greedybread's blog

Like Rye breads with that tangy, sour taste?

You will love this one.

You can see the Germanic influence in this dark rye bread from Bolzano.

Don’t forget that rye dough is very sticky and doesn’t give the rise of wheat breads because of less gluten in Rye.

You need to make a starter first that needs to sit for at least 3 hours.

Of course, if you can leave it overnight, it will have a stronger taste.

I left mine 18 hours.

Starter:

5 teaspoons of dried yeast.

1 & 1/2 cups of warm water.

1 tsp molasses, dissolved in the warm water.

2 cups of Rye flour.

Stir your yeast into the molasses warm water.

Stand for about ten minutes and allow to become frothy.

Add in flour and mix well.

Cover and stand at least 3 hours, if not overnight.

Main dough:

1 cup of warm water.

1 Tbsp of malt powder.

2 cups of Rye flour.

4 cups of strong bakers flour.

1 Tbsp of salt.

2 Tsp of fennel seeds.

Cornmeal for dusting.

Add the warm water and malt powder to the starter from yesterday.

Mix your 2 flours, fennel & salt together and add into the starter mix, one cup at a time.

Combine well and knead for about 8 minutes.

It will be very sticky, but will come together and come away from the bowl.

Knead briefly by hand on a lightly floured board or area.

Place in well-greased bowl, cover and leave to double.

Usually 2-3 hours.

Place dough on a lightly floured area and cut in half.

Shape into a rugby ball type shape with a plump middle and pointy ends.

You can do whatever shape you like though, or even buns.

Place dough on a baking tray with paper that has been dusted with cornmeal.

Cover with a tea towel and leave for about 90 minutes.

30 minutes before ready, pre heat the oven to 215 C.

When the bread is ready, poke 4 holes at the top of the bread, in the middle, with a chopstick or thermometer.

Place in the oven.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, dependant on your oven.

Remove from oven and cool on racks.

Just gorgeous, fresh, with a really fruity jam, or a tangy marmalade and lashings of butter!

Avocado, fresh tomato and a slice of cheese, a nice strong cheese.

Salted butter and Sopressa.

Just delicious.

ENJOY, ENJOY, ENJOY!!

http://www.greedybread.com/bread/pane-nero-black-bolzanese-rye-bread/

Thanks to Carol Field, “The Italian Baker”, 2nd ed, 2011.

Wonderful as always:)

Well 3 years on, I decided to do this again and it really shows ...

How much I have learnt about bread, flour and yeast...and myself.

The only thing is now, is my oven is complete crap!!

But i work round it...less top shots:) 

No matter what I do, it burns....tinfoil, lower temp etc....But a new oven will be purchased shortly...

In the mean time....

Enjoy, Enjoy, Enjoy.

This is a serious bread lovers bread!

You need to allow a good day at least but delicious, packed full of flavour, fruit & nuts…

Just divine!! 

Best start at night as it needs overnight 1st proving or at least 8-10 hours to rest.

I would make this in a Panettone mould, or a tubular mould.

I did one brioche mould (above & below) and one panettone mould (below).

What do you need? 

The willpower of Job not to eat it all by yourself!

So without further ado…

2 tsp of dried yeast.

Half a cup of warm water.

Half a cup of Bakers flour.

For dough:

Half a tsp of yeast

1 tbsp honey

1/4 cup of warm water

1 cup castor sugar

3 large eggs

3 cups of Strong bakers flour

Pinch of salt

2 tsp fennel( or anise) seeds

Grated zest of 2 oranges

Grated zest of 2 lemons

160g butter

 Fruit/ nut mix:

1 cup hazelnuts.

1 cup chopped walnuts.

4 dried figs chopped.

1 large cup raisins.

1 tbsp flour.

Stir yeast into warm water and leave to stand for 15 minutes until creamy.

Add flour in yeasty mix , combine well & cover.

Let stand for an hour.

