The Bread Gallery

 So finally, the bread challenge is complete! This post shows them in all their glory (ish) and fresh out of the oven. Sorry in advance. This may all seem a bit pretentious. Pretentious bread?? Just go with it. . .

Bread #1: The White Loaf

Bread #2: Soda Bread

Bread #3: Focaccia + Rosemary

Bread #4: Naan Bread 

Bread #5: The Bagel

I think that's enough bread for a while!

Bread #5: The Bagel

Finally. . .bread #5! I don't think I've necessarily saved the best till last, but I've saved my favourite carbohydrate till last. Let's do it justice.

In general, I'm quite intrigued by the origins of the bagel and did indeed find some interesting facts. I mean, bread with a hole. . . it's already exciting!

Bagels facts  

•   The bagel is a Polish creation (originating in Krakow) - the 'bajgiel' became a staple of their diet as early as the 16th century! It's also often associated with the Jewish community - bagels were brought to the big cities in the States by Polish-Jews. They have since grown in popularity in America, hence the 'New York Bagel'. 

 

• There are several different spellings for bagel. In Brick Lane, they're known as 'beigels' - they've been selling them there since the 19th century! Further afield. . .in Russia, they're called 'bubliks' (lol). In Finland, they're 'vesirinkeli' and in China, 'girdeh nan'. Not as catchy?

• I just liked this whole thing (found on the reliable wikipedia page of course :P. "Bagel is a Yeshivish term for sleeping 12 hours straight, e.g., "I slept a bagel last night." There are various opinions as to the origins of this term. It may be a reference to the fact that bagel dough has to 'rest' for at least 12 hours between mixing and baking, or simply to the fact that the hour hand on a clock traces a bagel shape over the course of twelve hours". Who comes up with this??!

 

• One more fact! The Canadian-born astronaut Gregory Chamitoff was apparently the first person to have taken a batch of bagels (18 sesame seed bagels to be precise) into space on his 2008 Space Shuttle mission. What a guy!

 

Enough of the bagel facts. . .I think I've done enough and quite frankly, it's getting a bit weird.  

 

Now for the main part of the blog! Sorry in advance. . . these photos may all seem a bit 'samey'. Bread is bread after all.

7g satchet yeast + 1 tbsp. sugar + 100ml warm water -> leave in a warm place for 10 minutes or until frothy.

Add frothy yeast mix to a further 200ml of warm water

Slowly add 450g strong white bread flour - you may not need it all!

Knead for a few minutes and ensure dough is smooth and elastic

Lightly grease a bowl. Put dough in. Cover with cling film. Leave in a warm place for an hour or so.

Dough should double in size. Note to self: lightly grease the clingfilm - otherwise the above will happen.

Dough!

Divide the dough into 8-10 pieces (roughly 80g each). I got 9!

Flour a wooden spoon and stick it in the dough to form a hole. Twirl it around a bit to widen the hole.

Meanwhile. . .

Bring a large pan of water to boil and add 3tbsp. sugar. Then place the bagels in the water (slowly) - 3 or 4 at a time

Most satisfying bit! Leave the bagels to boil for 1-2 minutes and turn over - they should become puffy and form a skin.

Place the boiled bagels on a baking tray (ensure the water has drained away!)

Looks a bit gross to be honest. . . scaly bagel.

Add the desired topping. This time I used various seeds - fennel, poppy and sesame. Next time I might make them with some grated cheese or sea salt + black pepper sprinkled on top!

Then bake in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes! You'll have to wait to see the results! 

I might go and take a 'bagel' now - this blogging business is quite tiring! The Bread Gallery will be on in the next few days. . .watch this space.

Bread #4: Naan bread

 Naan bread is my bread number 4. It isn't all that difficult to make and once rolled out, it only takes 10 minutes under the grill. The main difference in making naan is that you add a dollop of yoghurt to the dough. 

Naturally, this is perfect with a curry - I made a James Martin Chicken Tikka Masala (he does like his full fat dairy products!), some pilau rice as well as some cucumber & mint raita. No photos of the curry/raita/rice I'm afraid (you probably think I'm making it up now) but they're just some suggestions really. After all. . . this is a baking blog!

Let the dough rise in a warm place for an hour until doubled in size

Cumin seed (unnecessary caption)

Knead in the cumin

Roll out and stretch as much as possible! Then brush with melted butter.

