Seeded Loaf - Bread Challenge No. 10

 Happy Easter!
Yes the day finally crept up on us and, after losing an hours slept last night due to the clocks moving forward an hour, it was a very tired me in The Old Red Lion kitchen today cooking roast dinners. 
I didnt receive any Easter eggs today unfortuntely but I did get to open my Secret Easter Bunny gift that I received in the post yesterday as part of an online craft forum swap that I entered. My gift was made by someone that I have actually been in awe of for the past couple of years and her gift to me was these seriously cute bunnies that she made herself. Ros has a fantastic blog which is full of tutorials, her makes and a little bit of gossip!

Back to bread making!! This week we have started to make plans for a new menu for the summer months. One idea I had was mushroom pate as a starter. In the week I made a sample but, although it tasted lovely it needed to be eaten with something textured. We had some slightly stale, seeded loaf from the shop so we used that to experiment on taste and it really worked well together, so yesterday I attempted my own seeded loaf.

It came out BEAUTIFUL!! You must try this one it's a lovely taste and today, a day later, still was very soft and fresh tasting.

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

375g Strong White Bread Flour

125g Strong Brown Bread Flour

1 1/2 Tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Light Brown Sugar

1 Tsp Fast Action Dried Yeast

1 1/2 Tbsp Sunflour Oil

2 Tsp Lemon Juice

300ml Lukewarm Water

1 Tsp Poppy Seeds

1 Tsp Sesame Seeds

For The Topping

1 Egg White

1 Tbsp Water

1 Tbsp Pumpkin and Sunflower Seeds Mixed

Method:

Put the flours,sugar,salt, yeast and seeds into a bowl.Add the oil,lemon juice and water and mix together to form a dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 10minutes or until the dough is soft and pliable. Return to your bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour..

When risen, punch down the dough to release the gas and knead for a couple more minutes and press into a large loaf tin and leave to rise again.When risen, mix the egg white and water and brush the top of the dough with it then gently press in the pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Bake in the oven about 20-25 minutes at 200C until golden brown.

Homemade seeded Loaf

Doesn't this look good!

Homemade Seeded Loaf

Spinach,Turmeric and Beetroot Loaf - Bread Challenge No 9

So I'm really moving forward with the bread challenge now and everyone is as interested and excited as I am with every new handmade loaf being produced in the kitchen. Isnt it nice to be able to say "I had fun at work today"!!!
So following production of the beetroot loaf yesterday Toby had a brainwave and suggested I try making 3 different coloured doughs and combining them together to make a tri-coloured and flavoured dough. So with his help I gave it a go, and this is what happened!!!

Spinach,Turmeric and Beetroot loaf

How cool is that!! The top layer is spinach, the center turmeric and the bottom beetroot, though I have to admit when eating the bread there is no strong particular flavour but the image is fantastic!

We are now considering other colours but for now I'll talk you through how we made this one.

 We needed to make 3 individual doughs, so I got my basic bread recipe and divided the quantity of ingredients by 3. I got 3 bowls and into each put 170g strong white bread flour,1 tsp sugar,1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp yeast. Then I rubbed in 10g butter into each mix.

1 egg and 1 egg yolk were beaten and as best I could split between the 3 bowls. Next we made up the coloured liquids. Toby pureed 1 cooked beetroot and added luke warm water to make 70ml of liquid. Turmeric was added to another 70ml lukewarm water and pureed handful of cooked spinach added to another 70ml.

Each liquid was put in each bowl and mixed to form 3 coloured doughs. Each was kneaded until a soft, pliable dough was formed then left in a covered bowl in a warm place to prove.

An hour later when they had all risen we punched down on each dough to release the gas then flattened out each one.

In a large loaf tin we lay the doughs one on top of each other and left to rise whilst we went for our lunchbreak.

You have never seen 2 more excited and giggly chefs as we put our invention in the oven to cook for 20 minutes. Our laughing continued when we removed the loaf from the tin and it looked all higgle-de piggle-de (what a saying!!)

But then we cut a slice and patted each other on the back as it looked brilliant. The colours worked so well and came out great, I'm sure you would agree!

Spinach,Turmeric and Beetroot Loaf

We are now working on other colours and ideas for interesting looking breads! Watch this space!

Homemade Bread

I think you would agree with me that, as consumers, we always like to be offered free items from companies that shows us to be valued and appreciated.
At The Old Red Lion, Litchborough Ben and Vicky think its a lovely gesture to offer homemade bread with an oil and balsamic dip to their customers whilst they peruse the menu.
Having never made bread before this came as a new challenge for me, but was not as difficult as I imagined and, it seems, truely welcomed by customers so far.
Look below for the recipe that I use and give it a go yourself!

CRUSTY WHITE BREAD
Ingredients
1 Egg
1 Egg Yolk
150-200/5-7floz luke warm water
500g/1lb 2oz strong white flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp easy-blend dried yeast
25g/1oz Butter
sunflour oil

Method
1. Place the egg and egg yolk in a jug and beat lightly to mix. Add enough luke warm water to make up to 300ml/10floz. Stir well
2. Sift the flour into a bowl and stir in the salt, sugar, and yeast. Add the butter, and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.Make a well in the centre, add the egg mixture and work to a smooth dough.
3. Turn out on to a lightly oiled surface and knead well for about 10 minutes or until smooth. Brush a bowl with oil . Place the dough in the bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
4. Brush a 900g/2lb loaf tin with oil. Turn out the dough and knead again for 1 minute or until smooth. Shape the dough to the size of the tin and place in it. Cover again with a damp tea towel and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes or until it has risen above the tin. Place in a pre heated oven 220C/425F/Gas 7 for approx 30mins until firm and golden brown.Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Below is a batch I made last night.

And here is how we serve it!

If you don't fancy making the bread yourself why not pop along to The Old Red Lion and try some for yourself!