Category: Bread and baking

Coconut Loaf

Submitted by Fiona Ballantyne. This is adapted from a recipe from a book called ‘Home baking’ by Carole Handslip, which was 99p well spent in a bargain book shop.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 125g (4oz) margarine
  • 125g (4oz) golden caster sugar
  • 2 eggs (duck eggs work very well)
  • 175g (6oz) self raising flour, sifted
  • 4 tbsp desiccated coconut
  • 2 tbsp milk (may need slightly more)

METHOD:

  • Cream the fat and sugar together till light and fluffy.
  • Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a little of the flour with the second.
  • Add the remaining flour, 3 tbsp of the coconut and the milk.
  • (This recipe also works well by adding all the ingredients to the food mixer and mixing together, and I often add all the coconut to the mix rather than sprinkling on the top and it binds well with a little extra milk).
  • Turn into a lined and greased 1lb loaf tin and sprinkle with the remaining coconut.
  • Bake at 180°C for 1 to 1¼ hours. Turn out and cool on a wire rack.

Nice plain but also very good with home made jam and desiccated coconut on the top.

Chocolate Muffins

Margaret says this is her favourite chocolate muffin recipe. Not exactly wholefood, but they can be made with organic and fairly traded ingredients. The recipe comes from ‘Chocolate’ by Patricia Lousada which a friend gave me a while ago.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 125g unsalted butter
  • 90g granulated sugar
  • 30g dark brown sugar
  • 2 free range eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 200g self raising flour
  • 15g cocoa powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 150ml milk,
  • 60g good quality plain chocolate in 1cm squares

METHOD:

  • Set the oven to gas 5, 190c and line a bun tin with paper muffin cases
  • Cream the butter and the sugars and beat until light and fluffy
  • Beat the eggs and add gradually to the butter and sugar, beat the two together as you add the eggs
  • Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together a couple of times and fold into the egg mixture, adding the milk as you go to make a soft ‘dropping’ mixture
  • Half fill the paper cases with mixture, and divide the squares of chocolate between the muffins. Cover each chocolate topping with a little bit of mixture
  • Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes until the muffins are cooked and springy to touch. Put on a cooling rack.

Muffins are best fresh. Say no more.

Polenta Cake

This is a delicious recipe that can be made using duck eggs. Polenta is gluten free so this is a useful cake to whip up for the GF tea table.

INGREDIENTS:

CAKE

  • 110g butter
  • 225 g caster sugar
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 110g ground almonds
  • 2 tsp almond extract
  • 225g fine polenta

SYRUP

  • 3 tbsp runny honey
  • 2 tsp lemon juice

METHOD:

  • Preheat the oven to 180 C. 
  • Cream the butter and sugar together until soft and creamy
  • Beat the eggs into the mixture with the ground almonds, then add almond extract and polenta
  • Line an 18 x 28 cm swill roll tin with greaseproof paper, allowing the paper to stand about 2cm higher than the tin. Spread the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 hour.
  • Meanwhile, prepare the syrup. Warm the honey in a pan and add the lemon juice, and bring to a boil. Simmer for five minutes until the syrup has reduced a little. Set aside to cool. 
  • When the cake comes out of the oven, cut into squares and pour over the syrup. 

You could garnish these with slivered almonds while still hot and sticky, the syrup should hold the slivers in place. Serve when cooled. These are good at the end of a meal, with a cup of coffee. 

Gluten free pastry

I tried out this recipe first in 2009, after trialling a few. There are two key  differences from standard pastry making when dealing with GF varients.  Firstly  you MUST knead the pastry for a good 2 minutes.  This helps to prevent the pastry from breaking up when cutting out and placing in your chosen tin.  Second, GF pastry does not need to be blindbaked so this cuts down on cooking time considerably. It also has less shrinkage as it is not so stretchy.  Once you have made your pastry – let it rest for 5 minutes and then away you go.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 250g gluten free flour (Doves Farm)
  • 125g soft butter
  • A pinch of salt
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • cold water

METHOD:

  • Rub the butter into the flour until it looks like breadcrumbs.
  • Add the salt and the egg and mix well, adding just enough cold water to make a soft dough.
  • Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for at least two minutes, until the dough is smooth and pliable. Let it rest for five minutes
  • Roll out on a floured surface and use as for conventional pastry, but without blind baking.
  • Bake at 180 C

Bread with Tofu

This is a very tasty high protein recipe which I have adapted for the bread maker.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 110ml water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 3 tbsp organic sunflower oil
  • 300g Tofu
  • 3 tbsp mixed seeds, for example sesame and sunflower
  • 500g white flour (you may need slightly less depending on how moist the tofu is)
  • 1 tsp organic dried yeast

