Ciabatta in an Hour

They said that it couldn't be done, and I was one of them. But I'm a convert to the idea now.
We ran out of bread yesterday, and I didn't want to make a lot more as we would not be here to eat it.
I did have a recipe for quick bread so I thought I would give it a go.

First put the oven on to Max with a dish in the bottom.

Basically its 450g warm water, 500g flour 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons yeast and 1.5 teaspoons salt.

Mix really well, (its very runny) I used my stand mixer for 6 minutes.

Then turn it out onto a well floured board, stretch and fold it for a couple of minutes, it will be a struggle at first but after a few folds it will start to feel stronger and tighter. When it does roughly shape it into two loaves and put them onto silicon paper.

Leave them for 15 minutes, boil the kettle and pour some of the hot water into the dish in the oven. Then put your loaves into the oven for 15-18 minutes until risen and golden.

Job done.

The reason I wanted the bread was to make Garlic Bread to go with our supper.
A couple of cross cut slices were spread with Garlic Paste then butter,

into the oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

Not a bad afternoons work.

Disaster Strikes

As I said last time, I had a busy couple of days finishing off my last orders.
Tuesday I made 30 Onion Seeded Panini for Millie, that went without a hitch, I also started the Rye Sourdough and other things for Oats Wednesday delivery.

It was on Wednesday morning when things went wrong.

I had done the Teacakes,

and the Spelt,

and the Soda and the Rye had just come out of the oven,

I had to move things around to make room for cooling and somehow I knocked one of the Rye onto the floor, just after this picture was taken.

I finished the order and didn't drop any of the Rolls and delivered it, with apologies,

Only to find that both Rye had been ordered. I was gutted, I hope it didn't cause too much of a problem for whoever it was.

Last Orders

This Wednesday is the last bake before Yule, I have two orders this week, 30 Onion Seed Rolls for Millie  and 6 Spelt, 2 Rye,1 Soda, 20 Rolls and 30 Teacakes for Oats. Then I just have to do the breads for Amy's Xmas party in Nottingham, but thats a pleasure. I'll be doing Saffron Rolls and some Cranberry and Walnut fruit loaves.

And then its a break until 2015, maybe a bit of product development because I can't not bake. I'll tell you how I get on on Weds.

Granola

We went to Totnes Market on Friday, and I brought a bag of Peanut Granola from the Common Loaf Bakery stall. I've been a huge fan of them for a long time now and their produce is probably the best bread I've ever tasted.
I fancied making my own Granola for a while now, and seeing theirs and trying it gave em the push to have a go for myself.

I found a recipe for the basic mixture online, looking around the cupboards I found Pistachio nuts, Walnuts, Cranberries and Chocolate Chips to use for a filling.
My recipe had no indication of the amount of fillings to use but I figured that as long as they were no more than 50% of the total ( 270g of Oats) it should be OK.

Here's the dry mixture, Oats and filling plus Sugar and Cinnamon,

And here's the Canola Oil and Honey, with a dash of Vanilla.

Mixed together we have this, which I spread out on a lined sheet.

I baked it at 140 for 25 minutes and left to cool.

After it had gone hard I broke it into pieces and stored it away.

 That's breakfasts sorted for the next few days.

Samples

I've just about recovered from my bad back, actually having a week off was quite nice, no 5am starts but now we're back to the grind.

In the middle of the Oats Order ( 2 Small Rye, 4 Spelt, 2 S/W White, 1 Soda, 10 Teacakes, 10 Rolls) I'm trying to do some samples for a new customer.

So I've done some Sourdough, Some rolls and Focaccia, I can't do the full range because I bake to order and I can't do a batch of everything, so I'm concentrating on the quality, with a suggestion of what I can do.

Here they are, at least the new ones, I will cut a slice off of my  White Sourdough and the Walnut Bread in the Morning.

Thats White Rolls, Cheese and Chorizo Rolls Tomato Focaccia, Rye Sourdough.

Festive Cookies

Here they are, he Cinnamon, Orange and Chocolate Cookies. They have sourdough starter in as well.

Millie and Me have expressed an interest, so I'll be taking samples down tomorrow, I've had to hide them as they are so tasty!

Please excuse the short post, I'm snowed under with bread orders and NaNoWriMo at the moment, 18000 words in 10 days!

Panic

 I was minding my own business yesterday, when I got a text from Oats, 'we have had an order, can you do another 3 Spelt for tomorrow.'

Yes, I replied, that will be 7 loaves then.

Then a few minutes later another text, 'we have had an order, can you do another 3 Spelt for tomorrow.'

I thought maybe it was a queue of people in the shop, each wanting three spelt loaves, a bit unusual so I queried it.

