simple bread rolls

I absolutely love that after years of dreading the thought of attempting to bake bread, I've finally faced my fears and got the hang of it

These bread rolls are a great way to start off with if you want to ease your way into bread making. 

The amount below makes up either 12 small bread rolls, perfect for soup or as sandwiches for little children or 10 slightly larger rolls for burger style sandwiches.

You will need 

500g bread flour

1 tsp active dried yeast 

1 1/2 tsp caster sugar

1 tbsp soft butter

1 tsp salt

280-300ml lukewarm water

•In a bowl mix together the sugar, salt & yeast. Add the butter rub into the flour

•Slowly add the water in mixing continuously to form a soft, slighty sticky dough

•Knead in your electric mixer with the dough hook for about 6 minutes or by hand on a lightly floured work surface for 8-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic

•Place into a clean lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled.

•Once doubled, take the dough out and on a lightlt floured suface gently knead it to knock the air out for a couple of minutes

Divide into 12 equal portions and form into round balls  - perfect size for eating with soup or smaller sandwiches for kids

•For larger bread rolls ( more suited for burgers ) divide into 10 rounds... place the balls of dough onto a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper, cover and leave to prove until doubled in size .. the balls should just be touching each other

Place in the oven at 200c for 20 mins for the small rolls .. 30-40 minutes for the bigger rolls or till risen, doubled  and golden all over. The base of the rolls should sound hollow when they are ready. Use as desired 

Killing 2 birds with one stone

For this recipe post I thought I would kill the proverbial 2 birds with my proverbial stone - in this case, 2 recipes in one post as the main ingredients and the basic steps are identical

The 2 recipes are pizza dough and naan. Both of these use the basic method of a simple bread dough, left to rise long and slow giving you an almost over fermented dough producing lots of lovely air pockets which results in a delicious deep pan style pizza base or fluffy beans perfect with whatever curry you desire


To make 3 pizza bases OR 4 naan you will need:

530g bread flour
7g dry quick active yeast
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
10 - 12 fl oz lukewarm water

• Start by placing your flour in a bowl ,then to one side add your salt and sugar. To the opposite side add your yeast, and pour the oil into the middle

• Slowly begin to add in the water, mixing with your hand. When the dough comes together you should have a soft and slightly sticky dough. Ensure all the flour has been incorporated, use a spatula or bread scraper to bring the dough together as it may be difficult to handle, and place in a large clean lightly oiled bowl.

• Cover  the dough with cling film, and leave to rise for at least 4 hours. Ideally you can prep this the night before, leave covered in the fridge and then remove 4 hours before you need it. If you are short on time, leave the dough for a minimum of 2 hours.

• Once the dough has proved, it will have almost tripled in volume and it will have lots of lovely air pockets ready to turn into delicious naan  or perfect pizza






To make the naan:

• Start by lightly flouring your work surface, and as gently as possible put the dough from the bowl onto the work surface.

• Divide the dough into 4 equal peices, and gently roll each peice into a smooth ball and leave to sit for 10 minutes.

 • Place a large non stick pan on a medium heat and turn your grill on full.

• Take one of balls of dough and carefully with a rolling pin roll the dough out into a 1/2 inch thick circle, then carefully lift the rolled out dough  & onto the pan to cook the bottom of the naan.  You'll know the bottom is cooked when the top begins to form bubbles on top.*

• Transfer the naan to a baking tray and place under the grill and leave until the top begins to turn light - golden brown and very slightly crisps up. Remove from the grill, brush lightly with butter.

• Repeat the process with the remaining dough, and keep the cooked naan warm by covering with foil & serve as needed.


To make the pizza bases:

• Start by preheating your oven to 200c ( fan assisted )

• Divide the dough into 3 peices, take one of the balls of dough and roll out to your desired thickness - I rolled mine out to about 8 inches wide, placed it onto a lightly floured baking tray then used my finger tips to press out the edges of the dough till the base was about 10 inches wide.

• Once you have your base rolled out to your desired thickness it is just a case of adding whatever toppings you like - whether you want to keep it classic and stick to a margherita or mix it all up it's up to you

• Place your pizza in the oven for 12- 14 minutes or until the pizza has risen, almost doubled in size and th crust is lightly golden and tuck in immediately*










*  I use a fish slice to check the bases. They should be light in colour and not soggy 

Chilli & cumin plait loaf

I think it's safe for me to say now that bread and I are friends and I'm finally getting a bit more confident in experimenting with flavours and ingredients. After making my simple bloomer loaf   I thought I'd be a bit brave and experiment with some Asian flavours added into it and try a plaited version.