METHOD (BREADMAKER)

  • put the yeast in first, followed by the dry ingredients then the wet ingredients. Select the bread dough program. 
  • Once the dough is made, shape by hand and set to rise in a bread tin
  • Bake  at 200C for 45 minutes

METHOD (BY HAND)

  • Warm the water, and mix in the yeast with a little sugar and keep in a warm place until frothing. 
  • Sift together the flour and salt, and then mix in the tofu and oil then water/yeast mixture.
  • Kneed together by hand, adding flour if required. Keep kneeding until the tofu is well incorporated. The dough will be sticky.
  • Leave in an oiled bowl until double in volume. Knock back and kneed again for at least five minutes. 
  • Put the dough into a well-greased loaf tin, and leave to prove until double in volume. 
  • Bake in a hot oven, 200C for around 45 minutes. 

Greek flatbreads

I was inspired to make these when the co-op stopped selling them. These have been a staple over the last year, delicious soft foldable breads. I made the dough in my breadmaker, but it should work if you make them by hand as well. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 tsp dried yeast
  • 400g strong white bread flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 250ml cold water

METHOD:

  • Put the ingredients into the breadmaker in the order listed, and set it onto the white bread dough program.
  • When the dough is ready, remove it from the breadmaker and  divide it into six balls. It will be a tad sticky. Cover with a damp cloth while you prepare the next bit. 
  • Brush a rolling surface with flour, and roll out the first couple of breads , so that they are about half a centimetre thick, and the size of the bottom of your frying pan.
  • Heat a cast-iron frying pan over a medium to high heat, with a little olive oil in. Put in the first flatbread in the pan and keep preparing the next flatbreads. After about a minute and a half, the flatbread in the pan will be puffing up a little, so turn it over and cook the other side. 
  • As each flatbread is cooked, check to see if the pan needs oiled, and start cooking the next one. The cooked flatbreads should be placed onto a clean cloth and wrapped over to keep them warm. Pile them on top of each other as you go, as this will keep them moist and pliable. 

We served with dishes of sliced radish, cucumber, olives, fried haloumi, sliced pepper and lettuce. The flatbreads fold over in half to enclose the filling; you could add tzaziki, feta cheese, salad, cooked chicken, grilled vegetables, all sorts. Having an array of potential fillings means that people can make their own favourite. 

 

Wholemeal loaf

I have started making bread dough in the bread maker, and finishing it off in the oven. I find the strange shape of the pan tin in the breadmaker a bit disconcerting. The slices don’t fit well in the toaster, and I finish the loaf very quickly. 

Here is my recipe for breadmaker dough. Once the machine has made the dough, I kneed it, set it to prove and then bake it. Hello to Ronnie and Peter who were asking about this. 

INGREDIENTS: 

  • 1 tsp dried yeast
  • 225g strong white bread flour
  • 225g strong wholemeal bread flour (or any ratio to total weight 550g)
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp butter or oil
  • 330ml water

METHOD:

  • Put the ingredients into the bread-maker in the order specified, and set it to the wholemeal dough bread program, or the nearest suitable setting. My machine takes just over three hours for this, including soaking the flour in the water, warming the mixture to the correct temperature, kneeding and resting the dough. 
  • When the dough is made, remove from the bread maker, kneed it again for around 5 minutes. Try not to add any more flour. If the dough is a bit sticky to start with, try oiling your hands. 
  • Shape and roll the dough into a loaf shape, and put it in a large, greased, loaf tin. Cover, and set it to one side to rise. 
  • Meanwhile, heat the oven to 200C. When the dough has risen to double, put it in the hot oven and bake for 33 minutes or so. 

As I am the only person who likes wholemeal bread in the house, I put half in the freezer so it doesn’t go mouldy. You can, of course, experiment with the basic recipe to customise it. 

Brunsviger

Hello Annie – this is the recipe that Malcolm has been playing with. We’ve had several versions at home before he took it to the coastguard last night. The original recipe is from Fika and Hygge, by Bronte Aurell. Malcolm has been testing out making the sticky dough in the breadmaker. 

Brunsviger, or Brunswick Bun, is like a large flat cinnamon bun, soaked in brown sugar and spices. 

