Category: Bread

I try and focus on the food, the recipe and a little bit of backstory in my blog posts. Many people just want the recipe and to get on with the cooking. A bit of musing on expertise, equipment and use of AI in this blog post, so bear with me for a couple of paragraphs.

I bake almost all the bread and related products in my house and I gift them to family and friends; white bread, everyday whole grain, rye, babcha, chocolate sourdough, focaccia, fougasse, crackers, muffins and quick breads. I could go on. I have space for specialised equipment; literally a separate kitchen with lots of cupboards and counter space. I started baking to feed my family better quality food. I’ve been on a couple of courses but I’m mostly self taught – YouTube is a wonderful thing. I flirted with the idea of a micro bakery in retirement but life had other plans.

Side note: I remember watching a programme with Greg Wallace where he was raving about industrial bread production – 3 1/2 hours from flour to cooled, sliced and packaged loaves being loaded on trucks. He conveyed this with wonder but I was horrified.

Bread is accessible to anyone, you don’t need the specialised equipment, the space, the ability to make 36 brioche rolls at a time. A desire for simple quality food is enough. It may take longer. But I’m an honest person and there are recipes I would not make without the specialised equipment. I try and identify the specialised equipment and a work around if one is available.

I use AI, mostly Grok, to improve my cooking. If you ask, it will give you a recipe for anything. It’s useful for using up stuff – I found myself with a glut of canned chickpeas and canned tomatoes and it came up with a number of decent recipes for using up the glut. With no clunky interface. But where I find it very helpful – I can ask it expert questions and evaluate the answers. I’ll tell you where in the recipe I asked Grok for input. I was musing on the most obvious misuse of AI; blind acceptance of the answer. Almost all AI will hallucinate – the answer seeking function in the model drives it to tell you something even if the something is imaginary. My only suggestion – ask the AI but verify, either to the source material or based on your own expertise.

Enough musing, let’s cook

Recipe

This recipe makes 8 good sized burger buns. I do a double batch of this – but I use my Anskarum machine. See further discussion at the bottom. If you’re using a stand mixer for the mixing and kneading, a standard Kitchenaid will not cope with the weight of a double batch. Enriched dough like brioche is very heavy and you might burn out the motor. A heavy duty Kitchenaid or an Anskarum will do it. These are sturdy enough for loaded burgers yet soft and buttery.

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs, divided (2 whole + 1 yolk for dough; reserve white for egg wash). A large egg is 60 grams or more.
• 170 grams (12 tablespoons/1½ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces, softened to cool room temperature
• 160 mls (⅔ cup) + 1½ teaspoons whole milk, divided
• 360–390 g (3 cups) bread flour (or all-purpose; bread flour gives better structure), plus more for dusting
• 40 g (3 tablespoons )granulated sugar
• 11 g (3½ teaspoons) instant or active dry yeast
• 2¼ teaspoons kosher salt (or 1½–1¾ tsp table salt)
• More butter, melted or neutral oil for the bowl
• Optional: 2 tablespoons sesame seeds (or everything bagel seasoning)

