My new favourite bread recipe

I tried out a new bread recipe a couple of weeks ago, and it's become the family favourite. This one slices even better than the previous recipe, and has a lovely even texture that makes it great for sandwiches and toast.

It's another recipe from Down To Earth, and I've adapted it for the Thermomix, so all the hard work is done. If you're making bread by hand, go over to Rhonda's blog for her method.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons dried yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ¼ cup warm (not hot) water 

• 4 cups baker's flour
• 1½ teaspoons salt
  
• 1 tablespoon olive oil 
• 1 tablespoon milk powder
• 1.5 - 2 cups warm (not hot) water  

Method

Place yeast, sugar and  ¼ cup warm water in TMX bowl. Close lid and mix at speed 1-2 for a few seconds. Do something else for 5 minutes or so, and when you come back it should be frothy.

Add flour, salt, oil and milk powder, and 1 cup of water. Mix at speed 5-6 for 30 seconds, adding more water slowly while mixing until dough starts coming together. I usually need about 1.5 cups altogether, but it depends on the type of flour, the humidity, etc. and may vary. You really need to get to know how the dough feels, and that comes with practice.

Knead dough for 2 minutes on closed lid position.

Tip dough out onto mat/bench/board and knead by hand for a minute until smooth. If the dough seems a little dry, sprinkle some water on it and knead it in as you go. If it seems too sticky, do the same with a little more flour.

Form into a ball and place into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover (I use a little spray oil and cover with cling wrap to prevent the dough drying out, but a damp tea towel can also do the job) and leave somewhere warm and draft-free (not so crucial with the cling wrap) to prove. I've found this recipe rises much faster than the previous one I wrote about, so keep an eye on it.

Once doubled in size, tip out and knead by hand for two minutes. Shape and place in a tin lined with baking paper, or on an oven tray, sprinkle with water and add seeds if desired (we like sesame seeds). Cover (I use the same piece of cling wrap) and allow to rise again - about half an hour should do it.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees C. Bake on centre shelf for 6 mins, then turn oven down to 180-200 degrees and bake for 15-20 mins. You'll know when it's done by the fabulous smell and the golden crust.

Turn out onto a cooling rack. Slices best when fully cooled, but is delicious warm!

Daily bread

I've gone back to making bread lately. I don't think much of the bland stuff you can buy from the supermarket, and I'm not even that fussed with bakery breads, but fresh homemade bread? Warm from the oven? Toasted the next day? Yes please!

For a while I made a loaf every few days using Lauke bread mix and a breadmaker. The big advantage was being able to use the delay function so the process started in the wee hours of the morning, and we woke to the smell of fresh bread, ready for breakfast. It was quick and easy - the machine did all the work, with reliable results, and the bread was an improvement over anything we could buy locally.

Then along came Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Wonderful stuff - and very impressive as it did the initial huge rise in a container on the kitchen bench. Very easy, but a little more hands on (which was a good thing). Still very quick once the batch was mixed, and a delicious taste that only improved as the dough aged. A little messy because it was so sticky, and the container took up a lot of room in the fridge.

Then I discovered the One Minute Ciabatta recipe. A very simple, rustic loaf. A bit like the Artisan Bread in 5, but you just make a single loaf batch of dough. While it took me a little more than a minute (but not much more) to mix it up, it was completely hand made and full of flavour, having been allowed to rise overnight on the bench. And it made fabulous toast! We loved it with fresh rosemary and sea salt sprinkled on top.

And then there's the latest recipe I've been using, from a friend of a friend. It's made in the Thermomix, so the hard work - kneading - is taken care of, although you could certainly make it entirely by hand - it would just mean kneading for at least 8 minutes in stage 3 (below). It promised a crunchy crust, and a soft lightness inside. And it was nice, but not that great. Others did have great results though, so I tried again. Still good, but a bit dense. So I did some research, found some helpful tips, and tried again today. It came out of the oven a few minutes before the rest of the family walked in the door, and half the loaf disappeared rapidly, meeting with loud approval all round. Success!

So this is my slightly modified version. I've included some explanations of why I've done things in a certain way - understanding how the chemistry works certainly helps me in the kitchen!

Basic bread (in the Thermomix)

1. Activate the yeast: Pour 280ml warm water into the Thermomix bowl, and add 1 teaspoon of yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar. I keep the yeast in the freezer, so this gives it a chance to warm up and start doing its thing, and the little bit of sugar gives it something to feed on. After a few minutes it should start looking frothy.

2. Add dry ingredients: 500gm flour (plain or baker's - either is fine), 1 teaspoon of bread improver (apparently this is optional, and I've heard some negative things about bread improver lately, but I have some here so I'll use it up, and then look at alternatives like ascorbic acid or leaving it out altogether), and 1 teaspoon of salt (don't skimp on the salt - it's not a lot, and it makes a difference BUT keep the salt away from the yeast until it all starts mixing together. Apparently straight salt will kill yeast) into the TMX bowl.