Here's the recipe for the James Martin curry.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chickentikkamasala_73305

 I wasn't so sure if this was a recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala though. It seemed a bit too creamy and I thought Tikka Masala should have tomatoes in it?! I did some thorough research (from reliable sources) and to be fair, it does say that there is 'no standard recipe' - BUT -  'the sauce usually includes tomatoes'. I think James Martin may have replaced the tomatoes with another block of butter or pint of double cream or something. . . :P
.
Here's a couple of the other recipes that I thought would go well with the naan bread.

Pilau Rice 

1) Fry some onion and garlic in butter.

2) Add the tumeric or saffron to give it the yellow colour. Saffron is quite expensive though!

3) Coat the dry basmati rice in the butter/onion/garlic.

4) Pour in boiling chicken stock (or a knor/oxo cube and a kettle!) and simmer for 15 minutes.(The ratio of water:rice is roughly 2 cups:1 cup)

5) Once the rice is cooked (and drained), stir in some toasted almonds (put some on a baking tray in the oven - turning occasionally - whilst waiting for the rice to cook) and sultanas if desired!

Cucumber and Mint Raita

1) Cut up a 1/4 - 1/2 of a cucumber (depends how much you want!) 

2) Roughly chop a few sprigs of mint.

3) Add the cucumber and mint to 4-5 dollops of natural yoghurt.

4) Season with salt + pepper, a pinch of sugar and ground cumin. Mmmm...raita time!

Sorry, this probably isn't the most interesting of posts. I think I'm getting bread fatigue. You'll have to be patient though!  I've still got bread number 5 to complete before I post up the Bread Gallery. I'll get on it ASAP! :D

Bread #3: Focaccia + Rosemary

Bread number 3! Nearly there. . . 

Here's me kneading some dough (and probably not very well). A pointless video - but I just thought it'd give you a sense of what goes into bread making (and I was just having fun with the camera).

 

We actually had some rosemary in the garden!!

The recipe for Focaccia + Rosemary bread is another Pascale creation - I found it on the bbc.co.uk/food website @ http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/rosemary_and_sea_salt_12392. I love this site. There's a ton of recipes and you can also build up a online 'recipe binder'. Mine's growing by the day!

Keep a lookout for the final post to see it all cooked! (I'm probably building this up too much - they don't look all that great to be honest!)

Bread #2: Soda Bread

 

So. . . bread #2! I've mentioned this recipe before on my blog - Lorraine Pascale's Soda Bread. It's very quick to make (no faffing around and waiting for the dough to rise) and can all be made in an hour! So, if you're running low on time and want something that sounds impressive (but actually isn't all that impressive), make Lorraine's delicious soda bread!

The main ingredient that's different to normal bread is the buttermilk. This is the equivalent of the yeast and acts as the raising agent. It makes the whole bread making process a lot quicker! 

You also add a tablespoon of treacle to give it that dark colour (tip: If you dip the spoon in hot water - the treacle runs off more easily). In addition, this recipe uses a mixture of wholemeal and plain flour - none of that strong white bread flour stuff.

Recipe found below :D

Make a well in the flour + bicarbonate of soda + salt

Pour in melted butter, buttermilk and treacle

Knead that dough!

Kneaded!

Dust the wooden spoon with flour and make a cross shape

Crossed!

Sprinkle with flour and rolled oats

SODA BREAD RECIPE

370g Plain Flour

130g Wholemeal Flour

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp salt

40g butter

1 tbsp black treacle

300 - 340ml buttermilk (I find that one pot of 284ml (Sainsburys) works just fine too)

1) Preheat oven to 200oC

2) Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl - plain flour, wholemeal flour, bicarbonate of soda and the salt - and then make a well in the centre.

3) Melt the butter - pour in the well, along with the buttermilk and treacle. Stir with a wooden spoon to bring it together (if you don't mind the mess, just use your hands!).

4) Flour a clean work surface and knead the dough for a couple of minutes. It might be a bit sticky, but just keep at it until smooth.

5) Make a ball shape and place it on a lightly greased baking tray. Flatten slightly with your hands or a rolling pin.

6) To give it that proper soda bread look - get your wooden spoon (dust it with a bit of flour) and push it into the dough until you feel the baking tray through it (don't cut it in half though!!) - repeat this to make a cross shape.

7) Sprinkle with a bit of flour and a few oats and then bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until brown and risen. And bob's your uncle!!

Again, you'll have to wait for the final post

 to see it finished and out the oven!