Christmas Bread

This is my take on a Swedish staple bread, it’s not Christmas until you’ve had this with a few slices of Gouda and pickle cucumber.

Makes 1 Loaf

This is what you need;

200g rye flour360g strong white flour
1 big pinch of salt
5g fast action yeast
1tsp ginger
1tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp grounded cloves
1tsp dried and grounded Pomelo peel (any citrus fruit works if you can’t get a hold of this)
1 star anise grounded
1tsp cardamom
2tbps black treacle
230 ml tepid water
70ml Guinness (or other kinds of Stout works well too)
10ml olive oil (or 25g melted unsalted butter)
50g raisins (you can have less if you’re not that keen and mix in some almonds and clementine peel to make it extra cheerful)

Let’s get started!! If you are using butter then start by melting this and set to one side to cool.
Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl, make sure to put salt and yeast on each side of the bowl, then make a hole in the middle then add all your wet ingredients in the little well. Mix together but make sure that the yeast gets mixed in before in incorporate the salt. Once everything has come together tip it out on a lightly floured surface and begin the work, you will have to knead for at least 20 min, rye is much harder to to work so don’t give up!
Once you have a smooth dough but it in a bowl and cover it with clingfilm, let it rest and double in side, should take around 1 hour.
Once doubled in size, punch the air out and then make a big rectangle and scatter your raising then roll the dough up into a sausage so it fits into your butter greased bread tin. Leave to rise and double in size, this can take longer than  1 hour depending on the amount of fruit and nuts.
Crank your oven up to max, around 240 and gas mark 9, put a baking trey on the bottom of the oven.
Once the loaf is ready bake it in the oven and add ice water to the baking trey, this will give the loaf an amazing crust!
Bake for 10 min then lower the heat to 210 for an additional 20 min, this forces the loaf to rise even further and you end up with quite the loaf!

Sourdough

Lack of blogs I know! But I am planning something very exciting so watch this space!

Now for this bread you need a sourdough starter, this needs to be prepared at least 1 week before you want to bake but the longer you leave it the nicer it tastes.

Take an airtight jar and add 75g rye (or wholemeal) flour and 75g of lukewarm water and mix, close the lid and leave for 24 hours and do the same for 7 days then let it sit in the fridge until you want to use it.

This bread is for the bread lovers, you need time and patience this loaf  as it roughly takes 15 hours to make.

Makes 1 loaf

This is what you need;

300g sourdough starter
500g strong bread flour (now I use strong Canadian bread flour)
200ml warm water5g sea salt

And that’s all you need!

Chuck everything in a bowl and mix, once mixed together get ready to be frustrated!
This is a super wet dough but don’t give up, after 20 min of vigorous kneading you will be left with a smooth dough, still sticky but not as bad, now put that back in the bowl and leave it for 3-4 hours.
turn the dough out and shape into a small loaf, then flour a breadbasket and put the dough in there, cover with clingfilm and let it rest for 12 hours.

Heat your oven to 225 and put a baking trey in the bottom of your oven.
Turn the dough out on a grease proof baking trey and bake in the middle of the oven for 30 min, just before you close the oven door chuck in a cup of ice water in the baking trey.

Now your bread is done. let it cool on a cooling rack then cut a slice and enjoy with some cheese and chutney, Yummy!

White Loaf

Getting a great white loaf right is really hard, but once you got it it’s absolutely amazing, the key to the perfect loaf is great ingredients and patience.

Makes 1 amazing loaf, this will take around 3 hours to make.

This is what you need:
560g Strong Bread flour (I use strong organic Canadian bread flour)
5g of fast action dried yeast
5g salt (or 10g sea salt)
20g extra virgin olive oil
330ml warm water

Start by adding all the flour into a bowl, on one side add your yeast and your salt on the other side. Make a little hole in the middle and add the water and the oil. With your hand, start mixing the water in but start so you mix in the yeast first then mix everything together. Knead the dough in the bowl until all the flour is incorporated, then put it out on a lightly floured surface. Now start kneading your dough, knead for about 15 minutes and really stretch out the dough to create loads of gluten. Put it back into a floured bowl and cover with clingfilm until it’s doubled in size.

If the dough is ready, punch it down to get the air out and then form into a sausage shape and put into a oiled bread tin, dust it with flour and cover with a airtight bag so the loaf has room to grow. Let the loaf double in size, this should take around 1 hour.

Heat your oven to the highest temperature and put a roasting trey on the bottom of the oven.
Once your dough is ready to go, slash your loaf and put it in the oven, pour ice water into the roasting trey and take the oven temperature down to 210 fan, gas mark 6 and bake in the middle of the oven for 30-35 minutes.
Let the bread cool on a cooling rack once done, then slice it up and enjoy with a ton of butter.