Place in mixing bowl, 2nd amount of yeast, with water and honey.

Allow to stand for 10 minutes until creamy.

Stir in the sugar and eggs, then add in pre ferment.

Add in the zest, fennel, salt and flour.

Mix the butter into dough .

Knead in mixer for 5-6 minutes until smooth but sticky.

Place in a well oiled bowl and cover with gladwrap and leave at room temperature overnight to double in volume.

Lightly turn out dough on lightly floured area and press out the dough.

Toss fruit and nuts in flour and spread 1/3 of fruit etc on the flattened dough.

Roll up dough and flatten again, repeating the above process until all fruit and nuts are incorporated in the dough.

Allow dough to rest ten minutes in between additions of fruit and nuts.

When all fruit is incorporated, place in well oiled mould.

Panettone moulds are good.

But they need to be WELL GREASED!!

Ok, back to recipe…

Cover and allow to rise for 3-4 hours until doubles in size.

Heat oven to 210 celsius and place Mataloc in the oven.

Bake for ten minutes and reduce heat to 190 celsius and cook for another 45-60 minutes.

As soon as you are able….

Enjoy, Enjoy, Enjoy!!

A lick of mascarpone ?

Dont be shy now!!

See the zest and the plump raisins………..

 http://www.greedybread.com/bread/mataloc-xmas-bread-of-lake-como/

 Recipe Adapted from Carol Field’s “The Italian Baker”, 2 Ed, 2011

Let me count the GREEDY ways…

BUNS, BUNS, BUNS…

I challenge you to make all the buns in this post!!

Go on !

Are you baker or mouse???

Bun or no bun?

Greedy or not???

You know you want to!!

CINNAMON STICKY WITH VANILLA CREAM ICING

FRUITY CHELSEA BUNS WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

ROCKING RASPBERRY STICKY BUNS

BROWN BUTTER & VANILLA STICKY BUNS

SUBLIME CARDAMOM & MOLASSES STICKY BUNS

ROSEWATER, PISTACHIO & MARZIPAN STICKY BUNS

CHELSEA BUNS

OOEY GOOEY CINNAMON SWIRL STICKY BUNS

And last of all, although strictly not a sticky bun, a bun none the less!!

ONE A PENNY, TWO A PENNY….HOT CROSS BUNS:)

Hope you enjoy making these as I did eating them!!

Which means you will get triple the pleasure of eating them:)

ENJOY, ENJOY, ENJOY!!

PS: I forgot this hybrid!!

Marvellous Winter Milk Chocca choc and Vanilla Bean sweet buns.

Greetings lovely bready friends:)

It has been almost 12 months since I did a blog post.

I moved from a city of 2 million to a town of 16,000 (at peak times) ...

We lived in a house for the first 7 months (after our house purchase fell through) that had an oven from hell.

Looked like a dream BUT no!! So no baking, in fact limited cooking went on as well:(

We finally found a house we liked enough to buy after 7 months looking BUT the oven is not great...

Its ok, but not at all really a bread oven, hence bread and yeasty things have been scarce.

We will be replacing it at Xmas, so watch this space then....

I still have a few lovelies up my sleeve that have worked in this oven and a few posts that I have not shared from prior...

Today I share with you a favourite and its very versatile to make your own!!

Enjoy, I always love this one...even in my putoo oven:)

 Cinnamon Sticky buns with Vanilla Cream Icing:

Mmmm yum!!

You know I love sticky buns….

The danger is with these lovelies is that one can not just have one!!

Ok, It’s greedy piggy girl who can’t have one…

I just love them but my thighs do not !

So I make them to be eaten asap by greedyboys.

These are BEST eaten on the day …

If you have any left, then call me as they all should be gone!!

No seriously, they are good toasted for brekkie too..If there is any left.

Or in french toast…

STICKY STICKY STICKY

OR FRUITY?

LET US GET YEASTY!!! and greedy….

What will you need??

