Cooking with Jonny69: baking bread.

[Lozza]

I find using 100% brown flour is too much too so usual do a 50/50 (in the bread maker)

What's special about spelt flour?

[Jonny69]

Spelt is an ancient relative of wheat. I haven't read up on it properly but it makes a pretty hefty rustic loaf. Something you can get in your hands and go RARRGH about Comes in white and brown and I got the white.

[Jonny69]

I had a go at a plait tonight. Normal dough but rolled into 3 long sausages, then plaited together. Let it re-rise under a damp tea towel and bake as usual...





I already started it even though it was too hot to hold when I cut it

[Jonny69]

I've baked quite a lot of bread now and I know when a loaf is going to be good or not. I can tell by how much it has risen, how fast, how much it popped up in the oven and the weight when it's baked. Tonight is a good one and I couldn't resist a picture:





First pic next to half a glass of home brewed blackberry wine. Happy days

[Lozza]

Originally Posted by Jonny69

This is my kind of loaf.. I don't like too crusty


I really want to have a try at making pitta breads. Any experience there Jonny?

[Jonny69]

Yes, could have sworn I'd posted about them.

Originally Posted by Jonny69

Ingredients (makes 6 very large pitta):
300g strong white bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil
200ml warm water

Get the oven on to 250 degrees C. Nice and hot.

Tip all the dry ingredients into a bowl and rub in the olive oil. Add the water to make a sticky dough. Knead this for 10 minutes or use the dough hooks on your hand mixer for a few minutes, as I do. It should come together into a smooth ball, but add a little extra flour if you need to. You're looking to make a dough that's slightly softer than if you were making bread. Put the dough back in the bowl with a damp teatowel over the top and allow it to rise in a warm place for about an hour.

Get a baking tray ready and two pieces of baking paper cut to fit it. The pitta won't be baked on the tray, but the tray will be used for a second prove.

Turn the dough out of the bowl and divide it into six balls. Flour your work surface well with bread flour, drop one of the balls onto it and roll it out into an oval about 5mm thick max. You'll find it pings back to shape and it'll take quite a bit of pulling and rolling and extra flour needed. This is why the dough needs to be quite wet compared to bread. Flour one of the sheets of baking paper and stretch the pitta on. You should be able to get three on it, dust well with flour and cover with a damp teatowel. Then on top of that put the other sheet of baking paper, flour, three more pitta, flour and another damp teatowel. Let that prove for about 30 minutes. The pitta won't rise much, but it lets the dough relax etc.

Bake them on the paper without the tray for about 7-8 minutes, depending how hot your oven gets. They will pop up off the paper and puff up, completely hollow like these:





Now cut them open and think about what you can stuff them with. Today I've got chicken, stuffing and home made coleslaw. Nyom nyom nyom

[SidewinderINC]

You can combine this with homebrewing... Once you've started a big brew, about 3 days later carefully (with a sterilised jug) remove the amount of liquid you need for your bread.

This will have yeast in suspension that will do their job and you'll end up with a sweet (insert beverage name) bread

[Knipples]

Marry me Jonny, or at the very least send me some bread!

[Lozza]

Originally Posted by Jonny69

Yes, could have sworn I'd posted about them.

hmm seeing that yes you did! As I have seen it before!

[Jonny69]

Originally Posted by Knipples

Marry me Jonny, or at the very least send me some bread!

Loaves in the post. Will have to spoil the surprise though, there's a ring hidden in one of them so don't swallow it