INGREDIENTS: 

For the bread base:

  • 2 1/2 tsp dried yeast
  • 250ml whole milk
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 350g strong white bread flour
  • 40g caster sugar
  • 100g butter
  • 1 tsp salt

For the topping:

  • 175g softened butter
  • 225g dark soft brown sugar
  • 4 tbsp golden syrup
  • vanilla extract
  • Optional, 1 tbsp cinnamon

METHOD:

  • Put the ingredients for the bread dough into the bread maker in the order on the list. Program the bread maker for dough. 
  • When the  bread maker has done its stuff, make the topping. Whisk the butter with 200g of the dark sugar, golden syrum and vanilla extract. 
  • Tip out the dough, knock it back and kneed it. If you need a little more flour it is OK to add it now. 
  • Transfer the dough to a baking tin, we used our medium roasting tin to contain any leaks. Stretch the dough to the sides of the pan, and use your fingers to poke holes in the dough as if you are making focaccia. The more holes the better. 
  • Spread the soft topping over the dough, using a spatula. Cover all the dough, and then sprinkle over the rest of the sugar. Cover with a plastic wrap or clingfilm, and leave it to prove, around 30 minutes. 
  • Meanwhile, set the oven to 200C. 
  • Once the dough has risen, remove the plastic wrap and cook for around 20 to 25 minutes. The topping should be shiny and sticky. 
  • Take out of the oven, cool, cut into squares and eat with coffee. Take time to enjoy this. 

For a stickier top, add more sugar to the topping before baking. 

 
 

Seeded rye bread

I was buying rye bread in a local shop, delicious for light summer lunches with cheese and salad. Now it isn’t available, and I was looking to make my own. This may need a tweak here and there to suit, but it works very well. 

INGREDIENTS: 

  • 500g rye flour
  • 2 tsp of dried yeast
  • 1 tbsp treacle or brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp sunflower oil
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 3 tbsp ‘8 seed mix‘ or ‘5 seed mix‘ from Seasoned Pioneers (or a mix of poppy seed, linseed, sunflower seeds, caraway, as you prefer)
  • 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
  • 430ml water

METHOD:

  • In a large mixing bowl, mix the seeds, flour and salt. 
  • In a measuring jug, measure out the water, sugar and oil, and add the dried yeast. 
  • Once the yeast has mixed into the water, add it to the flour mixture a bit at a time, mixing together to a dough, ensuring that all the flour is incorporated. You don’t want the mixture to be sloppy. 
  • Top tip at this point – if you have some left-over white bread dough, you can kneed a bit of this in as well. 
  • Coat a work surface with a bit more sunflower oil and kneed for ten minutes or so. The dough won’t be as stretchy as a gluten-based loaf, but it will get smoother. 
  • Form the dough into a loaf shape. I use a loaf tin, but you could make a cob loaf as well. Put the formed loaf into a tin or a baking sheet, cover with a teatowel and leave to rise for up to eight hours. I don’t usually wait as long, I like a dense and heavy rye bread. 
  • Heat the oven to 220C, and bake the loaf for 30 minutes, until it sounds hollow when tapped. 

This works on the rye setting on my bread machine as well. 

Beetroot, caraway and goat’s cheese soda-bread

This is a delicious Ottolenghi recipe from SIMPLE. It is so rich and full of flavour, you don’t need to add anything much. It is great sliced and spread with butter, or with a thin slice of smoked salmon. I made it as part of a mega cooking session so that I had lots of food that was good with salad, as this certainly is. I had to adapt a bit to fit with locally available ingredients. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 50g rolled oats
  • 2 tsp dried thyme leaves
  • 50g pumpkin seeds
  • 2 tsp caraway seeds
  • 2 tsp nigella seeds
  • 100g plain flour
  • 100g wholemeal flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 200g grated raw beetroot
  • 2 large eggs
  • 80ml sunflower oil
  • 80g soured cream
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 20g grated parmesan
  • 120g goat’s cheese
  • Salt

METHOD:

  • Preheat the oven to 180C fan. Grease and line a loaf tin. 
  • Mix the oats, thyme, pumpkin, caraway, and nigella seeds in a small bowl. 
  • In a medium bowl, mix the flours and the baking powder and baking soda, along with 1/2 tsp salt. Whisk together to aerate, then add the grated beetroot and all but one tbsp of the oat mixture
  • In another bowl, lightly whisk the eggs together and beat in the oil, soured cream, honey and parmesan. 
  • Mix the egg mixture into the dry ingredients, and fold in the crumbled goat’s cheese. 
  • Pour the mixture into the tin, and add the remaining oat mixture to the top. 
  • Bake for 40 minutes, then cover with foil and bake for another 40 minutes. 
  • Remove from the oven, and set to cool for around 5 minutes before removing from the tin and cooling on a rack. It needs to be cooled for at least 20 minutes before slicing.