Method

1. Prep the ingredients:
   Crack 2 eggs into a bowl. Separate the third egg—add the yolk to the bowl and refrigerate the white for the wash later. Cut the butter into pieces and let everything sit at room temperature until the butter is soft but not greasy (about 1–1½ hours).
2. Proof the yeast – even with instant yeast it does not suffer from proving. Warm 160 mls milk to 50 C (warm but not scalding). Add the sugar and yeast. Allow to prove (bubble) for about 10 minutes.
3. Put the eggs in the mixer bowl, add the milk, sugar and yeast and beat briefly to combine. .Add the flour and salt. Mix with the dough hook on low until a shaggy dough forms (about 2 minutes). Increase to medium-low and knead until it starts coming together into a smoother ball (another 2 minutes).
4. Start adding the butter: With the mixer on medium-low, add the butter one piece at a time, waiting until each is fully absorbed before adding the next. Once all the butter is in, increase to medium and knead until the dough is smooth, elastic, shiny, and passes the windowpane test (you can stretch a small piece thin enough to see light through without tearing)—about 8–10 minutes total. The dough will be soft and slightly sticky; that’s normal for brioche. Scrape the bowl as needed.
5. Resist the desire to add more flour unless you cannot work with the dough. You’re doing a cold first rise so the dough will naturally be much firmer when you are working with it.
6. First rise: Lightly oil or butter a large bowl. Form the dough into a ball, place it in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until roughly doubled, at least 12 hours and up to 18 hours. This develops better flavor and makes shaping much easier.
   Same-day option: Let rise at room temperature in a warm spot until doubled (1–1½ hours), then proceed. You can do this but you will inevitably add flour to be able to work with the dough and your buns will get a little tough.
7. Shape the buns: Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Turn the cold dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 8 equal pieces (about 90–110 g each for standard burger size). Don’t eyeball this – weigh your pieces. Keep pieces covered so they don’t dry out.
8. Shape one at a time: Pull the edges of a piece into the center, flip so the smooth side is up, then cup your hand around it and roll in a circular motion on the counter to tighten into a smooth, taut ball (seal the bottom seam). Place 4 buns per sheet, spaced well apart. Here’s a short on shaping – brioche buns
9. Second rise: Loosely cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled and puffy (1½–2 hours). They should spring back slowly when gently poked, leaving a slight indent.
10. Bake: Arrange oven racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat to 190°C. Whisk the reserved egg white with the remaining 1½ teaspoons milk. Gently brush the buns with the egg wash (don’t deflate them). Sprinkle with sesame seeds if using.
    Bake for 8 minutes, then rotate the sheets front-to-back and top-to-bottom. Continue baking until deeply golden brown and an instant-read thermometer in the center reads at least 190°F (about 5–8 more minutes, total 13–16 minutes). Bottoms should sound hollow when tapped.
11. Cool: Let cool on the sheets 5–10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Tips for success

• Dough starts sticky after the butter goes in—resist adding extra flour or the buns will be dense. Lightly oil or flour hands if needed.
• Cold overnight rise is worth it for flavor and easier handling.
• For slightly larger buns, divide into 6 pieces. For sliders, divide into 12–16.
• Store cooled buns airtight at room temperature up to 3 days, or freeze (slice first if desired). Refresh in a low oven.

AI Questions

1. I started out asking Grok for a recipe for simple brioche rolls. 1st lesson – most AI models default to American usage so it gave me a recipe for 12 brioche dinner rolls, made in a muffin tin with no kneading. Sounded nice but I was really looking for burger buns with good structure to hold up to some juicy burgers so I refined that.
2. Grok – I want burger buns and I don’t mind kneading. Grok obviously interpreted ‘simple’ as low physical input. Recipe returned the ingredient list above with slightly different methodology.
3. Grok – can I do a double batch in my Anskarum? Grok agreed yes, a double batch was reasonable in an Anskarum or a KitchenaidPro
4. And checked my assumption on proving yeast, Grok said yeah okay.

Specialist kit

Worth it for me because I do a lot of baking. Here’s some things that make life easier. The Anskarum works by rotating the bowl not the mixing element, hence it can handle more dough and heavier dough.

Thank you for reading, subscribing and cooking the recipes. Comments appreciated, follow me on Instagram at mamadolson.

No more cupcakes….for a while

There is a sourdough version of this recipe but I decided to do a yeast raised version for a couple of reasons. The first is that it is more predictable and easier to work with. Second, the Davinator has adopted a lower carbohydrate diet to improve his health. This doesn’t mean no bread but less bread. And keeping sourdough starter vibrant means you bake a lot or you throw a lot of starter down the drain. I know it’s only flour and water but tipping it into the sink 3 or 4 times a week was too much. We miss the sourdough but needs must.

Comparing ingredients – it is easier to work with. The amount of yeast allows for an egg and vanilla. Other than that, much the same. You know my views on chocolate – buy the best quality cocoa and dark chocolate chips you can get your hands on.

This is not cake or ‘quick bread’ (cake by another name). It’s savoury and it’s highest and best use is with a mild and creamy cheese. Or a slab of butter.

I make this recipe then separate into two loaves at the second rise. It’s not cake but it is rich and a tiny bit sweet – you won’t be making sandwiches of it. Well, you might but that’s a you thing. A one pound loaf produces smaller slices and it’s great as a little snack or with your cheese course.

The whole wheat flour is optional, go all white if that’s what you’ve got.

