Custy white bread

This white bread recipe is versatile and can be used for any crusty bread, and specially baguette. I love baguette, my youngest daughter and I went to Paris last year just to eat baguette. We were watching Paul Hollywood’s city bakes were he broke a baguette in two, when we heard the crunch we looked at each other and we both had the I want that look. We hopped on a plane and off we went.

I am not an expert baker, but I have found  my way to make them to my liking. This recipe is not unique in any way, there is one way to make basic white bread, flour, water, yeast and salt, I also add a bit of butter. Why? It just works for me. As I mentioned earlier this recipe is suitable for baguette, rolls and loaves.

I also have to mention that making these breads, the dough dictates my timetable, there is no one hour this or on hour that. The yeast works the way it wants, proofing time is a bit shorter during the summers than the winters.  I usually make the dough late in the evening before I go to bed, and let it proof over night. This summer this is impossible, we have had tropical weather.

This recipe makes 4 foot long baguette,  1 loaf or 12-16 rolls

1, 5 liters  flour
0,5 liters cold water
2 teaspoon salt
1 pk instant dry yeast
50 g butter, room temperature

Put all the ingredients in a bowl, mix and knead until the dough     or use a bread machine or a stand mixer.

If you make this late in the evening(11 PM) let this proof over night in a cool place, but not in the fridge. Remember to cover the bowl with plastic wrap or something similar.

The next day, early in the morning, punch the dough down roll it in to a ball and cover it again and let it proof until double the size.

Next step is to punch it down again and knead lightly, this time you divide the dough into the amounts you want depending on what you wt and make the shape you want.

Place the loaf, baguette or rolls on a baking paper lined tray and let the proof a last time. I usually go back to bed and sleepfor 2-3 hours.

Pre heat the oven to 180-200 C, depending on your oven. In the hot oven place a tray with boiling water, this will give the baguette that lovely crust. Bake for about 20 minutes for baguette or rolls, and about 40 minutes for loaves.

 

Soft and fluffy Hokkaido milk bread

Holy Moly, if I had just known about Tangzhong earlier, I would have used this method when baking sweet buns a long time ago, worst of all I lived in Asia during the 1990s when this japanese technique got popularized through the book The 65° Bread Doctor. Using this method allows bread to stay fresh longer without needing to use artificial preservatives. I used to enjoy savory filled milk bread while living in Hong kong and little did I know back then that the technique used was quite new, I learnt this method much later.

Tangzhong-water roux is usually one part flour to 5 parts water, but you can use milk or a combination of both. The best ratio for using this is, for every 100 g of flour you need 35 g of Tangzhong

These Hokkaido milk bread are the mother of all fluffy buns.

What is Tanzhong? Well it is just a simple paste made out of flour and milk that you heat up, it is similar to a roux when making sauce, but without the butter. The paste which is the starter, is then mixed into the dough and will produce the most soft and bouncy bread.

Why that happens, I do not know, but I experimented with something similar a little while ago, I made sour cream doughnuts and used a choux pastry base and got super fluffy drop doougnuts see recipe HERE

FLOUR PASTE
5 tbsp milk
1 tbsp flour
DOUGH
5 dl flour
0,6 dl sugar
1 packet active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1,25 dl warm whole milk
4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces and softened at room temperature, plus a little extra for buttering baking pan.

EGG WASH
1 egg
1 tbsp milk

 

First you make the starter, in a small pot, whisk flour and milk together until smooth. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat and cook, stirring often until it thickens. When it’s ready, the spoon will leave tracks on the bottom of the pot. Put the mixture in a cup and lightly cover the surface with plastic wrap. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a baking bowl .

In a separate bowl mix the milk, egg and the Tangzhong and then pour it into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Mix and knead until everything is combined for 5 minutes or so. (I used all of the tangzhong I made I did not weigh it, but I guess the amount was in the vicinity of 35%)

Add the soft butter and knead another until the butter is incorporated and then knead 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and springy and just a bit sticky.

