OMG Bread

bouncy light wholemeal bread packed with seeds. How can this be?

When I first created this bread I wanted something packed with seeds and Omegas but also something that tasted good and was not akin to eating “knitted sandals” (complete with gritty bits). So after a fair bit of experimenting I have a bread that lasts days and days without going dry (helped by the oils in the seeds), slows your blood sugar spikes down, tastes great and has a satisfying “crunch” to it while all the time is not like chewing bricks.

Here is how I make it:

Ingredients

370g (faina integrala) wholemeal flour and yes do use bio/organic
200g (faina normala) regular white bread flour which is quite high in gluten in Romania as its a hot sunny country. I try to use the organic stuff too
100g (Seminte de In) Flaxseeds
100g (Seminte de Dovleac) Pumpkin seeds
100g (Seminte de Floarea Soarelui) Sunflower seeds
2 tsp (sare) salt
25g (drojdie) fresh yeast (or dried and use according to the packet)
1 tablespoon olive oil or flaxseed oil or best of all hemp oil..put that in your pipe heh?
1 tablespoon treacle, carob molasses (sirop de roscova) or pomegranate molasses (sirop de rodie)
450 ml (apa) warm water

Gadgets & Gizmos

I admit that I let my Kenwood do all the hard work kneading but if you don’t have a food mixer with a kneading attachment or a willing man with strong arms then use it to take out all your frustrations on (anger issues? this is perfect) and bash it and roll it and squish it till you are tired. Then leave it to relax while you do the same but not so much that you cant form the loaves and bake them! Fancy tins are nice but so are round balls “rustic style” on a tray. Do oil the tins and trays/ use a combination of baking paper unless you want to spot weld your loaf to the tin.

How To

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water (mix boiling with cold and make sure you can hold your finger in it for 5 seconds or contemplate bathing a baby in it…not literally but you know what I mean)

Put all dry ingredients in the bowl

Pour on the yeast and water mixture and mix together with a large spoon (it makes the work of the food mixer easier)

Start kneading and knead until the dough is “elastic” and pulls away from the bowl – this can take quite a time. ITS IMPORTANT PLEASE KNEAD IT UNTIL IT GOES ALL ELASTIC. Its what makes the bread lighter with such a high level of seeds inside.

Leave to rise until almost double in volume – I like putting a damp tea towel over the top so it just touches the dough…when I notice the tea towel rising above the bowl rim it reminds me the dough is risen!

Shape into loaves – paint with eggwash and decorate – leave to rise another 30 minutes or so (it will depend on the humidity and temperature of your room). Now the egg wash is quite important because it keeps the outside of the dough moist so no crust forms and constricts the rising, it is a handy “glue” for decorative seeds and it gives the bread a gorgeous mahogany colour

Bake at 250C for 18 mins. Now if your domestic oven doesn’t go up to 250C put it at its maximum setting and bake a little longer. When you take them out knock them on the bottom and they must sound hollow. If its the first time and you are nervous then cut through and check – better to sacrifice aesthetics and have cooked bread. If you have space put a bowl of water at the bottom of the oven – my oven is usually too crowded with loaves jammed in!

I am what I eat:

This bread has just about got it all: loads of omegas, fibre, vit E from the nuts. I don’t eat a lot of bread but I do eat this. If you want to lose a few kilos eat two slices of this every morning. No “money back guarantee” of course but its really worth trying as it helps regulate blood sugar pretty brilliantly.

Blind Baked Pastry Cases

Just to avoid confusion this is not about the wonderful effects cooking can have on people who are visually impaired nor is it about any kind of deviant “blindfold me in the kitchen” activities just in case you were wondering (and I know that you were). Blind Baking is a pastry making term that means the pastry shell is first baked (to ensure a crisp surround and to avoid any soggy bottoms) before the filling is added. Often, as in a quiche for example, the filling and the pastry case go back in the oven to be baked again. However as you fill the case pretty much to the brim the filling protects the case and it wont burn.

How To

Roll your pastry (or press it into the tin with your fingers) until it is the thickness of a fairly chunky coin such as a 1 Euro. 2-3mm is what we want.

If rolling the pastry, leave the rolling pin in the middle of your pastry circle. Now lift the circle up from the top and fold it gently back over the rolling pin so you can now use your rolling pin as a “pastry transportation device”.

Lift the pastry up and let it touch the work surface closest to you before you un roll it across the pastry case.

Now, very gently and if you have long nails there is a little trick you can use, use up some left over dough in a little ball and use it to coax the pastry into the corner of the tin.

Now the pastry is fitting snug, roll the rolling pin over the whole thing which neatly lops off the pastry. using a fork make little holes in the pastry (important as it helps any steam vent and avoid bubbles)

Now scrunch up a piece of baking paper (the scrunching is important because it softens the paper and allows it to reach into the corner) and un scrunch it. Now use it to line the case and fill with your blind baking “beans”. These can be purpose made ceramic baking balls or rice or small real beans/lentils (which i quite like) or salt which makes for a great snug fit but if you spill it…your tart is ruined!

Now bake the case with the beans inside for 10-15 minutes – just until the pastry has “set” ie gone hard. Then remove the beans.

Paint the case on the inside with a beaten egg – this waterproofs the tart. Its not absolutely essential but will really make your tart base “crunch” and will make it easier to serve.

Bake again for 5 minutes and the tart is now ready to be used.

Very Buttery Pastry

I’ve made a few different pastries in my life but this is my absolute “go-to” recipe. What makes it great? Number 1) Its easy – three ingredients and no I don’t put salt in pastry. You can if you want to but there ie enough salt in everything we eat and besides the more salt you eat the more you need in order to taste anything at all. Number 2 – it rolls really really thin so you actually make very thin crisp pastry shells which are better for you plus you have more filling than pastry to eat. Number 3 – kind of linked to number 2…it is a really pliable pastry and will never crack up on you and you in turn need never crack up making a pastry shell. Number 4 – it works really well for mini tarts that are so small they do not need blind baking.

Ingredients

250g flour

225g butter (82% fat) cut into fairly chunky cubes if you are using a food mixer/processor and smaller ones if making by hand

60ml ice cold water

Gadgets & Gizmos

I make my pastry in my trusty Kenwood but you can also do this in a food processor. Alternatively take a large mixing bowl, a regular table knife and use your hands.

How To

With the “K” attachment of your Kenwood or Kitchen Aid, or in a food processor mix/blitz the butter and flour until it looks like fine sand. It may have a few larger chunks of butter – its not a disaster. Now add the water all in one go and mix gently until the pastry is one big lump and the sides of the bowl are “clean”. In fact I then take the pastry out and mix up my filling in the same bowl thus saving washing up and the planet in one go.

Its best to relax it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes wrapped in cling film or inside a plastic bag but I confess I often do not have time. It freezes just great too and because it doesn’t contain egg is a little safer as well.

I use it both for savoury and sweet tarts.