5 cups of Strong bread flour

3 tsp dried yeast

1 cup of raw or muscovado sugar

1 cup of brown sugar (for filling)

150 gm butter for filling

2 tbsp cinnamon for filling

1 tsp nutmeg for filling

1 tsp star anise for filling

150g butter for the dough

2 eggs

1 & 1/2 cups of milk

pinch of salt

125 g cream cheese

1 & 1/2 cups of icing sugar

2 tsp vanilla essence

1/4 cup milk.

STICKY DOUGH..

READY TO ROLL…

Warm milk and add in  2 tsp of muscovado/raw sugar.

Stir in yeast and allow to become frothy.

Melt butter and pour into yeasty mix along with remaining sugar.

Stir in beaten eggs to yeasty/ butter mix.

Combine flour and salt and then pour in yeasty mix.

Form a dough and knead for about 7 minutes until smooth.

Place in well oiled bowl and cover.

Leave for 2 hours or until doubled in size.

ROLLED OUT!

ADD CINNAMON STICKY MIX.

ROLL UP…I DID HALF WITH RAISINS..

While dough is resting, prepare the filling with butter, spices and sugar.

Beat till a smooth paste and place aside.

Place dough on lightly floured bench and roll out until it is about 45 cms long by 30cms.

Don’t be anal though ok?

A little more or a little less won’t kill it!

Spread filling onto dough as shown above, leaving a little space at the long end of one of them (roll towards this end).

I often will do one half plain ( for boys) and one with nuts/fruits.

From the longest end, roll up until it is quite tight.

SWIRLY..

SNAILS…

READY TO REST..

This recipe will make 12 snails, as I like to call the cut bits.

Cut the roll into 12 pieces BUT if I put fruit on all of it, they will be bulkier.

Place into well-greased tray (as above), leaving room to rise and expand.

Cover and leave for about 90 minutes.

30 minutes before resting time is finished, preheat oven to 180 celsius.

BAKING TIME!!!

ALMOST BAKED!

Place buns into the oven, bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Whilst cooling, make up frosting.

Soften cream cheese and add in icing sugar and whip until smooth.

Add in vanilla and milk.

Pour on buns whilst slightly warm.

Not too warm or it will all melt….

This is a sticky frosting, not a set hard one….

ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY……While they last!

MMMM LOOKING GOOD!

MMMM READY!

A DOLLOP!

JUST GORGEOUS!!

ENJOY!!

Did you just LOOOVVVEEEE these?

Have you tried Chelsea buns?

Vanilla sticky brown butter buns?

Marzipan, Rosewater and pistachio sticky buns?

I LOVE BUNS!!!

TRAYS OF THEM!

www.greedybread.com

t's hard to find a GOOD ciabatta.

Sure, there are lots around BUT are they good?

Mainly no.

The texture and the taste needs to be right and in honesty, it's not the easiest bread to make:)

BUT WELL WORTH IT!!

DELISH!

Normally I use and experiment with my most revered bread baker's recipe, Carol Field's Ciabatta or one of Peter Reinhart's...

BUT this recipe, is the GREEDYBREAD of all Greedybreadness!!

Woo, what a mouthful!!

Fabulicious and all that Greedy stuff!

Please note : this is a 2 day affair:) or at least overnight...no one night stands with this bread!

 I will stop rambling and let you enjoy this baby!!

its full glory!

80% hydration, lots of hydration with this bread.

DO NOT ADD MORE FLOUR, ITS SUPPOSED TO BE VERY GLOOPY!

I am not shouting or think anyone is dumb BUT this is important and I say it because I myself think I know best and have added more flour.

Not a good look:)

What will you need? (in 2 parts)

Pinch of yeast.

200 mls of warm water

3/4 of a cup  of Bread Flour or High protein Flour

1/3 cup of Plain flour

2 tsp of rye flour

2 tsp of wholemeal flour.

Just want to say, if you can get unbleached flour, do so.

