Bread point

Short Bread

2011-05-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

Dating back to the 12th Century, short bread became well know in the 16th century when petty cots - a variation with caraway seeds - was the prefered dessert of Mary, Queen of Scots. For a long time this was a rare desert because is was expensive. Baked at a low temperature to avoid browning, when cooked, it is nearly white, or a light golden brown with a perfect crumbly texture. There are three classic shapes: wedges from a round shape (petticoat tails), roud biscuits (shortbread rounds) or long cuts (fingers).

INGREDIENTS:

180 g white flour
6 ml salt
60 g sugar
120 g butter
30 g brown sugar for dusting

1. Mix the flour with salt and sugar, than mix in the butter.

2. Press the mixture into a round pan (diameter approx 20 cm).

3. Preheat the oven to 150 ° C.

4. Cut dough into slices placed in the pan when done. Prick with a fork from place to place.

6. Bake at 150 ° C for 50 minutes.

7. Let cool for 10 minutes and then cut and take out the slices.

Printer friendly downlodable recipe in English, at this link:

Short Bread En

Bara Brith

2011-05-07T12:28:00.000-07:00

Bara Birth is welsh for ``Speckled Bread``. This welsh dried fruit cake was The original Bara Brith was made by adding a handful of dried fruit into the last bread dough of the day (on a bread baking day) and then after baking it was coated in honey. Sometimes served as a tea cake, this is actually a bread and is perfect served with salty butter or cedar cheese.

INGREDIENTS:

450 g white flour
6 ml salt
20 ml dry yeast
180 ml milk
120 g brown sugar
130g butter
300 g currants
60 g orange and lemon peel
1 egg

1. Dissolve the yeast in warm milk with a teaspoon of sugar. Leave to ferment for 15 minutes.

2. Sift flour into a large bowl.

3. Cut 100 g butter into little strips or cubes.

4. Mix butter with flour and then stir in sugar composition, dried fruit, and lemon zest.

5.Add the yeast and the egg, beaten.

6. Knead until dough becomes elastic and smooth. Let rise for 90 minutes.

7. Lightly knead the dough once and spread in a sheet the lengths of the tin and three times wide.

8. Preheat the oven to 190°C.

9. Butter a baking tray. Fold in the dough sheet in three and put the tray with dough wrist at the bottom of the tin.

10. Bake for 50 minutes at 190 ° C degrees. Let cool before serving.

Printer friendly downlodable recipe in English, at this link:

Bara Brith En

Walnut Bread

2011-04-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

French, Italian or English - Pain aux Noix, Pane alle Noci or Walnut Bread - this bread is a perfumed delight accompanying chesses or served as an appetizer (simple or toasted with foie gras!). The bread is slightly sweetened with sugar, honey or syrup and for best results the starter is a sourdough. Of course, there is a French purplish-blue version made with … red wine. Parfait!

Ingredients:
360g whole meal flour
100 g white flour
20 g yeast
280 g milk
8 ml salt
50 g butter
15 ml brown sugar
200 g walnuts

1. In a bowl mix the flour, sugar and salt together.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

3. Dissolve the yeast in warm milk. Pour over flour and mix with the melted butter in the flour.

4. Stir everything together and knead for 8-10 minutes to get elastic non sticky dough. Let rise for 30 minutes.

5. On a lightly floured surface roll the dough and sprinkle over with walnuts.

6. Roll the dough like a roll pad and let it rise for 30 minutes.

7. From the dough roll: either a log and join the end to make a ring, or (for the easy version) two balls.

8. Leave on the baking sheet to rise for 30 minutes.

9. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees.

10. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Printer friendly downlodable recipe in English, here:

Walnut Bread En

Onion and bacon bread

2011-04-30T10:33:00.000-07:00

For the French and German regions of Alsace, Rhenish Hesse, Palatinate, Franconia, and Swabia this bread comes under different forms and recipe versions, varying from pies to onion topping breads or quiches. Prepared in the colder months of the year, it is served with the ``New wine``of the year. Some variations are cooked in combination with seeds – such as caraway – or nuts – such as wall nuts.

Ingredients:
700 g white flour
20 g yeast
200g butter
7 ml salt
350 ml milk
120 g bacon
120 g onion
4 eggs
Pepper
300 g walnuts (or 120g caraway)

1. Sift flour into a bowl with the salt and pepper.

2. Dissolve yeast in a cup with 100 ml of tepid milk. Add together with the remaining milk to a well in the center of the flour. Mix in a little of the flour and leave covered in a warm place to ferment for 30 minutes.

3. Fry the bacon together with the onion. Let cool.

4. Beat the eggs and add to the dough composition together with 150g of butter.

5. Knead for 5 to 8 minutes to get soft dough. Let the dough rise for 45-60 minutes.

6. Add to the dough composition the onion and bacon with nuts (or seeds). Knead to homogenize the composition and let rise for 45-60 minutes.

7. Preheat the oven to 200 C.

8. In a butter greased baking mold, place dough and bake at 200C for 45-50 minutes.

9. Let cool on a wire rack before serving.

Printer friendly downlodable recipe in English, here:

Onion and Bacon Bread En

Grissini with sesame seeds

2011-04-30T04:10:00.000-07:00

Originating from Turin, grissini are breadsticks simple or coated with sesame or poppy seeds or sprinkled in gritty salt. The name comes from ghersin, a simple low fat white Italian bread, that has borough the dough formula for grissini – meaning ``little ghersin bread``. They make for great appetizers, simple or half coated in Prosciutto , a cheese and herbs paste or caramelized onions. Because of the light, simple dough uncoated grissini are sometimes used in wine tastings as a palate cleanser.

Ingredients:
230 g white flour
8 g salt
15 g yeast
150 ml water
30 ml olive oil
300g sesame

1. Mix the yeast with lukewarm water.
2. In a large pot sift the flour.

3. Add the yeast and water, olive oil and salt.

4. Knead for 8-10 minutes.

5. Spread the dough into a rectangle 14 x 20 cm. Let rise for 1 hour.

6. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

7. Cut dough into two strips of 7 / 10 cm, then into strips of 7 / 1 cm. Roll each strip to get 30 inches long strips.

8. Roll the strips in sesame seeds and place on the baking sheets.

9. Let the grissini grow for another 10 minutes.

10. Bake at 200 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

11. Chill before serving.

Printer friendly downlodable recipe in English, here:

Grissini En

Potato bread

2011-04-11T13:14:00.000-07:00

Printer friendly downlodable recipe in English, here:
Pain Aux Noix ENGL

Ingredients:

300 g potatoes, peeled and diced
10g dried yeast
350g white bread flour
115g whole meal flower
2.5 ml caraway seeds
10 ml salt
25 g butter

+ :
1 Large mixing bowl
Measuring cup
Scale
Baking tray
Baking sheet
Knife (sharp)
Oven
etc.

1.Boil the potatoes in plain, unsalted water. Drain and reserve 150 ml of the cooking water. Mash the potatoes and leave to cool.

2.Mix the yeast with warm water and leave aside for 5 minutes.

3. Mix together the butter, caraway, salt, potatoes, add the yeast.

4.Gradually incorporate flower to form a soft dough.

5.When all the ingredients are mixed in, knead for 10 more minutes.

6.Then set aside, covered with a cloth and leave to rise in a warm place for 60 minutes.

7. Turn out on a lightly flowered surface and knead for 3 minutes. Place in a tray, on a baking sheet.

8.Cover the tray and let rise for another 30 minutes. Preheat the oven at 200°C

9.Before baking, slash the top in 4 diagonals with a sharp knife.

10.Bake for approx 30 minutes. After baking let cool.