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!

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.