Let’s cook.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 420 grams strong white flour
• 80 grams whole wheat flour
• 30g (1/3 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch-processed preferred)
• 50 gr (¼ cup) granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon (10g) active dry yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 240 mls (1 cup) warm water (110°F/45°C, not hotter to avoid killing yeast)
• 60 grams (¼ cup) unsalted butter, melted (or vegetable oil but neutral taste, not olive or coconut)
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 120 grams (3/4 cup) dried cranberries (soak in warm water for 10 minutes, then drain) Do not omit the soak step – the dried cranberries will steal water from the dough if you put them in dry.
• 130 grams (3/4 cup) top quality dark chocolate chips.
• 1 egg yolk + 1 tablespoon of water for glazing

Instructions

1. Activate the Yeast (5–10 minutes): In a small bowl, combine warm water and a pinch of sugar. Sprinkle yeast over the water, stir gently, and let sit for 5–10 minutes until foamy. If it doesn’t foam, use fresh yeast.
2. Mix the Dry Ingredients: In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt until well combined.
3. Form the Dough: Add the foamy yeast mixture, melted butter (or oil), egg, and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon or mix on low speed with the dough hook until a shaggy dough forms.
4. Knead: this is a high hydration dough so strongly recommend that you need in the stand mixer for 8 to 10 minutes. You can knead by hand on a lightly floured surface, likewise 8 to 10 minutes. The challenge of hand kneading is not to let the dough pick up too much flour, it will make the dough tough, reduce the hydration percentage and inhibit the rise. The dough should be soft and slightly tacky but not sticky. Add flour 1 tbsp at a time if too sticky, but keep it minimal for a tender crumb.
5. Incorporate Mix-Ins: Flatten the dough on a lightly floured surface and sprinkle dried cranberries and chocolate chips over it. Fold and knead gently for 1–2 minutes until evenly distributed. (Some chips may not fully incorporate; that’s fine.)
6. First Rise:Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Let rise in a warm place (75–85°F/24–29°C) until doubled. I’ve had varied results on time; rises like mad on a warm day, slow as molasses if cooler.
7. Shape the Loaf: Punch down the risen dough gently. On a lightly floured surface, shape it into a rectangle the width of your loaf pan. Roll tightly into a log, tucking ends under. Place seam-side down in a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan. I usually do this as 2 loaves in smaller pans.
8. Second Rise: Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a towel and let rise in a warm place until the dough crests about 1 inch above the pan’s edge. It will not ‘double’ again.
9. Preheat and Prep (15 minutes before baking):Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). If using egg wash, whisk egg yolk and water, then brush gently over the dough. For dairy-free, brush with maple syrup-water mix for a subtle sheen.
10. Bake (35–40 minutes): Bake for 35–40 minutes, until the bread sounds hollow when tapped or reaches 190–200°F (88–93°C) internally. Tent with foil after 25 minutes if browning too fast.
11. Expect melty chocolate pockets and juicy cranberry bursts—both add to the charm!
12. Cool and Serve: Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour before slicing to set the crumb. (Cutting early will make it gummy.) Enjoy plain, with butter, peanut butter, cream cheese, or with a dusting of powdered sugar.

Unusual but no pictures of the finished product. I can’t keep it around long enough to photograph.

Thank you for reading the blog. Send suggestions, comments etc.

This recipe was inspired by my baking teacher, Ma Baker. My son does not have much of a sweet tooth but he loves Biscoff. What is Biscoff? It’s a spread, like Nutella, but it seems to be lovely biscuits combined with butter and sugar to make a smooth paste. Once my son knew Biscoff Babka was a thing, I had to make it for him. I adapted this recipe from Astrid Field of the Sweet Rebellion. Her recipe is much more elaborate than mine with the addition of sugar syrup and a Biscoff cookie topping. Looks amazing but too sweet for my son’s tastes.

Babka is a traditional Eastern European dough, rich and slightly sweet with a swirl of filling through it. You can fill your babka with any sweet filling: Nutella, cinnamon, peanut butter, jam. And as it turns out – Biscoff. This recipe makes two loaves but you won’t be sorry that there’s extra. It freezes nicely but my experience is that it doesn’t hang around enough to need freezing.