Don't want to sound pretentious but it makes for better bread.

If doesn't need to be lovingly hand milled by the monks on some far forgotten Hinterland...

Just unbleached, not golden filagree yeast or anything:)

Unbleached is best for yeasty things:) as bleach plays round with the flour proteins which then affects the bread.

Lesson over, promise!

Starter plus !

Dissolve yeast in the warm water and allow to get frothy.

Mix all flours together in a bowl.

Add in yeasty mix and mix well.

This is quite dry, so don't be alarmed.

Cover and leave for 24-36 hours...

yep, flour the tea towel!

After 24 hours, uncover and get ready to work it!

You will need your biga from above

A pinch of salt

1 tsp of yeast

3/4 cup of warm water

1 tsp malt powder.

1 & 1/4 cup of Bread flour.

bread on the tea towel

Dissolve yeast in the warm water and allow to become frothy as before):

Combine all dry ingredients .

Add yeasty mix to the biga and then add to the dry ingredients.

Use a mixer if possible.

Use the paddle on your mixer, this is VERY VERY hard to knead by hand because it is so wet.

Mix for about 5-6 minutes.

If it seems dry, add a little more water.

Put dough in an oiled bowl and cover.

Turn every 20 minutes for four times and then leave until doubled, usually about 90-120 mins after the last turn.

a wee rest leave

Flour a tea towel and then turn gloopy dough onto the tea towel.

I used the tea towel to work the dough, rolling it from side to side.

You want to stretch it out and then fold it three times.

Take one end, fold in a third, do the other end and then fold on top of one another.

Like an envelope, or a 'slipper'!

Sort of slipper ish?

Flour the top of the dough and put tea towel over it and leave to prove for 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven now to 220-230 Celsius.

I have , as you can see , been using a dutch oven.

The bread is not proved in the dutch oven though.

The bread goes in the dutch oven , minutes before it goes into the oven.

Alternatively if you don't have a dutch oven, when proving is finished, working quickly, place bread onto a baking tray that is well oiled.

Place bread in the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes, depending on your oven.

It needs to be quite brown.

Lid on, in the oven!! No peeking!!

If you use a dutch oven, make sure the lid is on tight.

No peeking for 20 minutes, then remove the lid for final 20 minutes and allow to get brown.

Remove from oven when done and allow to cool on a rack or in the dutch oven first for a bit, then a rack.

This is gorgeous and so nice when warm...

Very crusty crust!

Gorgeous holey crumb.

The holey texture is what you want!

ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY!!

half done...

very nice!

cooling..

yummy..

holey moley

have a slice or three!

lovely...

Adapted ever so slightly from Craig Ponsford original Ciabatta recipe.

Did you like this bread?

Have you tried my other Ciabatta?

Rewena Bread?

or

Garfagnana Potato Bread?

A bit of Kiwi!

Yep, thats right!  ....Don Corleone...

I love Don Corleone...Not Micheal so much but I digress...

What does the Godfather have to do with bread?

Sicily...

Pane di oggi e' dalla Sicilia.

Stupendo, Bellissimo, Sfarzoso.....

amo questo il pane.

Che e' giusto, amo, amo, amo il pane dalla Sicilia.

Urgh my Italian is very very RUSTY!!

Another trip is needeD soon!!

the eye (occhi )

Practice, I will.....I promise before I lose any ability what so ever.

So yes, this yumminess is from Sicily.

It is distinct because it uses a lot of durum wheat flour.

I believe the durum wheat gives it a distinct  taste.

The recipe that I have used allows the durum to brew like a biga for a few days..

Tasty!

You need 2-4 days for this bread.

I will often start it on a Wednesday and we will have it for Saturday dinner.

DO NOT BACK OUT NOW!!!

Well worth the wait!

Lovely and fresh...

When people go "oh white bread , is so crap for you etc etc"...