With my first attempt I used just white bread flour but thought it could with a bit more depth so i switched half of the white flour for wholemeal. The wholemeal definitely improved the flavour but i think it also along with the addition of the cheese slowed down the proving time - maybe any of you that are more experienced in bread making could shed light on this.

After a couple of attempts to get the amount right with the spices, I finally got a version i was happy with and it went really well with some roasted red pepper soup, and it tasted even better the next day with just a little hummus as a snack

So here is my recipe for my chilli and cumin 3 strand plaited loaf:

250g white bread flour
250g wholemeal bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp dried yeast
3 tbsp olive oil
11/2 tsp red chilli flakes
2 tsp cumin seeds
A good handful of extra mature cheddar cheese
2 tsp black onion seeds
315-320 ml cold water

• Start by adding the flour to a bowl, add the yeast to one side, and the salt opposite to the yeast - this stops them from interacting and activating the yeast before the dough is formed. Add the chilli flakes, grated cheese and the cumin seeds into the bowl
• Pour the oil into the middle of the flour. Slowly add in the water and mix all the ingredients together using your hands - you may not need all the water.
• Keep adding the water until you get a soft and slightly sticky - but not wet dough.
• Lightly oil your work surface - i used 2 tablespoons. Turn out the dough and use both hands to knead the dough till it's smooth. It may take a little longer than the dough for the simple bloomer due to the cheese and cumin seeds.
• Place the dough back into a clean bowl, and cover with lightly oiled cling film, (this helps the dough to stop sticking to the cling film if it touches)
  and leave it to rise till doubled in size - it took almost 2 hours which was possibly due to my kitchen being quite cold at the time and the extra ingredients adding a bit more weight to the dough
• Once the dough has doubled in size, knock the dough back by gently punching the dough to knock the air out.
• Lightly flour your work surface and knead the dough again for a couple of minutes, then divide into 3 equal pieces
• Roll each piece into a sausage shape about 30cm long. Line the 3 together, onto a grease proof lined baking tray, each with about a finger space gap. Gently bring the top of all 3 together and press them together so that they all stick together
• To make the plait, take the right strand and diagonally place it over the middle strand. Then take the left strand and again diagonally place over the middle strand. Repeat with the right strand and again with the left and keep on doing so until you reach the bottom of the strands. Pinch the 3 strands together at the bottom and tuck the end of the plait underneath.
• Brush the top of the plait with a little water and sprinkle the black onion seeds all over the loaf. Leave the loaf to prove again till doubled in size.
• Preheat your oven to 200c, and bake for 25 minutes then lower the temperature to 180c and bake for a final 15 minutes. Once cooked it sound hollow when you tap the base, leave to cool on a wire rack and serve with soup or as desired.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Simple bloomer loaf

You know when you love to bake pretty much anything, but there's always the one thing that you just cant seem to crack ? Well for me it's been bread, to the point of being in tears of frustration at something always going wrong and in the end just keeping well away from it ...


And then came my application for The Great British Bake Off. Having applied for the 3rd time this year, and thinking like i did the previous year,  that i wouldn't hear anything, I didn't even give practicing it as a thought just in case.

But low and behold I got the call to go to the first round of auditions and just as much as i were dreading it, the applicants were required to bake a loaf of bread. To cut a long story short I  have never baked as much bread in those 2 months of the application process than i have in my whole life and thankfully nearly 6 months on i can say that bread and i are friends, and no longer sworn enemies.


So if the thought of baking a loaf fills you with sheer dread (like it did me) give this simple bloomer a go.. It's a small loaf so the dough is easy to work with, and cooks in less than an hour so you're not waiting for what feels like forever for it to cook


To make a simple bloomer loaf you will need:

500g bread flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp dried yeast
3 tbsp olive oil
315-320 ml cold water