The braiding and rolling instructions seem complicated but don’t worry if it doesn’t look perfect; no one but you will know what it was supposed to look like. Here’s a video on braiding babka, worth a watch before you start.

Let’s get baking.

Instructions

• 525 grams bread flour
• 10 grams yeast
• 50 grams brown sugar
• 50 grams white sugar
• 5 grams of salt
• 250 mls milk
• 100 grams unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 jar of Biscoff, 500 grams
  
• 1 egg for washing the dough
• 50 grams of butter to soften the crust after baking

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in the microwave. Combine with the milk and set to one side to cool for about 5 minutes
2. Combine the flour, sugars, yeast and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer. Mix well.
3. Beat the eggs with the vanilla, add to the milk and butter mixture. The mixture should be just warm or room temperature.
4. Put the dough hook on the mixer, start it turning at slow speed with the dry ingredients.
5. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture with the dough hook turning slowly. When the ingredients are well combined, increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 6 to 8 minutes.
6. Scrape the sides and bottom to make sure all ingredients are incorporated.
7. The dough will be relatively sticky so handle with care. Tip onto a well floured surface, form into a ball and place in a well oiled bowl. Cover with cling film or a shower cap.
8. Allow the dough to rise for 3 to 4 hours then refrigerate to continue rising. If possible, allow it rise overnight in the refrigerator but a minimum pf 2 hours to firm up the dough. It should have doubled in size.
9. Once the dough is ready, warm the Biscoff either in a bowl of warm water or in the microwave to make it easier to spread.
10. Prep your loaf pans – line them with parchment paper or you will have a sticky mess. Greasing the pans is not sufficient because some Biscoff will leak out and try to bond with your pans.
11. Divide the dough into two halves. Flour your worktop. I have a marble slab and an alternative if you have stone worktops is to lightly oil them with coconut oil or another relatively flavourless oil.
12. Pat or roll the dough into a 30 cm by 20 cm rectangle with the long side towards you. Cover the dough with half the Biscoff, leaving a margin of about a centimetre around the edges. Roll the dough carefully into a cylinder.
13. Cut the cylinder down its length, leaving about 5 cms at the top uncut. PInch the cut edges together to keep the filling inside. Braid the two pieces together by passing one over the top of the other and repeating. Try not to stretch the pieces as you’re braiding. Once the braiding is complete – compress the length so it fits in your loaf pan and place in the pans.
14. Repeat with the second half of the dough.
15. Lightly cover the pans with either a tea towel or a shower cap for the second rise of 1 to 2 hours. The dough will puff up but will not double in size.
16. Preheat the oven to 180C.
17. Beat the egg with a pinch of salt and generously brush the tops of the loaves immediately before placing inn the oven. Bake the loaves for 30 to 35 minutes
18. Remove from oven when golden brown. Brush the tops with butter to ensure a soft top to the loaves.
19. Cool and enjoy.
    
    

Thanks for reading the blog, cooking the recipes, sharing your photos and your feedback. Find me on Instagram and Twitter @mamadolson .

I’ve been searching for a whole grain loaf that is wholesome, tastes great and is relatively easy to make. Essentially, a loaf that behaves like white but is better for you. The Davinator has eaten a lot of experimental bread over the last couple of months but I’ve finally settled on this recipe. It has a manageable number of ingredients, a reasonable number of process steps and doesn’t result in carnage in the kitchen. It about 60% whole wheat, 40% white and that’s a good balance between health and taste.

You can eliminate the sunflower seeds and the rolled oats and still get a very good loaf. Use your sweetener of choice, ordinary brown sugar will do if you don’t have maple syrup or honey. Use a vegan friendly sweetener and you have a vegan loaf. Let’s bake.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 360 mls warm water (40-42C), just warmer than body temperature like a baby’s bath
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 30 grams of sweetener (molasses, maple syrup, agave, honey, brown sugar)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 10 grams flaxseed or linseed meal
• 300 grams whole wheat flour (the finest grind you can find, often call ‘whole wheat pastry flour’)
• 240 grams white flour (bread flour or all purpose flour) plus extra for binding the dough
• 15 grams sunflower seeds, raw or roasted
• 12 grams rolled oat

