Fresh Bread

With yeast somewhere at the back of my mind as I shopped this week I spotted a box of quick action dried yeast on the top shelf of the baking section in my local supermarket.  While most foodies would aspire to eating non-processed, fresh, locally produced food the reality of most lifestyles dictate that the local supermarket is the port of call for most food shopping.  Maybe I’m just not organised or disciplined enough to get to the once weekly food market but price as well has got to be factored into the equation.  Generally speaking that lovingly produced artisan loaf of bread costs twice as much as the tight margined loaf on the rack of the supermarket.

So to my first forray into investigating the merits of rising dough.  Is it worth it?

I followed the recipe on the back of the flour packet (labelled as STRONG flour for bread making).  Flour, salt, sugar, the yeast and then tepid water to combine.  The dough was mixed then turned out and kneaded by hand for 10 minutes.  10 minutes can seem really looooooooooong sometimes.  Kids drifted in and out of the kitchen and the minutes tocked by.  The dough was then shaped and lengthened to the size of the loaf tin which it about half filled.  Next instruction was to allow the dough to rise until doubled in size.  This was to be somewhere warm.  The oven was still warm from earlier baking so I popped it in and then wondered how long this would take.

In the mood for cooking I made up a large batch of sweet potato and lemongrass soup.  3 pints would keep us in lunches over the weekend.  Meanwhile the dough was definitely swelling.  After an hour of rising I baked  my bread for a half an hour.  It looked inviting enough and had a nice golden brown crust.  The first few slices were eaten warm with butter melting into it and then dipped into the soup.  Tasty enough but wouldn’t rave about it.

I will give it a few more goes before I make a final judgement but for now my 45 minute brown bread is well in the lead.

Since last post we’ve dined on; pasta and bolognese sauce, red thai chicken curry with basmati, golden syrup glazed ham with york cabbage, mashed potatoes and white onion and parsley sauce, beef and mushroom stirfry with noodles, school made pizza (again) and lots of soup!  Baked brown bread, white bread and oat and apple lunchbox cookies.

Till next time. Sheila.