• Start by adding the flour to a bowl, add the yeast to one side, and the salt opposite to the yeast - this stops them from interacting and activating the yeast before the dough is formed.
• Pour the oil into the middle of the flour. Slowly add in the water and mix all the ingredients together using your hands. 
• Keep adding the water until you get a soft and slightly sticky - but not wet dough.
• Lightly oil your work surface - i used 2 tablespoons. Turn out the dough and use both hands to knead the dough till it's smooth and shiny.
• Place the dough back into a clean bowl, and cover with lightly oiled cling film, (this helps the dough to stop sticking to the cling film if it touches)
  and leave it to rise till doubled in size - mine took just over an hour and a half  
• Once the dough has doubled in size, knock the dough back by gently punching the dough to knock the air out.
• Lightly flour your work surface and knead the dough again for a couple of minutes, and roll into a chunky baton/ cylinder shape or if you find it easier just into a round, and tuck in the edges neatly.
• Place the shaped dough onto a greaseproof lined baking tray. Cover again with either cling film or a large clean carrier bag and leave again to rise till doubled in size - The second prove took 2 hours for me*
• Once your bloomer has doubled in size, sprinkle the top with water, then a little flour and gently rub all over the top being careful to not knock out the air. Then cut 3-4 diagonal slashes across the top about 1-2 cm deep.
• Preheat your oven to 200c, and place a tray of water at the bottom of your oven, this helps the bread to get a nice crusty top, put the loaf in and bake for 25 mins, then lower the temperature to 180c and bake for a final 15 minutes. Once cooked it sound hollow when you tap the base.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  * With the proving of your dough, it may take longer or quicker depending on how cold or warm your environment is. My kitchen is very cool first thing in the morning which is when i normally start my dough for any bread 

Garlic Naan

My last post was a recipe for Peshwari Naan a delicious twist on the staple plain naan. Tonight it's another naan recipe which is very much loved amongst not only family members but pretty much all my friends.

I know that whenever I'm out for a meal with my friends, without fail, garlic naan has to be ordered, no matter if we've ordered other varieties, and there's always a battle for the last piece !

This recipe will make 4-6 naan and they literally will go with any curry whatsoever:

2 fl oz warm water

pinch of sugar

1 tsp dried active yeast

500g plain/bread flour

whole bulb of garlic (crush the cloves)

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp garlic powder

50g melted butter

• In a small bowl mix the yeast sugar and warm water together, leave for about 10 minutes for the yeast water to become frothy
• In another bowl, put together the flour, salt and crushed garlic cloves, add in the yeast mix and enough warm water to make a soft dough
• turn out onto floured surface and knead it together for about 10 minutes
• Place the dough back in the bowl, cover and leave to rise for about 2 hours. If you're a bit short of time, you can add in a pinch of baking powder to speed up the process
• Put a non stick pan on your hob to a medium heat and turn your grill on full
• In a small pan, melt the butter on a low heat and stir in the garlic powder 
• Divide and roll out your dough into 4 balls, roll one out into a circle about a quarter of an inch thick
• Place onto your non stick pan and cook, just as in step 7 for Peshwari Naan
• Place the naan under the grill, to lightly brown the top, when you take the naan off the grill, lightly brush the top with the melted garlic butter and serve 

Peshwari Naan

Naan's are a real favourite of mine.. wether it's the staple plain, the moreish garlic or keema filled. Naan's to me always add that bit of decadence to any meal compared to your everyday chapati. 

I can remember growing up  whenever we would have guests over for dinner, mum would always get out her tandoor out and I'd know that naan's were on the menu. 

Peshwari naan are a real twist on the basic recipe .. this one has sultanas  added in for a sweet bite, Granny Smiths for added tang which goes quite well with a fiery curry, and flaked almonds for added crunch. I could happily eat this with nothing but a good helping of a hot pickle !

This is a recipe for 4-6 naans, 1 per person:

2 fl oz warm water
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp active dried yeast
500g bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 fl oz natural yogurt
2 oz raisins
2 granny smith apples (grated)
2 tbsp desiccated or grated coconut
1/4 pint tepid water

• Combine the water, sugar and yeast in a bowl and leave for about 10-15 minutes for the mixture to become frothy
• In another bowl, place the flour, salt, grated apple, raisins & coconut and make a well in the centre. Add the yogurt to the yeast mixture, then into the flour till combined. Add the tepid water in slowly (you may not use all of it) and mix to form a soft dough
• Turn the dough out on to a floured surface, and knead for about 10 minutes till it's soft and elastic.
• place back into a slightly oiled bowl, (the oil prevents the dough from sticking) cover and leave to prove in a warm place for about 2 hours or till it's doubled in size
• Next, switch your grill on, full whack to heat, and on your hob,on a medium heat, heat up a non stick pan up while you roll out your naan
• Divide your dough into 4-6 balls on a floured surface,roll one ball out to about 20 cm or 1/4 inch thickness and pull one end gently, your naan should resemble a tear drop shape.
• Prick the naan gently with a fork, brush lightly with melted butter and place into the non stick pan. The top side of the naan should begin to form bubbles as the underside is cooked
• Next place the naan under your grill till the top begins to bubble and lightly brown, you should get brown 'spots' this should take no more than a couple of minutes. Brush lightly with a little melted butter & serve
• Repeat steps 6 + 7 for the rest of the dough, garnish with fresh chopped coriander and serve