Bread Baking Babes in June

A day late, because of a bad headache day yesterday, but fortunately I didn't wait with baking this bread until yesterday, so today I'm posting. Our Babe Elizabeth picked a flatbread to bake for us this month and she asked us to roll up our sleeves and do it all by hand. Sorry, kneaded it with my machine.
The dough was very wet, couldn't get it into a ball to rise/rest, it just was kind of a blob. Lots of flour when streching it into an oval, two were almost too big for my oven stone. Because the dough was so soft, the stripes that I put into it sort of disappeared. We had the breads with some soup. Very chewy bread, but good taste and airy inside. Elizabeth baked them on a bbq, I think that would really be wonderful for this bread, like it was baked in the desert in front of a nomad tent on a hot stone in the fire. If you bake in the oven make it hot and bake on a stone!

Wanna bake this too and become a Bread Baking Buddy? Bake, post and tell us all about it by mailing this to Elizabeth our Kitchen princess of this month, Deadline 29th. Have fun!

Nan e Barbari

(Persian flatbread)

(PRINT recipe)

dough
5 g active dry yeast
360 g water (32ºC)
60 g whole wheat flour
360 g all purpose flour
2 g baking powder
1 tsp salt
nigella seeds (or black sesame, poppy, sesame seeds)

sauce
½ tsp flour
½ tsp baking soda
80 gm water

Mixing the dough: Pour the water into your standmixer bowl. Whisk in the yeast.
Add the flours, baking powder and salt and start to combine the ingredients on low speed until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Knead the dough on medium speed.
When the dough is smooth, shape the dough into a ball and replace it in the mixing bowl (there is no need to oil the bowl). Cover the bowl with a plate and leave to rise to double.

Prepare the sauce: Whisk flour, baking soda and water in a small pot. Bring it to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Pre-shaping: Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Scatter a light dusting of flour on the board and gently remove the risen dough onto it. Don't worry that the dough is quite slack. Cut the dough in half. Form each piece into a ball and place well apart on the cookie sheet. Cover with a clean tea toweland plastic foil and allow to rise to double. (about an hour)

Final Shaping: Brush each round with the sauce. Really slather the sauce on. It will keep your hands from sticking to the dough.
Dip your fingers in the sauce and dimple the rounds down to form two ovals with lengthwise furrows. (Please see photos below; also see photos on the right side of this page)
Liberally brush ovals with the sauce once more and sprinkle with nigella seeds. Allow the ovals to stand for about 30 min.

Baking: bake it in a preheated (200ºC) oven with an oven stone for about 30 minutes until golden brown. Cook the bread until it is golden.

(based on Lida's recipe for Barbari Bread at 1001recipe.com)

Bread Baking Babes whip up some bread

This month the multi-talented Ilva is the mistress in the kitchen, she has take the whip out of her
cupboard and made us bake a 'whipped bread'. "Whipped?" you say? That's what I wondered about too. It's an all spelt bread, part white flour and some whole meal. It is a wet dough, more water than with the same quantities wheat flour and spelt is also known to absorb less water than wheat. The dough is kneaded with a whisk in the original recipe (I wondered why they didn't call it whisked bread). I started with a whisk, but it took me too long, before the dough started to release from the sides, so I changed to the K-hook (from my Kenwood) and then it was ready in no time. Still a very soft dough. But after a night in the fridge and enough flour on surface and hands. A great bread for everyday use, to be combined with sweet or savory. Thanks Ilva for introducing this recipe to us.

Wanna get your whip (whisk) out too, bake along and become our Bread Baking Buddy. Send your findings to Ilva, who'll whip up a round up. Deadline 26th of this month.

Whipped Bread

(makes 2 loaves)

(PRINT recipe)

840 g sifted spelt flour
160 g whole-spelt flour
10 g fresh yeast (or 4 g dry yeast)
20 g salt
approx 800 g water

Mix the two types of flour in the mixing bowl, rub in the yeast, and add the salt and water. Mix the dough at high speed using a whisk until the dough no longer sticks to the sides and bottom of the bowl. Scrape the soft dough off the whisk, put a lid on the mixing bowl, and let the dough rest in the fridge overnight.

The next day, allow the dough to warm for a couple of hours before continuing.

Gently turn the dough onto a generously floured work surface, and dust the top of the dough with a little flour. Divide the dough into four equal-size pieces. Quickly twist the pieces together in pairs, preserving as much air in the dough as possible. Place the two twisted loaves on separate peels lined with parchment paper. Let them proof until nearly doubled in volume.

Preheat the convection oven, with baking stone to 250°C.

Generously mist the inside of the oven with water. Ease the loaves, along with the parchment paper, onto the baking stone. Spray a little more water into the oven. Repeat after one minute.

After 5 minutes of baking, lower the heat to 210°C, then bake the loaves for another 20-30 minutes more.

(From "Home Baked: Nordic Recipes and Techniques for Organic Bread and Pastry" by Hanne Risgaard)

ABC bake some English muffins

This month in the Avid Baker's Challenge we have English muffins on the menu, in our year of baking recipes from the King Arthur Flour site. I never made English muffins before, but I loved these. They reminded me of our Dutch "Beschuitbollen", though these are baked with a tin on top and a lot dryer when shop bought. These are used to make our dutch "beschuiten" by cutting them in two disks and bake them for a second time in the oven.

