Bread Baking Take 2

Another hot morning gave me the energy to make my own bread. This time I used spelt flour, admittedly healthier than plain flour, though the bread is rather on a heavy side and doesn't rise a lot. It came out lovely - really crispy crust, and very interesting taste. I'm still astounded by how easy it is to make your own bread - and all the stuff about bread makers is rubbish. You need flour, yeast and water, plus an ordinary oven to bake it in, that's really it!

The ingredients I used for this bread:

0.5 kilo spelt flour
1 teaspoon of dried yeast
a pinch of salt
a pinch of sugar
a few table spoons of lukewarm milk
water

Everything starts with the yeast - pour it into milk (important - milk cannot be either hot or cold, or the yeast won't work). Stir the yeast until it dilutes, add sugar and leave in a warm place to activate. The mixture is ready to use when it gets frothy. Pour it into a large bowl with flour and knead, adding water as needed. The dough needs to be soft and flexible. Once you've got the right consistency, shape the loaf and bake in a hot oven (about 190-200C) for about 40 minutes.
The plait shape of bread, you can see in the pictures - courtesy of my husband :)

Comments

Gingerbread Layer Cake

This Christmas I decided to "pimp up" my gingerbread a bit, after a last minute inspiration. I saw a photo of this cake, literally a day before making the cake and decided it's an absolute must this Christmas. I really like how the cake combines gingerbread and gateau type cake features, it's both presentable and delicious. The cake (4 layers): 150 g honey (liquid) 200 g butter or margarine 500 g plain flour 3 yolks 4 tbsp milk 1 tbs purified soda 100 g sugar 1 tbsp ground ginger 1 tbsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp ground nutmeg 1 tsp ground cardamon 1tsp ground cloves a pinch of ground black pepper Combine the ingredients in a large bowl - as it's really hard to do, you may be best off using dough whisks on a food mixer. Cover the bowl with cling film and put into the fridge for 24 hours. After that time, divide the dough into 4 parts, place on a baking paper-lined baking tray and bake in 180C for about 15 minutes. Leave to cool. The cream: ...

How come I'm in Italy?

My little students often ask me: "Miss, how is it possible that you speak Italian and also English?" It's very cute when they do, but others ask equally often - how come you live here? Well, some people have their "American dream", I've got my Italian one. That's it. I've always loved Italy. I've liked the sound of the language, Italian food's always been one of my absolute favourites, and one day as I was travelling in Italy I had a thought - why not try to live and work here? There are some many teachers like me, who work in this country, I could do it too! I like doing things my way instead of following the same path as others. Life's short and what's the point wasting it repeating the things other people have already done? And so, a day before the end of the year we landed in Brindisi, Puglia where our Italian life began. I'll always have a soft spot for Puglia. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but I feel that it was the time o...

Polish Style Apple Pie

Summer being over, it's time to look for a way to avoid succumbing to the autumnal blues. What can be better than baking a nice cake? :-) I began the autumn baking season with a Polish style apple pie - szarlotka /pron: sharlotka/. Funnily enough, one of the most iconic Polish cakes, actually originates in France, and what's more, stewed apples is just one of the filling possibilities - it may be made with pears, peaches, apricots and other fruits. The Polish version, though, is invariably made of stewed apples, often with cinnamon, cloves, and sometimes raisins. Just imagine - the wonderful blend of sweet pastry, stewed apple with a clove and a note of cinnamon... The version I present today is the most basic one. There are quite a few varieties of the cake, but in this case I do believe that less is indeed more! :-) For the pastry you need: 3 cups of plain all purpose flour 4 eggs 250 g soft butter or margarine 1 tsp baking soda 1 cup caster sugar 1 pack vanilla s...

Search This Blog