We had four for bread, and after I spent last night preparing dough for an overnight rise, I was pleased to see it well risen. That was when the members of the class told me that last time they’d made it they had started it from scratch. The best laid plans…as they say.
After that things went to plan, apart from me misreading the recipe and trying to bake an hour too early.
We had TESCO biscuits (from the ordinary range this time, though more of them) and a lot of tea. Two of the group have just returned from India and described a place of cheap food, fantastic sights and long distances. Well, they actually described a lot more, but those were the things I found interesting.
Sounds like everyone has had a great time.
Meanwhile, I hear you shout, what about the bread?
Well, it emerged from the oven in various well-browned forms, though I wasn’t convinced it was properly cooked. It’s the browning effect of the honey that does that. I would describe it as a hearty bread, exhibiting, as my bread often does, the big bubbles that denote a lack of knocking back and the dense lower layer that indicates a lack of kneading. It’s still good to eat though. Bearing in mind that I cut it too early so that I could get the photograph, it is really quite good. It’s a little heavy if you want to be picky, but it is full of oats, honey, milk and oil so it’s not going to be fluffy like a cloud is it?
Taste is good, with the salt balancing the honey whilst still allowing a little sweetness to come through.
It was very good with my lunchtime Stilton.
In terms of rising one of the loaves started from scratch rose the best with an overnight one coming second and the others (one of each method) looked pretty similar. The fifth lot was taken home as dough due to alack of time. It seems to be the kneading rather than the preparation method that determined the rise. The mix temperature of the overnight loaves never rose beyond 15 degrees, whilst the ones baked from scratch did get up to 23 -24 due to the use of lukewarm water, just short of the recommended 25 degrees. I could have made this higher when I mixed them last night but I thought I’d use cold water to mix as they had a long rise in front of them.
I suspect the overnight loaves have probably developed more flavour, but don’t have away to check this – should have thought to cook one from scratch this morning.
The recipe is now in the Recipe section (that’s under the Resources tab).
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I rely heavily on the dough hook for my KitchenAid for the donkey work (but finish the kneading by hand), and I go through spurts of regular bread-making (that is, one batch a week for a few months), with periods of getting too busy to remember how to fit it into my schedule. So home made bread always feels like a treat, whatever recipe I’m using. One of our favourite breads is a huge honey-lavender loaf, which is brilliant with soup or cheese (and the lavender flavour sings when toasted). It always looks a little burnt on the outside but is usually just right on the inside. Now I know why, thanks to your informative post: the honey makes it brown faster. 🙂
I’ve made lavender biscuits, scones and sugar – never thought of using it in bread. Will give it a go when the lavender starts to grow.
I’ve not baked much in the last couple of years – glad to be getting back into it and,yes, it does always seem like a treat.
I always find my oat bread a bit doughy… yours looks delicious
Looking good
Thanks Derrick
The loaves look lovely! I adore fresh bread. I just don’t have the patience for it. Dad sometimes brings me small loaves from his bread-maker appliance thingie though. And The Man works at a grocery store right next to the scratch bakery. Every now and then he’ll bring me yummy, warm tidbits. Oh yeah…insert obligatory “cute puppy” comment. 😉
Don’t think of it as patience, think of it as serenity. You like serenity don’t you? 😉
Ha! Yes, unless you’re talking about bread. The whole thing about letting it rise for hours and hours makes me impatient. While many of my dishes take sometimes 24 hours to complete, I can at least taste them throughout the process. 😉
In that case it is lucky you have a father with a bread maker. 😉
Yes, I love my daddy. LOL