Shape the dough into a ball and cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 40 to 60 minutes.

Punch the dough down and knead lightly and reshape the dough into a ball, cover again and let rise 15 minutes.

Butter a cake tin.

Tip the dough out on a lightly floured work surface and roll it in to a sausage and divide into 9 equal parts.

Shape each part in to round balls. Loosely cup hand around dough and, without applying pressure to dough, move hand in small circular motions. Place the buns into the prepared pan. Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap and let the rolls rest for another 30-40 minutes, until puffy.

Pre heat the oven to 180 C.

Brush the tops with the egg wash and bake in the middle of the oven until golden brown, 25-30 minutes

Let cool in the pan 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and let cool at least 1 hour, to let the crust soften and keep the crumb lofty. (If cut too soon, the air bubbles trapped in the bread will deflate.)

 

 

Melon pan, Japanese cookie crusted buns

Melon pan a sweet bun popular in Japan and they resembles a bun (Roti bun) I got to know when I lived in South Korea. The difference is that the topping on the Japanese bun is a short crust pastry and on the Korean bun topping is a cake batter.

Contrary to the name there is no melon in this bun, it was only its appearance that resembles a melon. Today melon pan comes in different flavours and filled. I made vanilla flavoured buns and some of them I added some grated chocolate on top.

Bun recipe:

1 sashet active dry yeast
2,5 dl  whole milk, warmed to 110 degrees F
50 g melted butter
100 g sugar
3 Tbsp non-fat dry milk powder
450 g flour
1 egg

Toping:

100 g softened butter
100 g powdered sugar
150 g  flour
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together yeast, warmed milk, melted butter and one teaspoon of sugar in a bowl. Let sit for 5-7 minutes until mixture is bubbly.

Add bread flour, sugar, milk powder, salt and egg mixture. Mix untill dough starts to come together, then knead until dough is smooth.

Cover the dough and allow to rest in room temperature for one hour or until dough has doubled in size.

While dough is resting, making cookie crust topping.

Cream together butter and powdered sugar. Once smooth, add egg and vanilla extract and mix until both is incorporated in the butter and sugar mix, lastly add flour. Mix together until cookie dough forms. Transfer cookie dough to a piece of plastic wrap, roll the cookie dough into a log, then wrap tightly and keep in the fridge until the buns are ready to be covered.

Divide dough into 12  equal parts. Roll dough into rounds and place on a baking paper lined baking tray. Cover dough balls with plastic wrap to prevent dough from drying out.

Divide the cookie dough into 12 pieces. Gently roll out the cookie dough until it is large enough to cover the bun. Place cookie dough over the bun. Use a knife to gently score the cookie dough into some sort of criss-cross pattern. Cover the buns and allow to rest for 30-45 minutes until buns had doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 180 degree C, if you like, top some of the buns with shredded chocolate before you bake them.

Bake them for 10-15 minutes or until golden. When they are finished, let them cool a bit on a rack, they are best eaten warm.

Pretzels

 

Chewie on the outside and soft on the inside, to me that is a perfect pretzel, unlike the first one I tried. It was my first trip to the US and I had to transfer to a domestic flight at Newark and went over to wait for my flight to SF. I regretted going early because the there were not as many places to eat or at least nothing that I really cared for. I came across a Hot dog stand that sold pretzels and I had waned to try one for a long time, after seeing them on TV or at the movies. It was nothing like the pretzels I have eaten later, this was really chewie and dry. I guess a hot dog stand at Newark in 1989 probably wasn’t a place to start my culinary adventure 😀

8 pretzels

2,5 dl luke warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
10 dl flour
2 tbsp melted butter

Sauce pan 2/3 with water
1/10  of  baking soda (10 dl water=1 dl bakinhsoda, 5 dl water=0,5 dl bakingsoda)
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel salt

Combine the water, sugar, yeast and salt in the  baking bowl. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and mix until everything is well combined.

