White Sesame Bread

Angel told me she loved sesame bread, appealed by the nutty fragrance.  It was last Friday.  We had not met for a year.  The reunion dinner was cosy and full of laughter.  She is always funny.  If you want to be serious, she can.  She is a teacher of psychology and can be very intellectual.  It is pleasant to spend time with her, true always.

OK, let’s try out sesame bread.  It’s quite easy, and of course, tasty.  The ingredients are similar to that of Kaiser broechen. I ate /shared it plain, with butter and in a way of bruschetta.  Yum!  Fresh tomato mingled with fragnant wheat, garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar!

100g old bread dough (from freezer)
360g French bread flour
40g whole wheat flour
260g water
1.6g instant dry yeast
8g salt
8g butter

Defrost the bread dough at room temperature.  Mix it with the different flours, water and yeast.

Knead the dough.  When it is well mixed, add salt.  Once blended, add the butter.

Continue to knead for 8 to 10 minutes.

Go for first fermentation. Let it rest for about 1 hour

Punch the dough down.  Cut it into 3 pieces, each weighs about 270g

Let it rest for 15 minutes

Shape the bread and go for the second fermantation, 45 minutes

Dash water or egg white on the dough surface.  Sprinkle white sesame (roasted)

Bake at 220C for about 25 minutes.  Let cool 5 minutes.  Yeah, fresh bread in house! Superb!

Landbrot, German Country Bread

It’s a vision to be able to bake German bread at home.  Ja, a long way to go….  First lack of the right ingredients, second no relevant knowledge on the know-how.  Still, no harm to try.  Life is an experiment.  No harm to have one’s own version of German bread.  Luckily the result is good, never be difficult to finish the baked bread.  This recipe is based on Richard Bertinet, Brot für Genießer bought in Germany.  Unfortunately, Richard is French.  So his bread recipes are primarily French.  Still I am happy to learn the basic skills.

This is not a sourdough bread but also requires a few fermentations, more than normal one, fermenation and final rise.  First I defrosted around 100 old dough.  Let it cool to room temperature.  I used autolyse method.  Mix the 150g bread flour, 100g rye flour and 190g water for over 20 minutes.  Then add the old dough and 2g instant yeast.  I mixed the dough with a machine with mixed speed for about minutes.  Salt was added quite the end.  Let it ferment for an hour until it’s doubled in size.

Take out the dough and shape it into round shape.  Another fermentation, another hour.  Still another round but 30 minutes this time.  Divide the dough into two.  Then final rise for 1.25 hours.  Preheat the oven at 250C.  Spray water to create steam.  Put the dough in.  Turn the temperatue to 220C and bake for 30 minutes.

Results: a nice crust, chewy and fragrant.  Can’t stop eating, 1/2 piece consumed for one lunch.  It’s about 150g.  

Country Bread and Rolls

Old bread dough is all gone.  It’s time to make new ones.  I have been using Rachel Yau’s recipe.  250g bread flour, 160g water, water and yeast.  Knead and ferment as normal.  Punch and divide the dough in balls, each weighs 50g.  Freeze for future use.  I used 500 bread flour and could lavishly use a big portion of my country bread.  I used French bread flour, the bread was a bit like baguette.

I took about 300g old bread dough, mixed with 325g French bread flour, 50g rye flour, 190g water, 3g yeast, 7g salt and 20g butter.  Knead the dough until a transparent pane by stretching the dough can be seen.  Because I would have dinner with friends, so the fermentation took place in the fridge for over 20 hours. 

Today, it underwent the second rise after dividing them into big and smaller ones. The big one sat in a banneton.  The rise took around 2 hours.  The smaller ones first went into the oven and sat there for about 12-15 minutes.   The big one was baked for just 35 mintues.  Nice golden brown! 

Hmm, no dessert.  It’s easy to have sweet.  Another slice of bread, half it.  Half with better and raspberry from Austria and the other half  with Doug‘s organic ironbark tree honey.  Superb!  The honey is thick, concentrate, fragnantly sweetly.  Poor Doug always gets stuck.  Lucky me and buyers of his honey are blissful to enjoy the pure wonderful honey.