Instructions

1. Combine warm water, yeast, maple syrup. Whisk and leave for five minutes to give the yeast a start.
2. Put salt, flours, flaxseed in the bowl of your mixer. Add in the yeast mixture and combine to form a shaggy dough.
3. Put the dough hook on, beat for a minute. If you don’t have a stand mixer with a dough hook, knead the dough in the bowl until well combined.
4. Take a look at the dough, if it’s pulling away from the sides, stop. If not, add more flour and give the dough a few turns until it is pulling away from the sides of the bowl.
5. Transfer the dough to lightly greased bowl, turn it to coat. Cover with plastic wrap or a shower cap. Let it rise at room temperature for two hours – it should be close to doubled in size. If you’ve got time and the inclination, throw it in the fridge for another hour or two. It develops the flavour but it is not necessary and I’ve forgotten this step more times than I’ve done it.
6. Prepare your loaf pan (I’m a fan of lining pans, not greasing them but choose your method).
7. Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface. Make a hole in the dough – pour in the oats and sunflower seeds. Give the dough 20 turns on the work surface, it will give you a better quality crumb and distribute the add in through the dough. Make a loaf shape, place seam side down in your prepared pan. Cover with a shower cap or a tea towel. Let it rise at room temperature for an hour.
8. Preheat the oven to 220C (425F). Place a metal roasting pan on the bottom rack of the oven and have a cup of warm water ready.
9. When the dough and the oven are ready, slash the top two or three times (I cut mine with kitchen shears). Put the dough in the oven, throw the water in the heated pan (creates steam and gives you a good crust). Bake for about 30 minutes, should be 90C inside with a firm top crust. Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then tip out to finish cooling. Cool completely for best results before slicing.

We have found this the perfect every day whole grain loaf good for toast and sandwiches.

Thank you for reading the blog, baking the recipes and commenting. Happy baking.

What’s best thing to do with excess ripe bananas? Make banana bread! My recipe is based on this original from Hannah at Make it Dough. I’ve made some adjustments to use whole wheat flour and brown sugar and reduced the amount of sugar as well. That made my version a bit heavier so I went with a traditional loaf shape. It’s the Davinator’s new top snack – combines 3 of his favourites: bananas, peanut butter and chocolate.

I pounced on this recipe because I was ‘long’ on bananas and on peanut butter. I don’t really like the texture of bananas but this bread has a great banana taste, seemingly enhanced by the peanut butter. We try and eat healthy but like our treats, so this recipe is a good compromise.

You can use sourdough discard in this recipe or there is an easy alternative if you’re not a sourdough fanatic.

Let’s get baking.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 95 grams all purpose flour (not self rising)
• 95 grams whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda – SODA not powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 85 grams peanut butter of your choice (chunky or smooth)
• 55 grams unsalted butter – melted and slightly cooled
• 180 grams brown sugar (any type)
• 50 grams sourdough discard or 25 grams flour and 25 grams of water)
• 25 grams of milk (whole or semi-skimmed)
• 2 eggs
• 225 grams of mashed banana (2 large or 3 medium bananas)
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• Handful of chocolate chips or chopped nuts of your preference

Method

1. Preheat the oven 170C (160C fan) or 350F. Prepare a loaf pan (standard 2 pound or 800 gram pan). I line my pans with paper but you can grease and flour instead.
2. Whisk together the flours, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl.
3. Combine the peanut butter, cooled melted butter and the sugar in your mixer bowl. Beat until mixture appears very well combined.
4. Incorporate the eggs one at time, beating until well integrated.
5. Add the mashed banana, sourdough discard (or flour and water mixture) and the vanilla to the mixer bowl and beat until well combined.
6. Using a dough whisk or a spatula, fold in half the flour mixture. Add the milk and the remaining flour. Like any quick bread – resist the temptation to over beat at this stage. Scrape up all the dry bits from the bottom.
7. Sprinkle your chocolate chips or nuts on the top. I pressed down gently to encourage them to sink into the top. They still form a sort of chocolate topping, which we loved.
8. Pour into your pan and transfer to the oven. Bake for approximately 50 minutes. Keep an eye on the top and cover loosely with foil if over browning. Test with a temperate probe – it should be over 90C in the centre or a toothpick should come out clean.

Enjoy! We topped ours with cream cheese or a couple of spoonfuls of Greek yogurt.

Thanks for reading the blog, cooking the recipes and sending in your requests.

