Cakes & Bakes: Yeasted flat breads

Because of the continuing hot weather, we’ve still not turned on our oven this week. That doesn’t mean I can’t produce any home-made bread, though. I’ve brought out my trusty cast iron griddle stone once again to make some delicious yeasted flat breads on our induction hob.

Many flat breads are yeast-free so can be rustled up in a matter of minutes. However, I had ample time today to spend on making these and waiting an hour or so for the dough to rise.

I bought a marble board a few years ago, and I can attest that it’s hard to beat for rolling out dough and pastry with ease.

The recipe makes 8 flat breads. If, like us, you don’t need that many at one sitting, you can simply cook, cool and freeze the extra for a later date.

These lovely, soft breads are so versatile; they’re perfect as an accompaniment to curry, Mexican fajita wraps or alongside dips such as hummus or baba ganoush.

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

Yeasted flat breads

Andy Baraghani

Print recipe Pin recipe

Course Bread

Cuisine Middle Eastern

Servings 8

Ingredients

1½ tsp sugar
180 ml/6fl oz warm water
7 g/2¼tsp active dry yeast
350 g/12½oz plain or strong bread flour
140 g/5oz full fat plain Greek yoghurt
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp fine salt

Instructions

In a measuring jug, dissolve the sugar in the warm water. Stir in the yeast and allow to sit until foamy (about 10 minutes)
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt. Make a well in the centre and add the yoghurt, olive oil and yeast mixture. Bring together to form a shaggy dough
Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel or a reusable elasticated food cover and allow the dough to sit in a warm place until doubled in size (about an hour)
Turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured work surface and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Form the pieces into balls and, working with one ball at a time, roll each out into 15cm/6" rounds about ½cm/¼" thick
Brush a little olive oil on a large cast iron skillet/griddle stone and bring up to a medium-high heat
Working one at a time, cook each flat bread until bubbles appear over the surface (about a minute). Flip and cook until cooked through (about 1 more minute). Continue to cook, turning often, until browned in spots on both sides (about a minute longer)
Transfer to a plate and wrap up in a clean kitchen towel to keep warm and soft. Repeat with each of the other balls of dough

To serve: brush each flat bread with a little olive oil

Keyword bread, flat bread, flatbread, yeasted bread

Cakes & Bakes: Home-made 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.

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.

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!

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

2020-09-23 17:53:22

Yields 20

Cook Time

20 min

Cook Time

20 min

Ingredients

1tbsp/9g instant yeast
600ml/20fl oz warm water
1kg/2.2lbs plain flour
60g/4oz butter/margarine/shortening
1¼tsp salt
2tbsps granulated sugar (you can use brown sugar)

Add ingredients to shopping list

If you don’t have Buy Me a Pie! app installed you’ll see the list with ingredients right after downloading it

Instructions

Activate the yeast in warm water and 1tsp of the sugar (approx. 10 minutes) before adding mixture to other ingredients
Combine all ingredients in bowl
Knead to a soft dough for about 5 mins
Place in a greased bowl and allow to rise for about 1 hour
Punch down and divide into 85g/3oz balls
Place on greased sheet and let rise for another 35 mins
Heat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF/Gas mark 7 and bake for 15-20 mins

Notes

Place a pan in oven while it is heating and throw some ice cubes to create steam when trays are placed in the oven

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Bottle of beer bread

A friend of ours has a micro-bar that sells an ever-changing selection of beers produced by micro-breweries all over the world. Doesn’t everyone want a friend like that?

Anyhow, we looked after their dog for them on occasion, and they thanked us with a few different bottles of beer. One of the bottles, a Buxton Brewery IPA, didn’t get drunk for ages, so I decided to use it to make a bottle of beer bread loaf.

I used my usual liquid to starter to flour ratio, but I felt the resultant dough was a little too wet, so I’ve upped the flour content by 50 grams in my recipe below. Perhaps I needed to weigh how much 330cl of beer weighs compared to 330cl of water!

The time this loaf takes to prepare can vary widely depending on the temperature of your kitchen (ours rarely gets above 15ºC… in the summer), and whether you refrigerate your dough whilst it bulk ferments. Sometimes, if it’s really cold, I shut the covered dough in the microwave (pre-warmed by leaving a mug of boiling water in there).

