Cakes & Bakes: Home-made hops bread

Sliced hops bread

When I was young, back in the early 1970s, there was a little bakery located across the road from our house. They baked their bread in a wood fired oven – half a century before this method became trendy. The bakery made the most fantastic hops bread – a queue would build up, just before they opened their doors – people with their paper bags in hand – to buy fresh, hot hops bread.

yeast mixture hops dough ingredients in a mixing bowl

Hops bread has been on my ‘to bake’ list for a long time; I just needed to find the right recipe. When I was back in Trinidad last year, one of my friends shared her family’s recipe. The recipe calls for ‘shortening’ which, over there, would probably mean Prize or Cookeen – things I have no hope of getting my hands on in rural Wales. I swapped it for plain old butter.

Hops bread dough balls on a baking tray Proved hops bread dough balls on a baking tray

I’ve made two batches of hops bread so far, but I’m yet to master the process. I’m still to duplicate that perfect, golden brown crusty domed top with a soft pull-apart centre that’s similar to Hokkaido milk bread. Practice makes perfect!

Hops bread rolls cooling on a wire rack

Enjoy them plain – spread with butter, with slices or grated mounds of strong cheddar or stuffed with buljol. I filled my first one with a delicious crispy fried tofu slice… I’ll be sharing that particular recipe next week!

Click here or on the image below to save this hops bread recipe to Pinterest

Home-made hops bread recipe

Home-made hops bread
Yields 20
Cook Time
20 min
Cook Time
20 min
Ingredients
  1. 1tbsp/9g instant yeast
  2. 600ml/20fl oz warm water
  3. 1kg/2.2lbs plain flour
  4. 60g/4oz butter/margarine/shortening
  5. 1¼tsp salt
  6. 2tbsps granulated sugar (you can use brown sugar)
  7. Hops bread ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Activate the yeast in warm water and 1tsp of the sugar (approx. 10 minutes) before adding mixture to other ingredients
  2. Combine all ingredients in bowl
  3. Knead to a soft dough for about 5 mins
  4. Place in a greased bowl and allow to rise for about 1 hour
  5. Punch down and divide into 85g/3oz balls
  6. Place on greased sheet and let rise for another 35 mins
  7. Heat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF/Gas mark 7 and bake for 15-20 mins
Notes
  1. Place a pan in oven while it is heating and throw some ice cubes to create steam when trays are placed in the oven
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