 

Cranberry Pistachio Rye Bread

Start of a long weekend!  Our employer Coach is very generous to give us an extra day off prior to the Mid-Autumn Festival, making a holiday from Saturday to Tuesday.  Hurray!  Passion for baking woke me up super early, between 4 and 5 am.  Today’s plan is cranberry pistachio rye bread and apple cake.  The bread has been out from the oven for quite some time.  It’s excellent!  The crust is crispy and chewy.  The bread is mingled with natural wheat, sour of cranberry and the nutty pistachio.  What can I ask for more or expect more?  No, no.  A good start of the day!  Yeah Yeah!

Here are the ingredients:

50g old dough
100g rye flour
240g bread flour
3g yeast
10g raw sugar
10g butter
185g water
7g salt

Kürbiskern Brötchen, Pumpkin Seed Wholewheat Rolls

I like very much the rolls and bread from Germany, especially multi-grain and pumpkin seed rolls.  The fragrance of wheat and grain, the chewy texture, the nutty flavour.  It’s divine.  But they only exist in Germany, hardly in Hong Kong.  The Delicatesseen Corner at Holiday Inn claims itself featuring with German and Austria dishes.  There is a bakery shop but the bread is too soft.  It cannot be German.  So, I have to bake my own bread, with trial and error. 

This time I experimented my beloved one, pumpkin seed wholewheat rolls.  It’s simply 60% of bread flour, 40% of whole wheat flour, 10g flaxsees, 2 teaspoons wheat germ, 10g pumpkin seed oil, 2g yeast, 60% water and 6g sea salt.  Hmm, it’s good but a bit soft for German grainy rolls.  What I will try next is to grind grains like cereal, flaxseed and mix with the dough to get it more chewy.

7 Dwarf Baguette, Rye

Not sure where an eagerness of making Baguette came from, well just make it.  A half-portion pre-dough was prepared last night, after 11am.  It was left in the fridge for fermanation overnight. 

Birds sang, light permeated into the room.  I woke up.  Enthusiasm drove me to start making my Baguette.  Half portion of bread flour, salt, yeast measured.  But full measure of water poured into the dry mixture. Oh my God, the water volume is double, impossible!  As a remedy I added all other ingredients to the dough, including rye flour and a bit of whole wheat flour.

It was very wet.  Wet, wet and wet.  The kneading machine did not knead the dough to a binding condition. So, used my hands, raised the dough up and bashed it to the kitchen working place.  A long time, long long time, sweating body, tiring fingers and arms.  Perhaps, half hour later, the dough was not so wild but manageable, not so sticky any more.  Then it was let for fermentation, finally.  I had no idea how the bread will turn out.  Just try, nothing to lose.

I did the washing, followed with a half hour exercise.  Just a bit more than an hour after, it grew tremendously.  Next step is to cut into pieces.  Each weighed around 250g.  They were shaped into rounds, let rest and relaxed for about 25 minutes.

They grew drastically.  Amazing!   The last stage…..  Flatten each small dough and fold each corner towards the centre.  Roll it into baguette shape.  Given the size of my oven, I opt for dwarf baguette.  One hour later, huge growth again. 

They were baked in batches. Each lasted about 25 minutes.  awesome good with extra virgin olive oil, avocardo oik and truffle oil.

Raisin Cumin Rye Rolls

Simple ingredients made my mum’s beloved rolls.  Sometimes, it’s so easy to please somebody. 

320g bread flour     80g rye flour
4g instant yeast     4g sea salt      1 tsp cumin
240g water            60g raisin
1 teaspoon pumpkin seed oil

Mix flour, water, cumin and yeast and knead.  Add salt after kneading by machine has been on for a few minutes. 

Continue to knead until salt has been well blended into the dough.  Then add the oil and knead for around 8 minutes. 

The dough should not be sticky anymore. 

Shape it in a ball and let ferment for 1 hour or more.  It’s not hot yet.  So, it takes longer than an hour.

Cut the dough into 6 equal size pieces.  Let it stand and relax for 10 minutes

Shape them into balls.  I press mould of pattern on the surface. 

