Consciously creating a beautiful life.





Monday 4 February 2013

Baking bread


After letting it all simmer for some time, I now made a decision to change the blog name and url instead of getting
into a potentially costly legal fight.

I have been sitting here all morning thinking up possible titles.

Whenever I come up with something brilliant, I type it into google, and then discover that somebody else thought
of it first. Finally I started using really daft names, and even those are taken...

Obviously a bit more simmering is needed.



But all of this has nothing to do with what I wanted to tell you about.




On Saturday, I went to a bread making workshop. Seven girlfriends, a chef from Chicago on holiday in Nam, and a
couple of bottles of champagne.

We learned to use pizza dough like a frisbee.
We also learned to kneed the dough until it is as soft as a babies' bottom.
We made sourdough starter and baked herb focaccia and ate far too much of the most delicious pizza.


All in all, it was a lot of fun!





Here is the recipe for the sourdough bread:


First of all, you will have to make a starter by mixing a cup of water, a cup of flour and some dry yeast (half a packet).
Let it stand for a day or two but don't close it airtight, as it apparently might explode (if you are the rebellious type,
please let me know if it really explodes, very curious...)

You can keep this starter alive until all eternity. All you have to do is feed it once a week. To do that, you take out
about half of it and throw it away (or bake with it). Then you add a quarter of flour and a quarter of water.




To make the bread, you will need:

750 g (6 cups) white flour
425 g (1.8 cups) of water
150 g (this one you will have to weigh, as the volume changes depending how old the starter is) sourdough starter
15 g (1 tablespoon) salt

Pour the starter into a large mixing bowl
Add the water and stir until integrated
Mix in half the flour
Sprinkle some flour over your mix and only then add the salt (if you put the salt in first, it might kill the yeast)
Add the rest of the flour and mix
Kneed the dough, then let it rest for 15-20 minutes
Kneed the dough for 5 to 10 minutes until soft as a babies' bottom
Cut in half and shape into two loaves
Allow to bench rest until doubled in size, then cut the top three times in one direction and twice in the other
Preheat oven to 250°C (482° Fahrenheit) and bake for about 30 minutes (until nicely brown and until you can hear a
hollow sound when knocking the bread)

Enjoy!





I will give you the (delicious) herb focaccia recipe in a different post.


A beautiful day to you :-).




Lots of love,





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17 comments:

  1. Thank you, Jutta! Hmmm, wish i had the patience to bake... It looks so delicious. Maybe having lots of champagne would give me more patience - i will have to try that! :) I hold thumbs that soon the perfect name for your blog will find you!

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  2. I was just talking with a friend yesterday about sourdough and trying to decide if we would attempt wild yeast capture instead of using packaged yeast. I'm not sure I am that brave though :-)

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  3. Now that class sounds like a blast! Look at you and Maureen and your mad bread baking skills!

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  4. scrumptious!!! Ich wohne ja auch in so einer brotfreien Zone und muss hier selber backen. Ich gebe zu, dass ich allerdings mit einer Brotbackmaschine mir die Arbeit erleichtere :-)

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  5. Jutta, if you continue to share the wonders of your baking class and the mouth-watering bread, I might jeopardize mu diet, please stop with the goodies :))))
    PS: This is exactly why my blog is called by my nick name, all the really existing words had been already taken ;)

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  6. That bread looks delicious. It looks like it came out of a fancy bakery. Good luck thinking of the perfect name. I am sure it will come to you when you least expect it.

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  7. I just want to reach inside the computer and have a piece of that bread!!!
    Kay

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  8. That looks so yummy, and it sounds like it was so much fun! :-)
    Biiiiiig hug!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jutta! Du Liebe.
    Meine Güte, diese Drehung ;)
    Die Brote sehen so toll aus.
    Wie gerne würde ich mir eine Scheibe abschneiden.
    Vom Brot. Aber auch von deinen Künsten.

    Liebste Grüße
    Marie

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  10. Hui, das sieht unglaublich professionell aus, wie Du den Teig drehst und die Brote machen richtig Appetit. Vor Jahren habe ich, auch mit Freundinnen, Brot gebacken. Es war unglaublich schwer diese Menge Teig immer und immer wieder zu kneten. Am nächsten Tag hatte ich Muskelkater.
    Irgendwas hat mit der Verbindung zu Deinem Blog bei mir nicht gestimmt in den letzten Tagen. Ich bin jetzt über einen Umweg hier. Also wundere Dich nicht, wenn ich mich nochmal als Leser eintrage, um die richtige URL zu bekommen.
    Lieben Gruß
    Sabine

    ReplyDelete
  11. Found you! The sourdough bread looks delicious. So professional, too! Can you buy 'real' bread in Namibia? I miss living close to a proper bakery and sometimes get tired of all the soft, wimpy bread that's available in the UK.

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  12. Can't wait for the recipe: love that foccacia bread. looks so professional! actually, all of them look fabulous!

    BTW it's Chinese new year today/Sunday. Happy New Year to you. May your best wishes become realized. smiles, Rose

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  13. Soooo lecker!
    Vielen Dank für das einfache Rezept für den Sauerteig, so etwas suche ich schon ewig!
    Das Brot ist sehr lecker!
    LG

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Herzlichen Dank :-). Freue mich, dass es Dir schmeckt!

      Delete
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