We managed to eat all the first loaf, which I didn't expect. But apart from being very obviously 'artisan' it wasn't that good. But I was quite excited about having another shot at it. I have some four grain flour which was milled reasonably locally and also the end of a bag of white flour. I was more confident about the recipe, and perhaps being a little freer with the water than the first time and going more with my instincts.
As it was mostly whole wheat flour I wasn't expecting it to turn out like tights after kneading, but I was a bit surprised when it could have passed for maybe a new Aran sweater and the dough definitely had some stretchy quality that the last lot didn't have. I gave it plenty of time to rise and we went out and I just left it to fend for itself. When we got back it was deep and spongy.
I knocked it back by poking it with my fingers as the book says. I still wanted to physically thump it, but I poked it quite thoroughly into submission so that it was flat like a pancake.
You have to fold it, roll it and pinch it just so to get it into shape. This is the one process in the 40 pages that he doesn't explain the reason for. In the past, I would just sort of mould it into shape with my hands but apparently that isn't the done thing to do. I thought I would make a baton-shaped loaf and the book says that that is the most complicated to do. Regardless of the difficulty, I had a go and it did make quite a satisfying baton-shape which I am quite proud of.
If this turns out like the last loaf, then it will be a great weapon to attack potential burglars but I am much more optimistic this time. John brought in an old stone flag which must have been on our roof some time in the past and so I put that in the oven to warm up so that this time I can call it stone-baked. At the moment it's in the oven and I am watching anxiously through the glass doors. It looks lovely - hopefully it will taste good too.
Here is the finished loaf fresh from the oven - I only hope it tastes as good as it looks!
I bought the River Cottage Bread Handbook. I didn't really mean to, and optimistically put it into my Amazon Shopping Basket in the hope that one day I would get it. Then John ordered something else and it piggy-backed on to his order. So now I have it for myself.
There are 40 pages devoted to the skill of making a loaf (and yet only 15 to making a clay oven in 3 days...). I have made bread before - indeed my grandfather was a baker so I was taught how to make it by my mother, who had learnt by osmosis some of her father's techniques for kneading. However, this book is nothing like that and I am learning it all from new - which is no bad thing as I never could get the hang of baking white bread.
Armed with a bag of organic unbleached strong white flour (which seems to tick all the boxes) I embarked on my 40 page recipe. I was somewhat disconcerted to find that these 40 pages didn't actually include a recipe at all but it was just a step-by-step account of how to make bread. Some investigation and I found what I was looking for tucked away on page 78. I carefully measured all the ingredients and went in with both hands enthusiastically kneading. This was quite soothing and pleasant for a while, but after about 15 minutes my arms were hurting and it seemed obvious that when I stretched the dough, it would never come out as thin as a pair of tights, as it should. I began to remember nice thick winter 80 denier tights from M and S, but even so it just would stretch obligingly as on the picture. Not only could I not get it down to a pair of tights, I was struggling to get it to look like anything better than an old worn-out Aran sweater. I knew it wasn't right but I just gave up in despair and blamed it on the flour. Luckily, I had used up the last half of the bag and so I can try something else next time.
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| Ready for first rising |
And so the process continued with the kneading and then rising and knocking back. I had always thought you knocked back with your knuckles but I now know better and just poke my fingers into it - but that's not half so satisfying...
I was still worried about the fact that I couldn't stretch it until you could see through it like a pair of tights and so I gave it an extra rising just to be on the safe side. And then I cooked it - and took it out of the oven...
It looked suitably risen and hand-made. Unfortunately, it looked nicer than it was. It's quite dense and so isn't all that comfortable to eat. The troubleshooting bit of the book tells me that it's probably a low gluten flour - and the loaf I made in the machine with the other half of the packet was indeed tasteless and dense in the same way. However, it is eatable (just), and as a first loaf I learnt more about the theory and practice of bread making by having a shot at it - albeit unsuccessfully - than just adding water to a packet in the bread maker. In short - this is the first loaf of many. I am, perhaps, my grandfather's granddaughter after all.
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| Charles George Layley |
Just as a rider - this is my grandfather. But before you panic about the beard and the bread (which could easily get mixed up in all that kneading and knocking back), he's in costume posing for the local rag where he wrote a weekly column as a character called 'Jolly Jarge'. A sort of early blogger really...
What is this obsession with spelt? This strange ingredient has
suddenly appeared on supermarket shelves, presumably in response to
all the food writers who seem to adore what Wikipedia introduces as a
‘hexaploid species of wheat’. According to the same source you’ve been
able to buy spelt from the supermarket for nearly five years now,
although products made from the stuff can only really be bought from
health food shops. I couldn’t wait to try Tristan on the Spelt and
Apple Stars (note that organic baby biscuits are horribly expensive,
even more so when you consider that half the biscuit will end up as a
crumb on your nicely hoovered floor) in the Baby & Toddler Cookbook
and, although my mother was sure that any old flour would do really, I
determined (this time) to follow Hugh’s recipe to the letter. Living
within walking distance of an Asda, Sainsbury’s and 24 Hour Tesco I
thought it would be piece of cake finding what Hugh specified as
‘unrefined spelt flour’. My quest was unsuccessful however, and
although I did manage to find spelt flour at all three supermarkets,
the place to buy ‘unrefined’ spelt flour remained something of a
mystery. Anyway I didn’t need to look any further than Arjuna on
Cambridge’s Mill Road.
Arjuna is the kind of store that I used to run a mile from, assuming
that they only stocked muesli, incredibly expensive organic skincare
products and everything either gluten, wheat or taste free. However on
the day I decided to make the short walk from my house down Mill Road
to Arjuna (note that my previous pram wouldn’t actually fit through
the door very easily so the trip was only really possible when I had
invested in a lightweight buggy) I was in for a huge treat. I spent at
least twenty minutes in there, eyeing up the different kinds of flour,
chocolates, and lovely baby foods (I don’t especially like muesli so
their display was wasted a bit on me). Most things were much cheaper
than in the supermarket too – this was clearly the place to buy herbs
and spices, as well as porridge oats and exotic juices. Of course I
found my wholemeal spelt flour too and, after I had been to buy a
star-shaped cookie cutter (I told you I was following Hugh’s recipe
diligently this time), I rushed home to make the cookies. Tristan
loved them, and I decided to take them to his swimming lesson so he
could share them with his baby friends. They naturally gobbled them
all up so I had to make another batch. Thankfully though I now have
enough unrefined spelt flour to last until he’s old enough to eat and
enjoy custard creams.
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