It takes some time to make these, I baked them in a large frying pan that fitted 4 at the time. Their interior is immensly fluffy, soft and moist. Very nice. I didn't change anything really about the recipe, it was all bang on. Cut the first ones to check if they were cooked inside, but they all were good when I took the time on medium heat. We liked them a lot.

(You can find the RECIPE HERE)

An Orange Day

April 30th has been Queensday for me my whole life. And today it's the last one. We're having a completely orange day today, not only it's be the Dutch last Queensday, we've also seen our Queen Beatrix abdicate in favour of her eldest, who now is our King for the coming years. Changes, changes. So many opinions about  the use of the monarchy, here in the Netherlands we shout out all opinions, even though in my opinion some (especially through Twitter or Facebook) think they can just say anything just to feel important.

I'm a sucker for traditions I guess. I get teary with every movie, gold winner at the Olympics, ecc, so these events do that to me too. I love to see the crowd on the big square for the paleis with orange attributes, cheering for the former queen and the new king and queen. It reminds me that most people just want peace and quiet, feeling save and in harmony. So today we have a party in orange. 

Queen's day cake rings or muffins

(makes 24 rings or 16 muffins)

 (PRINT recipe)

99 g vegetable oil
3 large eggs
298 g granulated sugar
340 g pumpkin purée
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon plus heaping 1/4 tsp each ground nutmeg and ground ginger
1,5 tsp salt
1,5 tsp baking powder
227g AP flour
Glaze: Icing sugar and orange food colouring
sprinkles (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two doughnut pans. If you don't have doughnut pans, you can bake these in a standard muffin tin; they just won't be doughnuts. 

before baking

just baked

Beat together the oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, spices, salt, and baking powder until smooth. Add the flour, stirring just until smooth. Fill the wells of the doughnut pans about 3/4 full; use a scant 1/4 cup of batter in each well. If you're making muffins, fill each well about 3/4 full; the recipe makes about 15, so you'll need to bake in two batches (unless you have two muffin pans). 

Bake the doughnuts for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean. If you're making muffins, they'll need to bake for 23 to 25 minutes. Remove the doughnuts from the oven, and after about 5 minutes, loosen their edges, and transfer them to a rack to cool. Cool completely, mix icing sugar, food colouring and a little water to a smooth consistancy and glaze the rings/muffins. Store at room temperature for several days.
(recipe source: King Arthur Flour site)

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Oranje boven

't Zal wel even wennen zijn, geen Koninginnedag meer op 30 april. Maar vandaag nog wel een beetje. Een hele oranje dag met Koninginnedag én een inhuldiging van de nieuwe Koning Willem-Alexander. Mensen voor en mensen tegen, ach ja ik vind het eigenlijk wel leuk. Te zien hoe alle mensen op de Dam klappen en juichen en eensgezind zijn. Toch een sfeer van harmonie en vrede, dat kan toch niet verkeerd zijn. Dus ik hoop dat jullie vandaag allemaal een fijne dag vieren, in oranje of niet. 

Koninginnedag cake ringen of cakejes

(voor ongeveer 24 ringen of 15 cakejes)

(recept PRINTEN)

100 g plantaardige olie
3 eieren
298 g fijne kristalsuiker
340 g pompoenpurée
¾ tl gemalen kaneel
¼ tl (met kop erop) vers gemalen nootmuskaat
¼ tl (met kop erop) gemberpoeder
1 tl zout
1 ½ tl bakpoeder
227 g patentbloem
Glazuur: poedersuiker en orange voedingskleurstof

voor het bakken

Verwarm de oven voor op 180°C. Vet twee doughnut blikken in.

Als je die niet hebt of liever cakejes maakt, gebruikt je twee muffinbakblikken.Klop olie, eieren, suiker, pompoen, specerijen, zout en bakpoeder door elkaar tot het glad is. Voeg dan de bloem toe en schep het door elkaar tot het gemengd is. Vul de doughnut- of muffinvorm tot driekwart.

Bak de doughnut ringen ongeveer 15 tot 18 minuten, cakejes ongeveer 25 minuten. Laat afkoelen op een rooster.
Meng voor het glazuur, poedersuiker, voedselkleurstof en wat water tot je een net schenkbaar glazuur hebt; giet of smeer dat over de cakejes/ringen.

(bron:King Arthur Flour site)

Bread Baking Day #58

I haven't been participating lately, even if I wanted too, cause the Bread Baking Day initiated by Zorra (love your new blogsite btw), have always been my favorite blog-event. But my blog-life is suffering from mid-lifecrisis, not really knowing what it's all about anymore, where the point is and how to find energy for it. 

But just before the deadline I managed to make breads for this month edition, hosted by the wonderful and talented Cindy from "Cindystar". She choose the theme "breads with flakes and seeds" and as I and in fact all of us in this household, love breads with seeds and things in them, I just had to get myself into gear and bake something for this event. I used different seeds that were available in my cupboards, but af course you can vary them to your linking and the content of your pantry.