Well isn’t that a cheery title for a blog post? We are living through something that seems unique in the modern era. Here in the UK, as of the date this is written, many working from home, leisure establishments are closing as of tonight and waves of panicked shoppers are emptying the supermarkets as fast the staff can restock.

My ‘normal’ supply chain for baking supplies is not supermarket dependent; I tend to bulk buy flour of various kinds and mail order speciality ingredients. This for both cost and certainty of supply – I find that supermarkets are increasingly purveying ‘meals’ and processed food and much less likely to have anything but the most commonly used basic ingredients. And those only in smaller packages.

I’m facing some supply chain issues as those stockpiling are turning to alternative suppliers – including mine.

I’m embracing this challenge and will try to use up some of the niche and speciality ingredients in my store cupboards. The likelihood that you will have the same weird assortment of ingredients is very low, but improvisation and imagination are your best friends. I’ll try to describe what can be substituted and how.

First up, buttermilk rye rolls to use molasses, rye flour and potato flour (not starch) and a limited amount of bread and whole wheat flour. The recipe is based on one in King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking.

The flour mix is flexible except for the quantity of potato flour. This is different from ‘potato starch’. Potato flour is dried potatoes ground very fine. If you don’t have potato flour you can substitute a cup of mashed potatoes and reduce the buttermilk by half initially. Keep an eye on the dough, if it seems dry add more buttermilk a tablespoon at a time. Otherwise, flex the flour components to your taste. This version is a little lighter than the Davinator’s favourite version which has much more rye flour.

I kneaded in my new mixer, the Anskrarum Assistent. It’s cool, it rotates the bowl not the hook and I love to watch it. You can hand knead or machine knead. Get the dough smooth and glossy.

Time to dig deep in the store cupboards and make up some yummy baked goods.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 285 mls of buttermilk, heated to lukewarm. If no buttermilk, sour 280 mls of milk with 5 mls of lemon juice, leave it ‘curdle’ for 10 minutes.
• 60 grams of unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons molasses or black treacle
• 60 grams whole wheat flour
• 110 grams rye flour
• 180 grams bread flour or plain white flour
• 2 teaspoons caraway seeds
• 35 grams potato flour
• 2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
  
• Topping – 60 grams of butter, melted

Instructions

1. Combine all the ingredients except the topping butter in the bowl. Mix well then knead until smooth and glossy. Cover with a damp towel, cling film or a shower cap.
2. Allow the dough to rise for a couple of hours. It may not double but it should get puffy and elastic.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled surface. Separate into 12 or 16 pieces. I made 16 rolls of approximately 50 grams each. The dough will weigh about 800 grams.
4. Prepare a baking pan – I used a 30 cm (12 inch) round tin, lined it with paper. Parchment works best.
5. Flatten each piece into a rough circle. Fold from the outside to the middle to make a little bundle that looks vaguely like a Chinese dumpling. Turn over and create surface tension by rolling it under your hand or between your hands. Place in the prepared pan, should not touch each other at this point.
6. Cover the pan and allow a second rise of 2 to 3 hours. Preheat the oven to 170C (160fan) when nearly ready to rise.
7. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Temperature test or tap to hear a hollow sound.
8. Leave the rolls in the pan while you melt the butter. Brush butter over the top, twice then remove from the pan to complete cooling.

These rolls make great sandwiches in the larger version or little buns with cheese in the smaller version. They basically disappeared in my house while still warm each time I made them.

Keep well everyone. Be of good cheer and be good to each other.

Send requests. I’m flexing my baking skills to avoid wasting anything. Let me know if you’ve got any strange ingredients you want to use yp. Thanks for reading, commenting and baking my recipes.

Who doesn’t love a cinnamon roll or a lightly toasted slice of cinnamon bread with just enough raisins? There were a number of false starts before we arrived at the lovely golden brown destination. I resorted to the heavy artillery and consulted Cook’s Illustrated after several less than satisfactory attempts and inconsistent outcomes.

Readers of the blog will know – Cook’s Illustrated, IMHO, is one of the few cooking websites worth paying for. Why? They apply science and sweat to cooking problems. The cinnamon swirl bread recipe that I used as the foundation for the recipe below is a case in point. I have adapted some of the methods and tweaked the ingredients but the genius is theirs.