It makes me angry because homemade white bread cooked with no additives or rubbish is fabulous...

Nothing like the taste...

It is only when we stick rubbish in it.

I love grain and rye breads too but there is nothing like a fresh white bread.

Anyhow without any further blithering....

the dough....

WHAT WILL YOU NEED?

For the starter...

1 cup of durum wheat flour (semola)

1 cup of bread flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dried yeast

1 cup, maybe more of warm water to make a sticky dough.

For the bread:

All of the starter

2 cups of durum wheat flour  (semola)

1 & 1/2 cups of bread flour.

1 tsp salt

2 tsp dried yeast

4 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp honey

1 and 1/2 cups of warm water.

Some sesame seeds....

My sons hate sesame seeds so I had to use poppy seeds which they will TOLERATE...

stretching it...

shape it..

Mix all your dry starter ingredients together.

Add in the warm water, forming a dough and knead the dough for 6 minutes.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover, leave for 90 minutes.

Remove dough from bowl and knead a little to knock it back.

Return to the covered bowl and place in the fridge.

The minimum time is one night but I like to leave it for 2 nights...

Flavour develops more...

mafalda

sesame seeded mafalda

plain occhi

Now the bread:)

Take the starter from the fridge and hour or so before you want to use it.

Warm the water, add in the honey and dissolve it and then stir in the yeast.

Let it become frothy..usually 10 minutes, add in the Olive oil.

Add this yeasty mix to the original biga and combine well.

Mix all the dry ingredients together and then add in the above wet ingredients, forming a dough.

Knead for about 8 minutes, you really need to work this as durum is a hard wheat.

Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave for 2 hours.

ready!

ready!

double trouble

Remove from the bowl and divide into 2 pieces.

I will usually roll each piece to be 30-35cms long.

I will make the occhi(eye) by rolling in one end to half way and then repeating on the other side.

The Mafalda, you do by giving it a zigzag shape and then pulling the tail up through the middle of the bread.

Place bread on a greased tray that is sprinkled with semolina.

I will then lightly brush with water and sprinkle on the seeds if any.

Cover the trays with plastic bags and tie tightly.

Place in the fridge overnight, at least 12 hours .

slice it real good!

Occhi up close

gorgeous crumb

Remove from fridge and allow to come back to room temperature for about 90-120 minutes.

Preheat the oven after 90 minutes to 245 Celsius.

When bread is ready, place in the oven.

Spray the oven walls to create the moist atmosphere we want to get that great crust.

Close the door and repeat 2 more times in the next 5 minutes.

Turn oven down to 210 celsius and bake for 15 minutes.

Turn the trays around, turn heat down to 200 celsius and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Try to restrain yourself for 45 minutes before slicing the bread.

Slice and ENJOY, ENJOY, ENJOY!!

Gorgeous with Fig jam or chutney & cheese or just alone...

Cold meats, salad....tasty:)

a little butter?

yum...

yummy..

full frontal..

white bread??

the occhi..

Did you love this bread?

Have you tried the Pugliese?

Or the ciabatta?

Maybe the focaccia?

delish!

To make this bread I have over time adapted recipes from 'The Bread Bakers Apprentice by Peter Reinhart & "The Italian Baker' by Carol Field.

Grazie to both for their bread wisdom.

http://greedybread.com/on-this-dayi-give-my-only-daughter/

This has to be one of the best breads I have ever tasted.

This bread will blow you away!!

The texture is cake like but it's not.

It is just gorgeous, a crumbly flakey crust and crumb.

Sweetness comes mostly from the raisins.

Plus you can adapt the recipe and play around with it as I have done.

In this one, I added almonds and mixed spice but my first one, I used cinnamon,raisins and cranberries mixed up.

NB: DO NOT EAT THE BUTTERED ROLLED OATS...SERIOUS, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO STOP!!

I know, you are thinking " as if"  or "Ohhhhh Yuck".....