And as it seems that spring, even though still chilly, is coming, I made small breads to take on the road. While I was taking pictures of the breads, one of our chickens, that had managed to get out of the enclosed area, jumped up on the bench and was very happy to spot these rolls on the table. So really everybody in this household seem to love breads with seeds in them! :)

Seed triangles

(makes ± 16)

(this cheeky chicken loves them too!)

(PRINT recipe)

140 g whole wheat flour
280 g white bread flour
40 g cornmeal
2 tsp dried yeast
2 TBsp runny honey

1 tsp salt

2 TBsp vegetable oil

10 g dried soy granules

75 g sunflower seeds

20 g flax seeds

5 g poppy seeds

10 g sesame seeds

25 g pumpkin seeds

± 310 g water

extra seeds for decorating (sunflower, sesame and pumpkin seeds)

Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl from your stand mixer. Knead with the dough hook at medium speed until you’ve a souple and elastic dough. Shape it into a ball, lightly grease the mixing bowl and place the dough in it. Cover with greased plastic foil and leave to rest for about 45 minutes.

Prepair two baking sheets/peels with baking parchment.

Place the dough on a lightly greased counter and press it into a

rectangle (40 x 25 cm). Sprinkle the seeds on top for the decoration and press them down.

Cut the dough with a dough scraper in the middle lengthwise. Now cut each of these doughstrips with diagonal cuts in about 8 triangle shapes.

Place the triangles on the baking sheet or peel with baking parchment, cover them with lightly greased plastic and let them rise in a warm place until puffy.

Preheat the oven to 220ºC, preferably with an oven stone.

Bake the triangles by placing them on the baking stone with the parchment paper and let them bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and done. Take them out of the oven and leave them to cool on a wire rack.

(recipe by Lien)

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Bread Baking Day nr. 58

Ik heb al een tijdje niet meer meegedaan aan dit bakevent, ookal wilde ik het eigenlijk wel, omdat de Bread Baking Day, gestart door Zorra (mooie nieuwe blogsite trouwens), altijd al mijn favoriete blog-event was. Maar mijn blog-leven wordt geteisterd door een midlife-crisis, moeite om er zin, plezier, noodzaak in te zien en energie voor te vinden.

Maar net voor het verstrijken van de deadline is het toch nog gelukt wat te bakken voor deze maand, die verzorgd wordt door de getalenteerde

 Cindy from "Cindystar". Ze koos het thema : Brood met vlokken en zaden. En omdat ik en eigenlijk ons hele huishouden gek is op brood met 'dingetjes' erin, moest ik mezelf wel een schop geven en iets bakken voor deze gelegenheid. Ik heb verschillende zaden gebruikt, maar je kunt die natuurlijk variëren naar je smaak en de inhoud van je kasten .

En omdat de lente er dan toch eindelijk aan lijkt te komen, hoewel nog steeds wat fris, besloot ik kleine broodjes te maken die je makkelijk mee kan nemen voor onderweg. Terwijl ik buiten op de tafel de foto's aan het maken was van de broodjes, sprong onze kip Nera, die het weer eens gelukt was uit de omheining te ontsnappen, op de bank en loerde vol verlangen naar de broodje (zie bovenste foto). Ik kan dus met recht zeggen dat IEDEREEN in ons huishouden van brood met zaadjes houdt :).

Driehoek-broodjes met zaden

(ongeveer 16 stuks)

(recept PRINTEN)

140 g volkoren tarwemeel

280 g broodbloem

40 g maismeel

2 tl droge gist

2 el vloeibare honing

1 tl zout

2 el plantaardige olie

10 g gedroogde soja stukjes

75 g zonnebloempitten

20 g lijnzaad

5 g maanzaad

10 g sesamzaad

25 g pompoenpitten

± 310 g water

extra zaden voor decoratie (zonnenbloem- en pompoenpitten, sesamzaad)

Plaats alle ingrediënten in de kom van je standmixer. Kneed met de deeghaak op medium snelheid tot je een soepel en elastisch deeg hebt. Vorm het tot een bal en leg het in een licht ingevette kom afgedekt met plastic. Laat het ongeveer 45 min. rijzen op een warme plaats.

Bekleed twee bakplaten met bakpapier.

Keer het deeg op een licht ingevet werkblad en druk het in een rechthoek van 40 x 25 cm. Bestrooi de bovenkant met de extra zaden en druk ze in het deeg. Snij het deeg nu in de lengte in twee delen. Elk deel snijd je dan in ongeveer 8 driehoeken.

Leg de driehoeken op het bakpapier, dek ze af met licht ingevet plastic folie en laat ze rijzen (ongeveer 50 minuten) op een warme plaats.

Verwarm ondertussen de oven voor op 220ºC, bij voorkeur met een ovensteen erin.

Bak de driehoekbroodjes door ze met bakpapier en al op de ovensteen te schuiven en laat ze 15-20 minuten bakken tot ze goudbruin en gaar zijn. Haal ze uit de oven en laat ze afkoelen op een rooster.

(recept van Lien)