Bake off

BBC is currently showing a great series called the Great British Bake Off. It's not a particularly brilliant or original idea - a mix of Masterchef and the Apprentice - but it's ever so well done, with a thoroughly engaging presentation by Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins (who is, by the way, one of the few famous Charlton supporters).

This week's programme was about bread, and the technical round required the contestants to make Paul Hollywood's crusty cob. The contestants were given the list of ingredients but not the method, and how to work out how to put them together for themselves. With varying results: one loaf was astonishingly flat.

I'm making the bread using the instructions almost word for word, although it's not exactly how I'd do it. (There's no autolysing stage, for example.) There are also various differences from the loaves I normally bake. I've never used butter, for example, and there's much more salt and yeast than I would usually use. Also it uses instant yeast, which I have used before, but not for a long time. I think the second-stage kneading is inadequate, and his estimate of 5 minutes for the first stage probably isn't enough (but I stuck to it).  I didn't stick to his baking time of 30 minutes. That was clearly not enough.

I suspect there are compromises. Hollywood would presumably prefer to use fresh yeast but the recipe has to be achievable without it.

So - how was it?

The dough was easy to work, as it should be, with 100% strong white flour, but I didn't feel I'd sufficiently kneaded it after 5 minutes. The first rise was terrific, climbing out of the mixing bowl well within an hour. As I've mentioned, I'd have felt happier giving a longer second kneading, but followed the instructions.

Proofing did result in some spreading, and so I put the loaf into the oven sooner than I might have, to put a stop to this. The spring wasn't as active as I hoped and so the bread is flatter than I'd like. (In the programme Hollywood put some emphasis on "tightening" up the dough before the second rise, but I couldn't see exactly what he was doing.) I wonder if all that salt had killed some yeast too early. The other point is that the dough was probably a bit too wet for a cob shape.

And I'm still unsure if my new oven's thermostat is correct. Actually, I'm pretty sure it isn't but I feel reluctant to turn it up to max every time. I probably need to overcome that reluctance.

And now I've cooled it etc, it's actually the worst bread I've made in ages! Slightly doughy, and it has a fairly unpleasant odour. The crust is ok but uninteresting.

Cumin something something rye

My cupboard is beginning to be a bit cluttered with half-used bags of flour, so I'll probably be doing a few mixed-grain breads. I don't think I'd decided on that when I started this weekend's bread-making yesterday. In the morning I mixed up a sponge or biga as you please of 300g strong white flour and 300g liquid, including sugar and dried yeast. Partly because of other commitments, I decided to go for a long cold rise, so simply mixed the flour and liquid with a wooden spoon and put it in the fridge for 24 hours.

This morning I split the dough into two portions.

1. I added 100g of wholemeal spelt, salt and kneaded well. At this point I decided to give the dough two rises, so put it back into the fridge.

2. I added 50g rye flour and 50g strong wholemeal, and two teaspoons of cumin seeds. And salt. And similarly kneaded, and put into the fridge.

At 1500 I took the doughs out of the fridge and made a bloomer shape of the spelt mix, and four rolls of the cumin dough.

At 1615 into the oven at a bit under 200C (as I discovered when I used the oven thermometer after about 20 minutes) for 45 minutes.

I haven't tasted the spelt loaf yet, but the cumin rolls are really nice. The mix of flours alone gives an interesting taste, but what really makes the cumin come alive is eating it with cheddar cheese. I think the taste might be too much on its own, though, even though the amount I used is quite subtle.

I suppose one of the things you learn as you go on is that you need to tailor your bread to the way it's going to be eaten, even when you're only thinking about basic whitish sandwich bread.

Potato water bread

I've seen this advice several times: use water in which you've boiled potatoes as the liquid in your dough. I guess it's the vitamin C that leaches out of the spuds that is the trick, so after I made some mash yesterday, I drained off the cooking water, and kept it overnight in my super new fridge.

And this morning I'm trying it out in a fairly basic bread.

450g strong white flour
50 wholemeal rye flour
330g liquid inc 1.5 tps dried yeast and a tsp of honey
I pinch of salt

All mixed together at 1010, left to autolyse for 20 minutes, then kneaded. I don't know if this is recommended, but I've recently found that keeping your hands wet helps keep them clean while kneading. It probably adds a little water to the dough too, which is no bad thing. It's now rising in a fairly cool kitchen. (I'm using larger quantities these days, you may notice, as I'm now generally freezing half the bread I make - it's simply more efficient to do that. Oh, did I mention I now have a freezer?)

Smoked bread

Trying something new: Bacheldre's Oak-Smoked Organic Malted Flour. No idea what this will be like, so I'm starting with a basic procedure.

400g flour
5g rapeseed oil
300g liquid, inc tsp honey & tsp dried yeast

Mixed together at 1015. Autolyse of 20 mins, then hand-kneaded. Nice feel to the dough, and then left at kitchen temperature to rise.

Knocked back at 1200, and formed into two small boules. Oven at 1250, 210C, for 35 minutes. (I used a baking tray for this, which has cooked the bottom of the loaves quite strongly. )

The bread's a nice granary style taste, and the smoked flavour is, thankfully, quite subtle. I think I probably should have added more salt. But served with salted butter, it's very nice.

Rye bread

I've terminated Joe the Dough. There was no sign of yeast taking hold of it, and I didn't really want to keep a bacteria factory running.

In contrition, I'm trying my hand at rye bread. The main reason being that I bought rye flour to line the banneton, and it might be worth trying.

150g strong white flour
150g wholemeal rye flour
200g liquid (inc a full tsp of dried yeast)
salt

All mixed up at 1530. The dough is heavy, and this will be a chewy bread, I feel fairly sure.

New things

1. Joe the dough: has quietened down, but still some bubbling. Smell is pleasanter but still not right, but I shouldn't be expecting it to be yet.

2. New oven: I haven't adjusted yet. Both recent loaves have come out too soft in the crust, which I think means I should up the temperature setting. I've been using 220c, so will try full blast 240 next time. Here's the result of my banneton baking:

3. Bakery bits: here they are. The banetton did its job in keeping the loaf from spreading, but I've clearly not got the knack of the grignette yet: the loaf above is supposed to slashed in a grid patter. Also slightly disappointed that the spiral pattern doesn't show on the loaf.

Such trivial things make me happy

This morning's post brought exciting things. Not just my new Charlton season ticket, but my banetton, grignette, and dough scraper.

The banetton is a proving basket made of coiled cane. The idea is to let the dough have its second rise in it, with the sides of the basket preventing stotting. (I'm sure stotting is the word, but I've not been able to find it online. It describes the way wet dough can spread after you've formed it into a loaf, leaving you with unpleasantly flat bread.)

The grignette (or lame) is a small sharp blade, used to cut a pattern on the surface on the bread before baking. It is extraordinary how much this can affect a loaf, and not just decoratively. The cut edges cook more, so provide a nice crunchy caramelised feature.

And the dough scraper does what it says. It helps keep the worktop and your hands clean, and is nearly essential when kneading very liquid doughs.

To test out this equipment I'm doing a fairly basic loaf:

200g strong white flour
100g wholemeal spelt
200g liquid, inc half a tsp sugar and a level tsp dried yeast
1 glug rape seed oil

I've mixed and kneaded it, and (at 1315) I'm going to let it rise overnight in the fridge.

Actually, I should point out that the banetton, etc, came from Bakerybits. I ordered them yesterday, and they were here by 10 this morning! Brilliant service, you must agree.