It is helpful to know when estimating rising time according to room temperature that the rate of fermentation, or rising, is about double for every 15°F [8°C] increase in temperature. The Bread Bible

The resultant loaf was hoppy, tangy and flavoursome. It was delicious with a bit of mature cheddar or just with butter and gorgeous a few days later toasted.

Click here or on the image below to save my bottle of beer bread recipe to Pinterest

Bottle of beer bread

2020-07-23 11:05:05

Yields 1

Cook Time

30 min

Cook Time

30 min

Ingredients

330ml bottle of beer
115g/4oz starter @ 100% hydration
175g/6oz wholemeal flour
375g/13oz white flour
8g/¼oz salt

Add ingredients to shopping list

If you don’t have Buy Me a Pie! app installed you’ll see the list with ingredients right after downloading it

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the beer and the starter, getting rid of a lot of the fizz from the beer
Mix in the flours and salt, then turn out on to a work surface (I like to use a large marble board as it's very non-stick) and knead for 5 minutes
Form the dough into a ball, put it back into the mixing bowl, cover and leave to prove until double in size (the warmer your kitchen, the quicker this will happen)
Scrape the dough out of the bowl back on to the work surface, fold and shape the dough into a round and place it in a well-floured, circular banneton (smooth-side down). Prove again until double in size
Preheat the oven to 250ºC/475ºF/Gas mark 9 (put your cloche or stone [if using] in the oven to preheat as well, at this point)
Once the oven has reached the correct temperature, carefully remove the dough from the banneton, score and bake for 30 minutes (you can take the lid off the cloche for the final 10 minutes to get a lovely brown crust)
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack before attempting to slice

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Buckfastleigh sourdough loaf

I have found my new ‘go to’ sourdough loaf recipe; a run-of-the-mill, no frills method that has worked for me perfectly every time. I give you… **loud trumpeting sound** the Buckfastleigh sourdough loaf!

It’s the unfussiest sourdough loaf recipe I’ve come across, and it’s also the best tasting. With the scarcity of strong bread flour (all flour, to be fair) because of the Covid lockdown, I bought a few kilos direct from Shipton Mill and boy, did their Extra Course Organic Wholemeal Flour make a difference to the finished loaf. The flavour was incredible; I won’t be going back to the common or garden supermarket own brand version.

The recipe came from Gordon, a small-scale baker who bakes 5 times per week, selling his loaves locally. I’m not sure if he’s based in the Devon town of Buckfastleigh – which I think may be the origin of the bread’s title.

The recipe directions are very spare; perhaps not the best to give a go if you’re a complete newbie. However, he gives a more detailed breakdown of the method (broken down into two separate posts) – complete with photographs – on the Fresh Loaf blog.

In it, he reveals his views on the matter… about which I wholeheartedly agree:

Sourdough – I do not think there is any magic to it… Here’s my take; It’s just bread. Get over it and just do it.
Sure – you can apply rules, you can take far more care with it that I appear to do, you can regiment the process and create rules – if what you’re after is something extra special. The one loaf a week you make and you want to take pride in it and make sure its the best there is. And that’s fine. I’m making basic daily sourdough bread here and for that, there is nothing special. No tricky processes, no strict timings or (within reason) temperatures. Gordon, on the Fresh Loaf blog

Want to give it a try? Click here or on the image below to save the recipe to Pinterest

Buckfastleigh sourdough loaf

Gordon

Print recipe Pin recipe

Course Bread

Cuisine British

Servings 1 kg loaf

Ingredients

100 g wholemeal
400 g white
150 g starter @ 100% hydration
8 g salt
300 g water

Instructions

Mix, knead, leave overnight, shape into a boule, put in a cloth-lined basket/banneton, leave to prove (maybe 2 hours, do the finger poke test) and into a 250ºC oven with a cup of water splashed on the bottom (in a metal tin) and down to 210ºC after 12 minutes for another 25 minutes.

Buckfastleigh sourdough loaf ingredients

Keyword bread, loaf, sourdough