Mix and knead the mixture to make a firm dough (around 10 minutes) and leave for approx 1 and a half hours or until when you poke the dough it gently springs back.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knock the dough back, knead and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel

Bring water and the baking soda to a boil in a  saucepan or roasting pan

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1,  until they float (about 5 second), fish out and lay on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the sea salt.

Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving. and enjoy them with some mustard.

Homemade New York style bagels

My first encounter with bagels was at high school, I can remember the other kids eating bagels with Philly cream cheese for a quick meal during lunch hurrying to their next activity.

I must confess that my first try at this chewy and dense bread was not a hit, but there has been many other bagels since the first one from the schools cafeteria and not to mention better ones. My favorite is with cream cheese and lox.

Untill recently you could not buy bagels in Norway and it is still only available a few places, so if I want some I make them myself.

12 bagels

1 packet active dry yeast
1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar
350 ml warm water
600 g bread flour
2 teaspoons salt

Water and baking soda for boiling the bagels, one teaspoon of baking soda to one dl of water.

1 egg, for egg wash

Use any topping you want.

I used light and dark sesame seeds

Directions

In a small bowl combine the warm water with the sugar and yeast. Do not stir, let it sit for five minutes, and then stir the yeast and sugar mixture, until it all dissolves in the water.

Mix most of the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour in the Liquid.

Adjust the amount of your flour and water, depending on how old your flour is it might need more liquid. You want a moist and firm dough after you have mixed it.

Tip the dough on to a floured countertop, knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic.

Return your dough to the bowl and cover the bowl with a damp dish towel or cling film. Leave it to rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size. Punch the dough down, and let it rest for another 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into 12 pieces  Shape each piece into a round bun by rolling a piece of dough between your hand and the counter top.

Coat a finger in flour, and gently press your finger into the center of each dough ball to form a ring. Stretch the ring to about ⅓ the diameter of the bagel and place on a baking paper lined baking tray.

Cover the buns with a damp kitchen towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Preheat your oven to 200-220ºC depending on your oven.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil add the baking soda. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Use a slotted spoon lower the bagels into the water, boil as many as you are comfortable with boiling. Once the bagels are in, it shouldn’t take too long for them to float to the top. Let them sit there for 1 minute on both sides. If you want chewier bagel leave them in for a little longer 2 minutes on each side, the results will give you a more New York Style bagel.

Take the bagels out and put them back on your bakingpaper lined baking tray.

Brush the bagels with egg wash and put the topping you want on top or leave them plain. toppings), transfer them to a lightly oiled baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack or enjoy them warm with a spread of butter or cream cheese.

Homemade pita- and flat breads

Soft breads you can fill with meats and vegetables.

This recipe is for both the pocket bread and flat bread for rolling.
They are super easy to make, the pita breads I baked in the oven, the flat breads I fried in a pan.

4.5 dl lukewarm water
1 sashet of dry yeaast
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
10-11 dl flour

Dissolve the yeast in a little water. When it is dissolved add the rest of the water, oil and salt and mix well. Add the flour and knead the dough until it is smooth and plyable.

Put the dough in a bowl and cover for about 30 minutes. Divide the dough into 16 equal parts and shape into sound buns.

Let the buns rise for about 10 minutes, then roll them flat about 1/2 cm thick. Place them on a baking paper covered baking tray.

Let pitas to rise at least 10 minutes before baking the middle of the oven at 220 C for about 10 minutes. The pitas will blow up after a few minutes in the oven.

When they are finished, let them cool on a rack.

For the flat bread, roll the buns thinner, my was almost 1 mm in thickness. You do not have to let these rise. I fry them as soon as I have rolled them out.
Fry them in a pan or girdle on medium to high heat. When they blow up like the picture below, turn them and give them a minute or two on the other side. When they are done place them between two kitchen towels to keep them moist.

We ate these with pulled lamb with a lots of nice condiments.

Pan de sal, Filipino brakfast bread

Pandesal is Filipino breakfast bread, one of the countrys heritage.