3. Mix: Close the TMX, and gradually increase to Speed 6 for 6 seconds or so to mix everything together. Set to closed lid position, and knead on the interval setting for 2 minutes. Tip the dough out onto a board or mat and knead for a minute to form a nice smooth ball.

4. First rise: Put the dough into a lightly oiled/greased bowl and cover with cling wrap or a damp tea towel - make sure it's touching the dough's surface, as this will help prevent the surface drying out and allow the dough to rise more. The dough needs to be in a warm, draught-free spot to rise well. It's been getting colder here in Canberra, so I searched around for ideas and came up with heating a glass of water to boiling in the microwave, then placing the bowl of dough in with the glass of water and shutting the door. The insulated microwave works well as a proofing box! This first rise could take anything from 30 mins to a couple of hours, depending on the conditions, but wait until the dough has doubled in size before proceeding.

5. Shape and second rise: Punch the dough down on a mat or board, knead for two minutes ('push' the dough away from you, fold it back on itself, turn a quarter turn, repeat), roll it out into an oval about 40cm x 20cm, and then roll it up into a big sausage shape (or shape it any other way you like - I don't think it matters too much - get creative!). Transfer to a bread tin or oven tray. Dampen the top with water and add sesame seeds (again, use whatever you like - we just happen to like sesame seeds), pressing them lightly onto the dough.  Cover and allow to rise again for at least two hours.

6. Bake: Preheat your oven to hot - mine goes up to about 250 deg C (a hot oven will allow the loaf to rise quickly by turning moisture in the dough into steam, before it forms the crust, so you get a nicely aerated and soft bread). Remove the cling wrap or tea towel, sprinkle on a little more water (this makes a lovely crunchy crust) and put the loaf in the middle of the oven. Bake for 6 minutes, and then turn the oven down to 200 deg C and bake a further 20 mins. Keep an eye on it the first time you bake it - all ovens are different, and you may need to adjust the timing a little.

When it's done, tip the loaf out into a cooling rack and WAIT: if you give it at least ten minutes to cool it will be much easier to cut. Then try not to eat it all at once :)

In two weeks I have ...

Worked. A lot. A number of clients are involved in a conference at the end of the month, and are desperately trying to get documents printed in time. Being at the end of the process, things are a little hectic around here right now, and it's not finished yet.

Read several books:


I'll have to read the rest of the Twilight books soon - I do love a good vampire tale!

I read the Dinotopia children's novel before handing it over to Miss Tizz, just to make sure it was appropriate for a 7yo (and I recently read The Princess Diaries for the same reason).

Mary called Magdalene is the current book by the bedside - it's a novel, because not too much is known about the historical figure, and very interesting so far - she's currently plagued by Canaanite gods & goddesses.

Watched a number of episodes each of Torchwood (Season 1, Episodes 1-9 - definitely a show for adults! Oh my! Dr Who was never like this!) and Lexx:



Crocheted (while watching the above):


Changed my hair colour - this one is a Joico purple - it's quite bright in the sunlight!


(Like my superhero cape? Trying to prevent the colour from bleeding all over me - I've been waking up in the morning with half my face purple! Nearly forgot about it today when I went to answer the door ...)

Sewed patches onto Miss Tizz's Guide sash (and unpicked the ones I put in the wrong place :P):


Picked apples & pears:


Made more bread from the Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day recipe, and made my first batch of English muffins. The baked product disappears too quickly, so here's a picture of the dough (you can't say I don't thrill you with exciting photos!):


And the I worked some more.

Who's eating my fruit?

Wicking beds



The beds are made, they're settling in, and just waiting for rain, worms & planting. The weather forecast mentioned rain many times last week, but nothing more than a few drops came of it. Tomorrow's forecast for the local area says "A thunderstorm in spots" - what's that supposed be? A fashion statement? I think I may end up resorting to the hose - after all, that's what those white watering tubes in the beds are for:



Next I need to bully the husband into finishing the worm feeders (he has more time & more sharp power tool experience than me). It all seems to be taking forever, but it's getting there ...

At least something's eating out of the backyard

The apples are looking lovely, aren't they?



But turn most of them over, and you'll find something like this:



Telltale signs of codling moth. The pears aren't immune either:



And then there's pear & cherry slug:



... and birds ...



The white cockatoos seem to prefer the pears, and the rosellas (ok - I'm not 100% sure they're rosellas, but they're green & red & blue & very pretty) prefer the apples. At least someone's eating well!

Baking

Speaking of eating, I made up my first batch of dough from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book today. The children have been bringing home their sandwiches barely touched, so I thought little crusty rolls, accompanied by a small salad, might be more tempting. The rolls are certainly tempting me!



You can find the master dough recipe on the authors' website, and variations of all sorts floating around the internet. I found this a little salty, and then read that the amount of table salt should be reduced by about a third or more if you're using table salt instead of the kosher salt in the original recipe. But it's certainly delicious and easy, even like this (that blurry one in the foreground is no more!). Mmmmmm ...