BUT so did I and curiosity got the better of me and it was all downhill from there...

step away!

loaf style..

free form:)

zeee dough..

What will you need?

1 cup of water warm

1 cup of raisins

1 cup of flaked or slivered almonds (or another fruit or nut)

1 & 1/2 cups of hot milk

200g butter

1 cup of rolled oats

2 tsp of mixed spice

1 tsp salt

6 tbsp muscovado sugar

15 g dried yeast

2 cups of wholemeal flour

2 cups of strong bakers flour.

draining...

mmm buttered oats....

WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO DO??????

Heat the milk to hot and then melt the butter in the hot milk, then stir in the oats.

Warm the water and place raisins in the warm water.

Leave both for an hour.

Stir the oats occassionally...

YOU ARE EATING THEM AREN'T YOU????

Drain the raisins and leave to the side.

Warm the raisin water and stir in the muscovado and the yeast.

Leave ten minutes to froth up and feed!

Put all the dry ingredients (flour, salt, spices) in a bowl and mix through.

putting in the fruit and nuts

Pour oat buttery milk mix and yeasty mix into the dry ingredients.

Form a sticky dough and knead for 5-6 minutes.

Add in the fruit and/or nuts and knead for another 2-3 minutes.

Remember to lightly dust the fruit/nuts with flour before putting in the dough.

Place in an oiled bowl and cover, leaving for an hour.

doughy...

Remove from bowl and place on a lightly floured bench.

Knead slightly and knock back.

Cut into two pieces and form your shapes or place in a well-greased loaf tin.

Cover with a damp cloth and leave for 90 minutes.

20 minutes before time is up, preheat oven to 180 Celsius.

Uncover, place dough in the oven and bake for 45 minutes.

You want it to be golden brown but not too brown.

resting....

oven time...

ready!!

boule style...

Leave in loaf tin and/or baking tray for ten minutes.

Transfer after this to a wire rack and cool .

Slice when slightly warm or cold....

Gorgeous!!!

ENJOY, ENJOY, ENJOY!!

lovely and lots...

up close.....

Recipe adapted from "The Secret of Everything" by Barbara O'Neal.

There are other wonderful recipes in this book as well:)

Did you like this bread?

Have you tried our fudges?

fudgey wudgey...

It’s hard to find a GOOD ciabatta.

Sure, there are lots around BUT are they good?

Mainly no.

The texture and the taste needs to be right and in honesty, it’s not the easiest bread to make:)

BUT WELL WORTH IT!!

DELISH!

Normally I use and experiment with my most revered bread baker’s recipe, Carol Field’s Ciabatta or one of Peter Reinhart‘s…

BUT this recipe, is the GREEDYBREAD of all Greedybreadness!!

Woo, what a mouthful!!

Fabulicious and all that Greedy stuff!

Please note : this is a 2 day affair:) or at least overnight…no one night stands with this bread!

 I will stop rambling and let you enjoy this baby!!

ITS FULL GLORY!

80% hydration, lots of hydration with this bread.

DO NOT ADD MORE FLOUR, ITS SUPPOSED TO BE VERY GLOOPY!

I am not shouting or think anyone is dumb BUT this is important and I say it because I myself think I know best and have added more flour.

Not a good look:)

What will you need? (in 2 parts)

Pinch of yeast.

200 mls of warm water

3/4 of a cup  of Bread Flour or High protein Flour

1/3 cup of Plain flour

2 tsp of rye flour

2 tsp of wholemeal flour.

Just want to say, if you can get unbleached flour, do so.

Don’t want to sound pretentious but it makes for better bread.

If doesn’t need to be lovingly hand milled by the monks on some far forgotten Hinterland…

Just unbleached, not golden filagree yeast or anything:)

Unbleached is best for yeasty things:) as bleach plays round with the flour proteins which then affects the bread.

Lesson over, promise!

STARTER PLUS !

Dissolve yeast in the warm water and allow to get frothy.