Little tip: try and keep the same temperature in the room where your dough is rising and this will help the proving of the dough.

 

Gluten Free Marble Cake

This is a naughty treat for my gluten allergic friends!

Serves 10 hungry people.

Start by heating up your oven to 180 degrees fan oven, gas mark 5, grease your cake tin and line with greaseproof paper. I use a bread loaf tin (approximately 30cm length)

This is what you need:
225g soften butter
225g caster sugar
225g Free from self-raising flour
2 eggs
1 heap tsp baking powder (most baking powders are gluten free but always worth double checking)
5tbsp Whole milk
1tbsp vanilla paste
1 tbsp cocoa powder
50g milk chocolate

Start by mixing together the sugar, butter and vanilla paste, whisk until fluffy. Add the flour, baking powder and milk and mix until properly combined. Add one egg at the time and whisk for about 2 minutes/egg. Once combined and you have a fluffy mixture, take 1/3 of the mixture and put in a separate bowl. Put the 2/3rds of the mixture into the tin and gently spread out to the edges so you have an even distribution in the tin.
For the remaining mixture, add the cocoa powder, chop the chocolate into small chunks and mix it all together.

Put the chocolate mixture on top and grab a fork, ripple the chocolate gently, try and mix well without punching the air out of the mixture. Bake in the middle of the oven for 45-50, when the time is up take a knife and stick into the thickest part of the cake, if the knife comes out clean your cake is ready.

Enjoy best with a nice cup of tea.

Swedish Cinnamon Buns

Tomorrow is the BIG day, international cinnamon bun day
(or maybe it’s only in Sweden but I think it should be international, they deserve it) so I thought I would give you a head start with a recipe that I’ve used for years!
Makes ca 40-50 normal size or 30 massive ones.

If you have time I would recommend proving the dough over night (12 hours) as we are using milk in this recipe and that slows down the proving process.

What you need:

Dough:

5dl Milk
1 x sachet of dry fast action yeast
2dl Sugar
0.5 tsp salt
14dl Self raise flour (if you can get organic or local do it, it makes such a difference) + 2 depending on the wetness
125g butter
**optional – I have 2 tsp of grounded cardamom in the dough,it gives the buns an amazing taste.

You will need 1 egg to brush the buns with after their second proving and then sprinkle them with coarse pearl sugar.

Filling:

120g butter
1,5dl sugar
3 tbsp cinnamon

OR, if you don’t like cinnamon but don’t want to miss out on bun godness

120g room temp butter
1dl sugar
0.5dl vanilla sugar
50 of shaved almonds

NOW, time to get your hands dirty and start mixing these ingredients together.
Start by sifting 13dl of the flour into a bowl put the yeast on one side and the salt on the other, then mix, add the rest of your dry ingredients and butter. Start adding your milk gradually, in 3 parts. As you go along you will see when you need to add the remaining flour but leave 1dl for dusting and kneading. When everything has come together tip it out on a floured surface, roll your sleeves up and start kneading.
After 10-15 min you should have a smooth dough, now if you can’t prove it over night, put the dough in a bowl cover tight with clingfilm but make sure that the dough has enough space to double in size. If you are leaving it over night, same here but leave it in a cool place, this allows the flavors to establish and for the gluten to build up.
When your dough is done proving, punch it down and tip out on a floured surface.
Take a rolling pin and start flatten out the dough, try not to be too rough and let the dough stretch out.
Once your dough is about 5mm thick it’s time for the filling to come in, so evenly distribute butter, sugar and cinnamon or your other fillings.
Then push the down down on the opposite side of where you start rolling.

Start rolling the dough, make sure you roll it tight and don’t leave loads of space in the swirl as the might dry out and fall apart when you eat them 🙂

This is the traditional way of doing it but there are hundreds of ways of making it to a bun.
Cut them up, I normally cut 5-7 cm pieces, then put into cases and cover with clingfilm.

Leave them to rise and double in size, this should take about 1 hour, turn your oven on when you have 30 min left on the proving. Turn your oven to 250 degrees (gas mark 6-7)

If the buns are ready brush with the beaten up egg and sprinkle with pearl sugar, bake the buns in the middle of the oven for about 8-10 min and golden.

If you have made too much and can’t control yourself, this is the perfect time to chuck some in the freezer, when the buns has cooled down a bit just put them in a freezer bag and enjoy on a later date.

Best consumed warm with a cold glass of milk, yummy….