Pan de sal means salt bread, but today they are far from salty and more like buns. It is said that when it first appeared in the Philippines it was more like a baguette, than the soft and sweet bread we know today. The only thing that is left from the original version are the breadcrumbs or semolina the buns are covered with.

This is probably the most popular bread in the Philippines. Pandesal is the breakfast favorite for most Filipinos( agahan or almusal)

 

2,5 dl luke warm milk
0,5 dl sugar
100 g melted butter
1 saschet dry yeast
2 eggs
10 dl wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 dl semolina

Combine warm milk, yeast, sugar, and stir until the yeast and sugar are fully dissolved.

Whisk the eggs and add it to the milk mixture with the melted butter.
Combine all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and por the wet mixture in to the bowl. Stir until a dough is formed.

Knead the dough until a nice plyable dough.

Shape it into a round ball, cover the bowl with damp cloth and let the dough rise for at least 1 hour.

Punch down the dough and knead for about 5 minutes. Cover the bowl again and let it rice for another hour

Punch down the dough again ad tip on to a floured work surfase and knead divide into 2 equal parts.

Roll each part until it forms a thick sausages.
Slice the  dough and dust rhe cut sides with semolina and place them on a baking tray with baking paper.

Cover the trays and let them rise for two hours.
Bake the buns for 10 minutes or until golden in the middle of a preheated oven on 180 C .

Let the buns cool a bit on a rackbefore eating.

Wholemeal rolls

The norwegian people need their bread in the morning, the grainier and heavier the better, I on the other hand like mine a little lighter. In this recipe I have used more white flour than the coarse wholemeal flour

350 g plain flour, pluss a little extra for kneading
200 g stone-ground wholemeal flour
0,5 dl flax seeds
0,5 dl sunflower seeds
0,5 dl oatmeal( blend in a food processor)
1 ½ tsp salt
1 teaspoon sugar
3,5 -4 dl water luke warm water
10 g instant yeast
40 g unsalted butter, melted

 

Tip all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and three-quarters of the water, and turn the mixture around with your fingers. Add water a little at a time until you’ve picked up all the flour from the sides of the bowl. You may not need to add all the water, or you may need to add more, you want dough that is soft, but not soggy.  Work the dough by folding the edges into the middle, keep going until the mixture forms a rough dough.

Flour the work surface, then tip the dough onto it and begin to knead. Keep kneading for 5–10 minutes until the dough starts to form a soft, smooth skin.

When your dough feels smooth and silky, put it into a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise until at least doubled in size — at least 1 hour, but it’s fine to leave it for 2 or even 3 hours.

Line a baking tray with bakingpaper or a silicone sheet.

Dust your work surface with flour and tip your dough onto it. Knock the air out of the dough by folding it inwards repeatedly until the dough is smooth. roll the dough into a sausage and cut it up into equal sized parts, roll each piece and flatten them slightly and place on the prepared baking tray. How many you get depends on the size you want.

Put the tray into a clean plastic bag. Leave to prove for about an hour, until the dough is at least doubled in size and springs back quickly if you prod it lightly with your finger. Heat your oven to 220C and put a roasting tray in the bottom to heat up.

Put the rolls into the oven and fill the roasting tray with hot water. This will create steam in the oven, which helps give the bread a lighter crust. Bake the rolls for 15 minutes, then check them is cooked by tapping the base — it should sound hollow. Cool on a wire rack.

Eat the rolls with your favorite spread 🙂

Monkey bread with raisins and candied citrus peel

 

Sweet loaves baked with raisins and candied citrus peel is called Julebrød(Christmasbread) or Julekake(Christmas cake) in Norwegian. This was traditionally served during Christmas but these days you can get them all year round. Theses are popular coffee treats served sliced with norwegian brown cheese, a cheese often made with goats milk and cows milk and caramelized.

This monkey bread is a sweet bun with raisins and candied citrus peel, but instead of incorporating them in to the dough I put the raisins and the peel in between the bits of dough.