Mix all flours together in a bowl.

Add in yeasty mix and mix well.

This is quite dry, so don’t be alarmed.

Cover and leave for 24-36 hours…

YEP, FLOUR THE TEA TOWEL!

After 24 hours, uncover and get ready to work it!

You will need your biga from above

A pinch of salt

1 tsp of yeast

3/4 cup of warm water

1 tsp malt powder.

1 & 1/4 cup of Bread flour.

BREAD ON THE TEA TOWEL

Dissolve yeast in the warm water and allow to become frothy as before):

Combine all dry ingredients .

Add yeasty mix to the biga and then add to the dry ingredients.

Use a mixer if possible.

Use the paddle on your mixer, this is VERY VERY hard to knead by hand because it is so wet.

Mix for about 5-6 minutes.

If it seems dry, add a little more water.

Put dough in an oiled bowl and cover.

Turn every 20 minutes for four times and then leave until doubled, usually about 90-120 mins after the last turn.

A WEE REST LEAVE

Flour a tea towel and then turn gloopy dough onto the tea towel.

I used the tea towel to work the dough, rolling it from side to side.

You want to stretch it out and then fold it three times.

Take one end, fold in a third, do the other end and then fold on top of one another.

Like an envelope, or a ‘slipper’!

SORT OF SLIPPER ISH?

Flour the top of the dough and put tea towel over it and leave to prove for 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven now to 220-230 Celsius.

I have , as you can see , been using a dutch oven.

The bread is not proved in the dutch oven though.

The bread goes in the dutch oven , minutes before it goes into the oven.

Alternatively if you don’t have a dutch oven, when proving is finished, working quickly, place bread onto a baking tray that is well oiled.

Place bread in the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes, depending on your oven.

It needs to be quite brown.

LID ON, IN THE OVEN!! NO PEEKING!!

If you use a dutch oven, make sure the lid is on tight.

No peeking for 20 minutes, then remove the lid for final 20 minutes and allow to get brown.

Remove from oven when done and allow to cool on a rack or in the dutch oven first for a bit, then a rack.

This is gorgeous and so nice when warm…

Very crusty crust!

Gorgeous holey crumb.

The holey texture is what you want!

ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY!!

HALF DONE…

VERY NICE!

COOLING..

YUMMY..

HOLEY MOLEY

HAVE A SLICE OR THREE!

LOVELY…

Adapted ever so slightly from Craig Ponsford original Ciabatta recipe.

Did you like this bread?

Have you tried my other Ciabatta?

Rewena Bread?

or

Garfagnana Potato Bread?

A BIT OF KIWI!

Certainly getting Figgy with it!

Using up my Figs from Te Mata Figs that I purchased at the Auckland food show yesterday.

Very Figgilicious!!

No yucky preservatives or additives...Just beautiful figs!!

Heaven, Heaven, I am in heaven:)

Lovely Figs...mmmm

It would have been easy just to EAT them all, very easy.

But I decided to be ungreedy and share the figs by baking them in a bread.

Not all mind you, I saved a few for myself.

My last 2 fig breads , Fig with Walnuts and Aniseed (sweet but  nice with cheese! depends on your taste)

Or the Original Fig bread  ( sweet or savoury) were made with white flours, so I thought a whole wheat flour would be nice.

You could use either of these two recipes as a template , if you feel ok, creating your own recipes.

Use half white and half wheat and you want a little more water and the dough to be a wee bit wetter as whole wheat can make it drier:)

A wee bit more yeast as well is needed and malt powder too.

I also added some Billingtons Dark Muscavado in the dry mix, just half a cup, to add to the flavours when I mixed through the spices with the dry ingredients.

Remember lightly dust the figs with flour before adding into the dough):

Hearty and tasty, a more hardy bread for winter!

Chop them up...

THE FIGS!!

Ready to prove

Ready for knockbacks!!

one becomes two!

