ hour ordeal like sourdough. The waiting is far more tolerable for the impatient.

Yield: 6 (delicious) baguettes

Ingredients
540g sourdough starter
680g stone-ground organic plain flour
7g (1 sachet) dry active yeast
275ml filtered water
12g sea salt

Method
Throw all the ingredients into the bowl of your stand mixer. Mix on low speed for a couple of minutes until all ingredients are combined. Increase the speed to medium and knead for another 6-10 minutes until the dough is easily stretched without breaking, it should be fairly see-through once stretched.

Set aside in an oiled container with plenty of room to rise and cover with cling film for an hour. Lift the dough out of the container and fold it over itself a couple of times. Place back in the container and cover for another hour.

Divide the dough into 3 equal portions. Working with one portion at a time, stretch the dough out to a rectangle, about 20 x 10 cm (as it’s rolled up it lengthens). I prefer to push the dough out with my fingers, the thickness distorts if pulled too much. Starting with the long edge, tightly roll the dough towards you. As you roll, you’ll hear the most delightful popping sounds as you squeeze all the air pockets out (which is a good thing). Place the rolled up baguette, seam side up, on a floured tea-towel. Bunch the tea-towel up between the baguettes so that they don’t stick together as they rise. Sprinkle with flour and cover loosely with cling film.

Rolling, resting, flipping, slashing

Preheat the oven to the highest it will go and place a pizza stone or tile on the middle shelf. Allow to rise for about half an hour. The baguettes should have risen by at least half, if not doubled. Very delicately transfer the baguettes to a baking-paper lined tray with the seam underneath. Slash the baguettes with a sharp knife, serrated works well, in long diagonals. Overlap each slash by a third to get the tradition “bridging” on a baguette (I’m still working on it).

Bake in a hot oven on a pizza stone for about 15 minutes. Pay attention to the bottoms so they don’t burn. The baguettes are ready once tapped on the bottom they sound hollow.

Now that you’ve mastered the baguette, you’re ready for sourdough. Go on, give it a try, you’ll be great!

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Brioche buns

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Meg

The humble burger seems to be getting around in a brioche bun these days. It’s light and fluffy and has a slight sweetness to it. Andy’s been dying for one so we gave it a go on the weekend. I haven’t made brioche before and was surprised at how well it turned out. It was really very simple. The recipe I was looking at, which Dad took home from a cooking class at Libertine, had a lot of sugar in it. It seemed too much for our savoury purpose, so I halved it.

This recipe will yield 12 buns or 1 loaf.

Ingredients
300ml milk
30g sugar
7g (1 sachet) dry active yeast
500g flour
15g salt
1 egg
125g butter, softened
Egg wash
1 egg
100ml milk
1/2 tsp salt

Method

Heat milk and sugar on the stovetop to 40°C. Add yeast and leave for 10 minutes until it starts to foam. Meanwhile, in a stand mixer bowl measure out the flour and salt. Once the yeast mixture has foamed add to the flour and knead on a low speed to incorporate. Add the egg and the butter. At first this will be a sloppy mess and you’ll wonder how it will ever come together (or at least that’s what I thought) and then all of a sudden it becomes beautifully smooth. Increase the mixing speed and knead for about 10 minutes.

Prove in the bowl for 30 minutes. Remove from the bowl and place on a floured bench. Divide into 12 portions and shape into balls. I create a circle with my thumb and index finger on one hand and push the dough through with the other. This creates a nice uniform ball. Place the balls on a baking paper lined tray, evenly spaced. Cover with a damp tea-towel and allow to rise for about 2 hours, or until doubled in size. Brush with egg wash and bake for 15 minutes. The buns should be golden and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Serve with your favourite burger and fillings!

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Sourdough

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Meg

Now that you’ve mastered the starter the big day is here. Don’t forget to feed your starter as described in the starter instructions in the lead up to bread making. The proportions mentioned below are for a yield of 2 loaves. Anymore and your mixer will probably not cope. If mixing by hand, as James will be, you’ll be kneading for hours! All of my sourdough recipes have been largely based on those in Bourke Street Bakery’s book.

My biggest tip is to read the recipe carefully a couple of days before you start. There are many steps and waiting periods. Given that I work full-time I can only make the bread on the weekend, starting the mixing & resting process on a Friday or Saturday night. The dough benefits from a rest in the fridge for about 8-12 hours. Over this time the complexity of the flavour develops. After the rest it needs to sit out of the fridge from 1-4 hours while it rises. I can’t get out of bed that early on a work day! So I have a routine of starting the mix when I get home from work on Friday and bake on a Saturday morning. It might seem tedious but once you get in the swing of it, it’s really not that onerous.

A note on flour. What I’ve seen recommended for sourdough is stone-ground flour. This is the traditional way flour was once milled. These days high-speed steel rollers are used which heat the wheat as it is milled, thus destroying much of its nutrient content. The stone-ground flour is naturally strong, which is recommended for bread. Organic or biodynamic flours are most likely to be stone-ground. I started making my sourdough with a supermarket brand organic white flour and have recently switched to a biodynamic stone-ground white flour. There has been a definite improvement in taste & texture since. By using this flour in the starter I have seen improvements there too. If high-grade ingredients are used it will be reflected in the results.

Ingredients
310g sourdough starter
510g stone-ground organic flour
265ml filtered water
14g sea salt

Method
Place starter, flour and water in the mixer’s bowl. Using the dough hook attachment kneed on low speed for a couple of minutes until all ingredients are combined. Increase the speed to medium and knead for another 6 minutes. Turn off the mixer and cover the bowl with a damp tea towel, or cling film, and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.

Sprinkle the dough with the sea salt and mix again on low speed until the salt is incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and mix for another 6 minutes. The mixing time may need to be increased. The dough is ready once it can be stretched out easily without the dough breaking apart. It should almost be transparent. This point is very difficult to reach by hand kneading…just ask James.

