Real Bread Week

Bread

I love bread but like most people I buy most of my bread from a Supermarket. Whilst there is nothing wrong with that, I have decided that this week I will try not only to make my own bread but also to explore the bread available at the local bakers.  On Wednesday I visited Berkhamsted market and bought a Olive oil rosemary and sea salt bread from Brown Bread which we had with soup.  It was a lovely bread and has also made some very good toast which the children have really enjoyed.

I have also been making bread this week.  I first made soda bread which I used to make quite often but have got out of the habit.  I don’t know why as it is so easy and you can get from flour to baked bread in under an hour!

Ingredients

500 g plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate soda

1 tsp salt

400 ml buttermilk or 400 ml milk soured with 2 tsp lemon juice

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200 C.
2. If making your own buttermilk pour 400 ml milk into a jug and mix 2 tsp lemon juice.  Leave for 5 minutes.
3. Place all of the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix.
4. Pour in the buttermilk and mix until a sticky dough forms.
5. Tip the dough onto a floured surface and shape into a ball.  Do this with minimal working of the dough.
6. Place the dough on a baking tray lined with silicone paper or baking parchment.
7. With a sharp knife cut into quarters.  The knife should almost but not quite go through the dough.  Dust with a little flour.
8. Bake the bread for 30 minutes.  It should sound hollow when the base is tapped and be a lovely golden brown colour.

There is very little nicer to eat than fresh bread and this really did hit the spot.

A couple of days later on an exceptionally cold spring day I fancied curry for tea and decided to make naan bread.  The recipe that I followed is a Good Food Magazine one and can be found here.  However I skipped that mango chutney element as at the time I didn’t have any.  I also cooked them in a very hot dry frying pan instead of on a baking tray in the oven.  My method worked perfectly well and it was satisfying watching them rise and cook in front of my eyes.

 

I was also very pleased with the result and will definitely make my own naan breads on the occasions that I have the time as they were much better than shop bought.

Finally I made a sea salt and rosemary Foccacia which takes longer than the other breads I have made this week.  However it wasn’t difficult and you can do other things whilst waiting for the bread to rise and prove.  The recipe I used can be found here.  It was really lovely and made two loaves, we ate them over two days but it really was so much nicer on the first day.  When I make it again I will either plan to freeze the second loaf or I will halve the recipe and only make one.  Here is a picture of the focaccia I made.

As always do let me know what you think of this weeks blog.

Thanks ChilternEats