I loved these figs because they weren't all sticky and sickly sweet.

Nothing wrong with sticky but overly sweet with added sugars??? Blurgh!!

I could easily eat these instead of lollies)

Nice and chewy but not over the top.

Their jam is scrummy, and not overly sweet, whihc is great.

You taste the fruit, not the sugar.

figged out!

I was a bit naughty and had fig jam on fig bread!

Talk about getting GREEDY!

ready....cooling..

Up Close and personal

wheaty!

first slice

very figgy!

close up!

figs galore

a wee bit of butter!

Strong cup of tea, feet up and LARGE GREEDY slice of bread!!

Nice without butter,  fresh as...

Nice toasted...with a little butter or heaven forbid clotted cream!

Get outta here!

ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY!!

P.S Full and proper greedy recipe to come:)

See how you go with amending the other recipes:)

Lovely Figs...mmmm

Tomorrow I am off to the Foodshow again...@ the icook Kitchen Stall.

More figs and the other Fig and orange jam, I will buy, me thinks):

I think I will teach this bread at my Bread workshop @ Parnell Trust at the end of August.

Why not come and join me?

You too can be Figgy!

Te Mata Figs

Yummilicious!! NZ Classic…Cream buns… 

Gorgeous and fresh!

Bite!

Greedyboy approved!

Cream Buns…

An old classic memory from most of our childhoods here in NZ.

Still sold today, not quite the same, but pretty good.

A Bakery just outside of Manganui does a mean cream bun..

But if you feel like some at home..

Why not make them?

Pretty quick and easy for a yeasty beasty:)

And if you have any left over uniced or uncreamed, great for the next day brekkie.

Lovely slightly sweet breakfast roll.

Yumbo, what more can I say?

Feeling Greedy???

Cream bun dough…

What will you need?

1 bottle of cream , 300 ml, should do it.

4 cups of Bread Flour

3 tsp of dried yeast

1 cup of milk

1/2 cup of warm water

1/2 cup of raw sugar

100g of butter

 egg yolk and a little milk for egg wash

pinch of salt.

Jam

Icing sugar for dusting.

Ready to prove

Bit longer!

Ready for the oven…

Place flour and salt in a bowl and rub in butter until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Add milk and water together and warm slightly.

Add in sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved, heat a little more if need be.

Add in yeast and allow to stand until frothy, usually ten minutes.

Add frothy yeasty mix to the dry ingredients and form a dough.

Knead for about 6 minutes until smooth and pliable.

This is a very soft dough.

Place in a lightly oiled bowl and leave , covered for an hour.

all done

cooling…

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured bench.

Cut dough into 12-16 pieces and roll into balls and place in a greased tray.

I used a deep dish roasting pan, the one I use for Chelsea buns.

The  buns will all come together when proving and become pull apart buns which is what you want:)

Plus nothing beats the old roasting dish.

Brush the buns with egg wash (egg yolk and a little milk) and cover lightly with a tea towel and leave for 40 minutes, until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 210 Celsius.

ready for the cream and jam:)

From all angles…

Place the buns in the oven and bake for 6 minutes at 210 Celsius.

Turn down the heat to 180 Celsius and make for a further 10-15 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes then place on wire racks.

Allow to cool fully before icing.

full on!

another angle?

Once the buns are cool, slice on a slight diagonal (as shown above).

Whip 300 mls of cream.

I left the cream plain but you can put icing sugar or vanilla in it.

Pipe the cream into the sliced bun cavity and gently press lid down.

Place a dollop of jam on the bun as shown above and dust with icing sugar.

Voila….As good as the local bakery BUT better:)

ENJOY, ENJOY, ENJOY while you can.

side on?

back up!

Another?

Feeling a little bunish?

Have you tried?

Rocking Raspberry Buns

Rosewater, Marzipan and Pistachio Sticky Buns

Brown Butter, Vanilla and Choc sticky buns

Rocking raspberry