Let it rise slowly.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 220C for around 15 minutes.

Sunflower Seeds Rolls

Fresh sunflower seeds rolls, yummy.  Outside is a bit crispy and inside soft.  Very slight taste of pumpkin seed oil mingles with wheat fragrance and nutty sunflower seeds.  Nice to go with any kind of main dishes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this time before spring, fragmentation took longer time or even double.  But it worths waiting to develop the favour.  Finally, a Sunday at home.  Time to destress with homemade bread and blueberry cheesecake. 

Mix of bread flour, whole wheat flour and french bread hour, around 100g each
3g instant yeast      6g salt       200g water     7g butter    around 2 teaspoon pumpkin seed oil
50g sunflower seeds

Simple stuff, magic of bread!  Kisses of rolls after the second rise!

Two wonderful enjoyment in one day. Gooooooood!

Poppy Seed Whole Wheat Rolls

I’ve got a sleepless night, likely due to green tea drunken during my Japanese meal.  Probably, slept half awake between 3am and 7am.  So, I took the time to make a bread dough.  Approximate recipe:

Homemade sour dough, around 100g
120g bread flour
60g French bread flour
120g whole wheat flour
3g dry yeast
150g warm water (around 30°C)
6g sea salt
10g butter
10g poppy seeds

Mix the sour dough, different sorts of flour, water and yeast and beat well with low speed. 

Add in the salt.  Mix well.  Then add the butter.

Mix the dough alternately with low and medium speed.  It is done if a transparent pane can be seen when stretching a piece of the dough.

Place it in a container, cover and let it ferment.  It is cold today.  I let it alone for 2 hours.

Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces.  Let is stand for 10 minutes. 

Shape them into rounds.  Form braided rolls or scale it with pattern. 

Brush the surface with egg white.  Invert the rolls to adhere the poppy seeds.

 

I was out for 6 hours and put them into the oven immediately.  Temperature 220°C.  Bake around 12 minutes.

Result?  Good.  I recalled the Broetchen in Germany.  Just mine are not as hard and grainy.  Successful trial!

Pecan Raisin Rye Bread

My rolls in the freezer have almost gone.  So, it’s time to make another batch.  The temperature is low today.  Fermentation took really long.  The first fermentation went for 2 hours.  It’s bigger but I was not sure if it had been doubled in size.    Well, I divided it in 6 portions, each weighed about 120-130g.  Let them rest between 15 and 20 minutes. Roll them into rounds and cover with a towel.  One hour’s gone. They remained small.  Two hours’ gone.  No big change.  I went out for 2, 3 hours.  Finally, they grew to a lovely size and were ready for the oven.  This time egg glaze was brushed on top.  It gave the rolls a shine and the crust was added crisp.  Leave it cool.  Oh, so nice, the fragrance of pecan, sweetness of raisin, mingled with pine nuts.  Heavenly good.  My mum liked it.

Rough recipe:
240g bread flour
60g rye flour
3g malt
200g water
3g instant yeast
100g dough left by the last baking (from freezer)
6g salt
15g butter
pecan, pine nuts & raisin, much as you want but don’t over do it.

Mix the flour, malt, water, old dough and yeast with a machine until the dough forms a ball.

Add the salt and mix until well blended. 

Add the butter and mix until a transparent pane forms when stretching a piece of bread dough.

Add the nuts and raisin.  Knead with hands until the additions have been incorporated.

Form the dough to a ball.  Let it undergo the first fermentation.  Cover with a towel.

Cut the dough into 6 portions.  Cover with a towel and let rest for 15 to 20 minutes.  Shape into rolls (round) and let rise the second time.  Score the rolls as you like.  I made a cross, 3 parallel cracks and leave shape.

Turn on the over to 240°C.  When it meets the expected temperature, spray water to the oven walls to create steam.  Lower the temperature to 220°C.

Quickly brush the surface with egg.  Bake for 12 – 15 minutes.  Cooked bread’s temperature is between 80°C and 90°C.  Cool the rolls in a wire rack. Enjoy!!!