Back came the reply 'Please if possible'

Better make sure I thought, 'So that's 10 loaves' I sent.

No, only 7 was the reply.

Then the explanation, the message had been sent twice, I nearly had to panic as I would have been up before I went to bed, with all the other stuff I had to do.

Still, 7 is better than 4. Maybe next week.

Flavoured Bread

I haven't made it for a while, but I did a Marmite infused loaf yesterday, I wish I had done two as the smell was so enticing, I almost didn't want it to go to the customer. I know they say that the first bite is with the eye, well the second must be with the nose then.

I also made an Apple and Cinnamon loaf for the same order, that one filled the kitchen with the smell of Christmas, the two combined to make a sweet and sour fragrance that lingered all day. Until it was replaced by Bread and Butter Pudding that is.

Apple and Cinnamon and Marmite Loaves

Spelt Bread and Butter Pudding

Cranberries, Sultanas, Almonds and Brown Sugar

Just a few Croutons

With the onset of winter, although it has warmed up a bit this week, I feel the need to eat more soup.
 
A vital ingredient to complete the experience is the humble Crouton, but not the ones you can buy, I'm talking about the home made, larger than usual, crispy artisan type.

I made one extra spelt loaf on my Wednesday Oats order, and cut this into cubes about finger-tip size, and put them on two baking trays.

I liberally splashed them with my home made Blackberry Vinegar and some Olive Oil, then put them in a low oven for an hour, at about 140 degrees C, turning them a couple of times.

I turned the oven off but left them in till it had all cooled down, this crisped them up a treat. Right now they are in an airtight container in the fridge, but I dont think they'll be there for long.

By the way, they are also good with cheese, as an alternative to crackers.

Oh and when I said finger-tip, I meant just the bit from the tip to the first knuckle.

Saturday Project, Baked or Fried? Plus Fruit and Nut bread.

The days when I'm not baking for customers, I like to try something different. This saturday I had two projects that I wanted to try, one that I have been meaning to do for a while and one that I only found this week.

I had to start my prep on Friday, when I got my sourdough starter Hortense out of the fridge and woke her up. I fed her twice on friday and by saturday morning she was raring to go.

What I wanted to try was sourdough doughnuts, I had seen the recipe ages ago but never got round to it. I wanted to see if I could bake them, so I divided the dough and tried both ways.

 

 Oh and here's the Baked one looking sad......Healthy but sad.

As you can see, you can't bake this particular recipe, so fried it will have to be in future. I had a look inside one and it had puffed up perfectly,

Now I just need a thing to fill them with jam..



Now for Part 2

Here's the address of a superb website, and the place I found my next recipe.(Well spotted Yvonne!)

http://www.red-brolly.com/2014/10/summertime-bread/

I don't need to tell you all the details because its so well done over there but take it from me, and from Yvonne and from Norma our neighbour and from Phillip her husband (I think you get the idea) that the Bread is amazing, I made it in a springfrom tin in the end as it seemed a little loose for a freeform loaf but that was probably something I did (without my glasses on.
)

Ready for the second rise

Oven ready

The bread was really nice buttered.

F Bread and Ciabatta

Someone I know will not say Focaccia, I think they are worried that it may come out rude! So they call it F Bread.

What ever you call it, it's a great bread to have with soup, or pasta and sauce because its so absorbent, you can really clean the bowl with it.

For me that's the best part, giving the bowl a good wipe and not missing a drop. We don't do it in this country but go to Italy or Spain and you'll see restaurants full of people wiping the last of the sauce from their plates with a hunk of bread.

Anyhow, I made a focaccia with Wessex Mills 'Mediterranean' flour blend, it has all sorts of goodies mixed into the flour, Red Chopped Peppers, Kibbled Onions and Oregano.

I also add 20g of Coarse Semolina per 500g of flour, to give a crunch, and use 350ml warm water and 50ml Olive oil, along with the yeast and salt. Other than that it's a straight focaccia method.

As you can see it has a good open crumb, with interesting bits in it.

I found a new Ciabatta recipe on monday, with a very wet pre-ferment that you leave for 24 hours,

Mixed

24 Hours later.

 After adding the rest of the ingredients and proving, I shaped the loaves,

then baked,

They look like a success, guess I'll be adding the recipe to my file.

My next challenge is to make a sourdough doughnut, I'm hoping to be able to make a baked version, in an attempt to be slightly healthier (I can put more topping on a baked one without feeling guilty) maybe filled with home made jam. It's good to have a project.

Finally heres a picture of my bread bin, well stocked with Focaccia, Ciabatta and Sourdough Crumpets, that should keep us going over the next few days.