DOUGH

1 package  active dry yeast

300 ml warm  milk

75 ml  warm water

100 g butter, melted

50 ml granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon salt

1200 ml flour

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

COATING

50-100 g butter

100 ml sugar

150 ml raisins

100 ml chopped candied citrus peel

 

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and some of the sugar., stir and let it sit for a few minutes. Add the milk, melted butter, sugar, eggs, salt, and 3/4 of the flour. Mix and add enough of the remaining flour to form a firm dough.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Do not over-knead, which will yield a tough, chewy bread. The dough is ready when it is smooth and when you can poke it with a finger and it springs back. Form dough into a smooth ball and place into a large greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and let it rise to double size.

coating

Melt 50 g of butter in a small bowl put sugar in another bowl and the raisins and citrus peel in a third bowl.

Grease a large  or two smaller bunt pans with melted butter, set aside.

Punch the dough down gently to allow the air bubbles to release. Pull apart pieces and roll into balls, about 1.25 inches in diameter.

Dip each ball, one by one, in the melted butter and then generously roll in the sugar to coat them. You may need more sugar depending how heavy you coat each ball. Arrange them in the bunt pan as you go, and sprinkle raisins and citrus peel in between the little pieces of dough. cover the pan and allow dough  to rise for about 45 minutes at room temperature.

Preheat oven to 200 C .  Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown on top. Cover loosely with foil if the top browns too quickly. Cool for 5-10 minutes and invert onto a large serving plate.

Make a glaze with powdered sugar and milk and pour it over a cooled monkey bread.

 

Garlic bread pastry rolls

Flakey garlic bread with cheese

I used a bread recipe with coarse grains, to make these a little healthier, but all the butter and cheese make these twist rolls  rich ad decadent. If you want them white, use a regular white roll dough.

350 g plain flour, plus a little extra for kneading
200 g wholemeal flour
0,5 dl flax seeds
0,5 dl sunflower seeds
0,5 dl oatmeal( blend in a food processor)
1 ½ tsp salt
1 teaspoon sugar
3,5 -4 dl water luke warm water
10 g instant yeast
40 g unsalted butter, melted

Filling

200 g butter, room temperature
1 whole garlic bulb, minced
1,5 dl chopped fresh parsley, chopped
1,5 dl grated cheese

Mix butter, garlic and parsley

Tip all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and three-quarters of the water, and turn the mixture around with your fingers. Add water a little at a time until you’ve picked up all the flour from the sides of the bowl. You may not need to add all the water, or you may need to add more, you want dough that is soft, but not soggy.  Work the dough by folding the edges into the middle, keep going until the mixture forms a rough dough.

Flour the work surface, then tip the dough onto it and begin to knead. Keep kneading for 5–10 minutes until the dough starts to form a soft, smooth skin.

When your dough feels smooth and silky, put it into a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise until at least doubled in size,at least 1 hour.

Dust your work surface with flour and tip your dough onto it. Knock the air out of the dough by folding it inwards repeatedly until the dough is smooth. Roll the dough into a square and cover 2/3 of the dough with the butter mix. Fold the 1/3 without butter over half of the buttered part and fold the last 1/3 over that again. Fold the two short edges towards the middle, se picture above. Wrap the dough in plastic and put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Roll the dough flat and fold the same way as earlier, repeat once more but this time you sprinkle the shredded cheese on the flattened dough. Fold and wrap again and place it in the fridge one last time.

Roll the dough into a rectangle 30 cm wide and 0,5 cm thick, cut it into 2 cm strips, twist and tie the strips into knots. You can do what ever you want, roll the rectangel and cut into slices to make swirls.

Place the knots on a baking paper lined baking tray.

Put the tray into a clean plastic bag. Leave to prove for about an hour, until the dough is at least doubled in size. Heat your oven to 200C and bake the knots in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes or until golden.

Cool on a wire rack.