The dough is now ready to be set aside for an hour for its first bulk prove. Place the dough in an oiled container and cover with plastic wrap. At the end of the hour lift the dough out and fold it back on itself a couple of times, this is called the “knock back”. Put back in the oiled container and bulk prove for a further hour.

Divide the dough in two with a blunt dough splitter. Working with one piece of dough at a time, stretch it out to a rectangle. Fold it in thirds like you would a letter before putting it into an envelope. Then fold into thirds again, starting from the top end. Now the dough is ready for shaping. Starting at the top edge fold the corners in to form a point, just like you would when folding a paper plane. Roll the point back into the dough and keep rolling towards you, pushing down at each roll so there’s no air trapped in between the rolls. Place the loaves, seem side up, in the proofing baskets. If you do not have a proofing basket (like most) use a baking dish or basket lined with a floured tea-towel. Cover with a plastic bag and place in the fridge for 8-12 hours (overnight).

Folding the dough to form loaves. I used kaipseeds in this mix which explains the grains!

Next day, remove the loaves from the fridge and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot. The loaves should increase in size, this will take about 1 – 4 hours. While this is happening preheat the oven to it’s highest temperature. We have a wood-fired oven which I get up to about 300°C. When I was using my kitchen oven, baking the loaves on a pizza stone, the oven could reach about 275°C. The loaves are ready to bake when you push on the dough and it bounces back – leaving no trace of your fingerprint. If the dough collapses once pushed the loaf has over-proved and needs to go in the oven ASAP. Once ready remove the loaves from the proofing baskets. Gently does it, you don’t want to bump any of the air out of the loaves.

Just before putting in the oven slash the loaves down the middle with a serrated knife (however, do not slash if over-proved). Get the loaves into the oven immediately after slashing them. As the loaves go into the oven put a couple of ice blocks on the base of the oven. This will create a humid environment in the oven ensuring the loaves will not crust up too quickly, allowing them to rise to their full extent. The loaves will take about 30 minutes to cook, however, keep an eye on them every 10 minutes. Cooking time will vary between ovens. The loaves are cooked properly when they sound hollow once tapped on the base.

Allow the loaves to cool for 20 minutes and enjoy a slice with butter and any other spread you prefer…maybe some marmalade!

Sourdough Starter

Posted on July 20, 2013 by Meg

Before making delicious sourdough bread you need a sourdough starter, or culture. The starter’s not made of much but if you mix together flour and water and leave it for a while something amazing happens. When left for a bit, making sure you feed and love it, your gluggy mixture will develops natural yeasts and good bacteria. The starter is initially high maintenance, but once it gets going and you’ve got the hang of it you’ll be able to put it in the fridge and forget about it for about a week. I even managed to go away for 4 weeks and it still survived!The easiest way to get a starter is to ask someone who’s already got one for some. A portion of the starter is regularly discarded so it’s no problem to give some away. Besides, you don’t need much old starter to make a new starter. If you don’t know anyone though, you can start your very own from scratch. (My cousin gave me some of his starter to get me going…but I killed it. Too embarrassed to ask him for more, given that he lives interstate, I started my own from scratch.) It will take a week to see some results but before you know it you’ll have a deliciously smooth and bubbly starter.

As always, a little note on ingredients. There’s only 2 ingredients to worry about but they are important. Starters are best when they’re pure. Try and source some stone-ground organic, or biodynamic, flour and use only filtered water. Our water in Warragul is pretty good, but I still filter it.

Now that you’re ready follow the schedule below.

Keeping your starter alive & well

The starter loves routine, just like us. We like to be fed about the same time everyday, or at least I do! I feed my starter in the morning as it’s the most consistent time for me to be home. Keep at room temperature. If you live in a warm climate, ah-hem Darwin ah-hem, put your starter in the fridge to sleep at night. The warmer the starter the quicker it eats. Leaving it out in the heat all the time will cause the starter to starve…no one wants that! Try using a see-through container or bucket to grow your starter so you can see all the bubbles. The starter will be fed different quantities depending on whether you are about to bake with it or just maintaining it. See below.

What to do with the starter in between bakes

Once your starter is established you can relax the feeds. I usually only bake once a week (if that, although sometimes it can be more). After I have finished baking I will mix together 50ml water & 50g flour and add to that 2 tbsp active starter. I will leave that in the fridge until I am ready to feed it up again for the next bake. If it’s going to be a couple of weeks before I bake with the starter I will refresh the starter by repeating the above process, discarding the rest. If the starter is left idle for too long a film of black liquid forms on top and comes with a bit of a pong. It’s not all doom and gloom. It just needs to be refreshed over a few days and it will be back to its happy bubbly self in no time. Last year when I was on holidays for four weeks I did an experiment. I put one container of starter (100ml water & 100 flour with 2 tbsp of active starter) in the fridge and another in the freezer. I thought it was a bit extreme to have someone look after my starter while I was away, we already had friends looking after the dog. But, don’t think it didn’t cross my mind! Anyway, upon return the starter from the fridge was much more successful in its revival. Although, I had read that it is possible to freeze sourdough starter – maybe I was using wrong quantities.

Priming your starter for use

Prior to baking with the starter you’ll have to fatten up the starter quite quickly. I usually mix my bread in the evening. The first feed of the starter begins 1 day before I am going to mix the dough, eg. Mixing on Friday night I start feeding the starter Thursday morning. Second feed is the night before (Thursday night), third feed the morning of the mixing day (Friday morning).

The starter will grow quickly, make sure the container has lots of headroom.

1st Feed

2nd Feed

Now that your starter is up and running, make sure to make some sourdough!

Something For Pudding

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Category Archives: Bread