Several warnings before you read on. Equipment – you must have a KitchenAid or equivalent mixer to knead the dough. I don’t think it can be hand kneaded or done by stretch and fold. Ingredients – you are unlikely to have dry powdered skim milk in your store cupboard. It’s important for texture and lightness for the dough. Nerves of steel – after 10 minutes of machine kneading you will be convinced that the dough is not going to come together. Trust me, it does. Instructions – the folding and braiding instructions seem complicated but aren’t. Be methodical.

If you haven’t running screaming back to an easier recipe, bake on!

Ingredients

Dough

• 55 grams unsalted butter
• 290 grams strong white bread flour
• 40 grams skim dry milk powder (sift to get rid of lumps if necessary)
• 35 grams caster sugar
• 1 1/2teaspoons active dry yeast
• 170 mls warm water (55 C)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 100 grams raisins
• 1 medium egg

Filling

• 55 grams icing sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt

Egg wash

• 1 medium egg lightly beaten with a pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Cut the butter into 16 pieces, toss with a tablespoon of flour to coat. Set aside.
2. Whisk together the flour, milk powder, yeast (do not add the salt yet) in the bowl of your KitchenAid (other stand mixers are available but mine is 25 years old and going strong). Attach the dough hook.
3. Add the water and the egg and mix on low speed until a cohesive dough forms. It will not pull away from the sides of bowl and will seem sticky. Scrape down the sides. Cover with plastic wrap or a shower cap. Leave to rest for 20 minutes.
4. Remove the shower cap, add the salt and knead on low speed until the dough is smooth and elastic. This can be as quick as 8 minutes or up to 15 minutes. The mixture will seem sticky and will not form a ball of dough. Yet.
5. With the mixer still running, add the butter a few pieces at a time and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic. This is the point where you might start to think ‘this will never work’. It does. As the butter is incorporated the dough starts to form, clears the sides of the bowl and you relax. This might take another 3 to 5 minutes.
6. Add the raisins and give it another 60 seconds of mixing. Using a dough scraper, transfer the dough to a large greased bowl. Do a series of eight clock folds; lifting the edge of the dough, pulling it towards the centre and turning the bowl.
7. Cover the dough tightly with plastic wrap. Leave to double in size. After an hour, do another series of clock folds. The first rise may take several hours. I did the first hour on the work bench and then the rest overnight in the refrigerator. As always, the timing of the rise this depends on the temperature of your kitchen.
8. Make the filling by whisking the dry ingredients together and adding the vanilla. It will look very dry.
9. Prep your loaf pan. Either grease well with a hard fat (butter or Trex or Crisco) or line with paper.
10. Lightly flour your work surface. Turn to dough out on to the work surface. Shape into a rough rectangle (15 cms by 27 cms) and fold top third to the middle and bottom third over both. Turn lengthwise, roll away from you into a rough ball. Dust the ball with flour. Flatten with a rolling pin to a rectangle 18 cm by 45 cm. It should about 1 cm thick and fairly even.
11. Spray or sprinkle the dough lightly with water. This makes the filling stick. Be abstemious with the water. Sprinkle the filling over the top, leave clean margins on all sides of the rectangle. Spray it again with water and roll up into a cylinder staring with short side. It should be a firm cylinder that it is about 20 cms in length. Tuck in the ends. Dust lightly with flour, cover with a towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
12. Clean your work surface. Gently stretch the cylinder out to roughly twice its original length. Cut it in half with a bench knife or scraper. Turn the pieces so the cut sides are facing up. Pinch the top ends of the two pieces together (you’re going to do a Russian braid or twist). Take the piece on the left, cross it over the piece on the right. Repeat left over right trying to keep the cut sides facing up until the pieces are twisted tightly together. Pinch the bottom of the two pieces together. Poke any raisins back into the dough. Gently transfer to your prepared pan.
13. Allow to rise until almost doubled in size meanwhile preheating your oven to 170 C. Brush the loaf with your egg wash. Bake for 20 minutes until the top is well browned. Reduce the oven temperature to 160 C and cover the loaf with foil. Continue to bake for another 20 to 25 minutes. Your thermometer should register 90-95 C when the bread is baked.

Thank you for reading the blog. Good luck with your baking. Thank you for following, sharing, commenting. Send questions and requests via comments, or Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Search ‘mamadolson’ and you should find me.

A party trick is something that looks impressive but is actually easy once you’ve seen the magic.  This (genuine) no knead focaccia is the party trick of baking.  Have the equipment and ingredients, follow the instructions and voila.  The only thing you do need is time; this bread requires an overnight rise.  But it’s worth the planning.

Focaccia ready for eating

I found this recipe, thought ‘that will never work’ . Knock me down with a feather – it did work.  And it’s worked every time since.  This is an absolute favourite of the family and it disappears faster than I can make it.  I learned to  make (at least) two loaves. I decorate mine with sliced black olives, rosemary and sea salt – but you can omit any of these and substitute at will.  Sun dried tomatoes,  caramelised onions, use your imagination.  The olives tend to put younger children off which is a good outcome for greedy grownups.

Read the recipe through, there is a lot of elapsed time here; an overnight rise, a second rise in the pan for two hours.  Labour low, time high.

As always, instructions written for the non-expert.

Equipment

• A 25 cm or 10 inch diameter cake pan (same shape as you would cook a sponge cake in).  Pan diameter is important – a 25 cm diameter pan has a surface area of 490 scm.  A 22 cm diameter pan has a surface area of 380 scm, its 22% smaller.
• Parchment paper
• A shower cap or cling film
• Large bowl
• Dough scraper (always helpful)

Ingredients

• 500 grams white flour; all purpose or bread flour.  Any old white flour NOT self raising
• 15 grams rock salt or 10 grams fine ground salt
• 4 grams instant dry yeast ( NOT fresh, not fast rising) – Amazon it if you must (don’t worry about the flour, worry about the yeast)
  (dry ingredients)
• 325 mls water, room temperature
• 1/4 cup olive oil (divided)
• 10-20 pitted black olives, sliced
• Fresh rosemary, don’t chop it but pick the leaves off the stalk, about 2 tablespoons
• Coarse salt

Instructions

Remember, It’s the night BEFORE you want to serve the bread.

Put the dry ingredients in a fairly large bowl and stir well to combine (flour, salt, yeast).  Salt and yeast are not great friends so I put the flour in first then salt on one side of the bowl and the yeast on the other.  Once they’re combined with the flour, its fine.

Pour the water into the dry ingredients, stir to mix well.  You should have a wet looking dough, like this. Cover with your shower cap or cling film and leave for at least 10 but up to 24 hours.  Does not need to be in the refrigerator.

Dough ready for proving.Next day…..

Line the bottom of your cake pan with parchment paper.  And coat with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Prep a cake pan 10 inches or 25 cm in diameter.

Your dough will have expanded and more than doubled in size but it will be soft and a bit sticky.  Lightly flour your work surface and sprinkle some flour across the top of the dough.  Using your dough scraper or a spatula, scrape out the dough onto the work surface and form it into a dome (flat on the bottom, round on top).  Turn the dough and tuck the edges under.  You want the top to be smooth and rounded – this keeps the dough hydrated.   Put the dough in the pan, start with the domed top, coat it with the olive oil and then turn it over.  Give it a bit of a squish to flatten it into sort of a disk.  Now cover the cake pan with your shower cap or cling film and leave for about two hours.

focaccia, dough, second rise

Preheat your oven to 225C (210C fan).

Prep your olives, rosemary and have the olive oil and coarse salt ready.   The dough will have expanded to fill most of pan.  Press it down to fill the pan and then lift the bottom edge of the dough, moving around the pan, pressing out the air bubbles and making sure the oil has coated the bottom.

Sprinkle your olives and rosemary across the top and press FIRMLY into the dough.  If there are kids around, get them to help with this – they love it.  If the olives and rosemary are not in the dough, they will be scorched bits of vegetable matter.  This is not what we’re looking for.   Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with the coarse salt.

focaccia, olives, rosemary,

Put the pan in the middle of the hot oven for at least 15 minutes and as long as 20 or 24 minutes until golden brown.

Let it cool in the pan for 20 to 30 minutes.  It should come out easily. You can serve immediately, serve it after it is fully cooled or warm it up in the oven later before serving.

I hope your family and friends love this bread as much as mine.

Keep on baking!