Bread

Giant Cinnamon Roll

Cinnamon rolls are always a good idea! So why don’t you give this giant version a go?

If you know anything about me, it’s my love for cinnamon rolls. I have purchased them from all different bakeries and made them at home (a lot) and having individual rolls are great but seeing as October is my birthday month and I’m not a huge fan of cake – this giant cinnamon roll is the perfect alternative.

There is no difference between this cinnamon roll and a batch of 12, well, apart from the size (obviously)!

This giant cinnamon roll is still a light enriched bread, filled with a cinnamon butter filling and topped with a tangy cream cheese icing – what’s not to like about it? If you don’t like cinnamon rolls, I think you best leave my blog… Soz.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Bread:

500g Strong white bread flour.

8g Salt.

50g Fresh yeast.

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

15g Milk powder.

1 Egg,

175ml Water (Luke warm).

Cinnamon Filling:

250g Light brown sugar.

250g Butter.

25g Ground cinnamon.

Cream Cheese Icing:

85g Soft cheese.

60g Butter.

200g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Methods:

Before you get into any baking, you’ll want to do some prep work first. Take the time to weigh up all the ingredients, lightly oil a bowl and get any equipment you may need ready, such as a stand mixer and spatula. When the times appropriate, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

To start on the bread dough, place the bread flour and salt into a mixing bowl and give it all a good mix to incorporate the two together.

You can then go ahead and place the remaining ingredients into the bowl, then mix everything together on a low speed to start with, for around 2 minutes. Followed by a further 6 minutes on a medium-high speed.

Once a dough has formed, it should be soft and may be sticky (try not to add any more flour, unless its very sticky).

Generously flour your work surface with bread flour and place the dough onto it, giving a brief knead just to incorporate some of the flour to elevate some of the stickiness of the dough.

Make sure you bring the dough back into a ball shape and place into the lightly oiled bowl, then cover with cling film and leave somewhere warm to proof for the first time.

While your dough is proofing for the first time, you can go ahead and get fully cleaned down and prepare your 10 inch round baking tin (I like to use a springform pan but feel free to use whatever you have) with parchment paper.

You can also make the cinnamon sugar filling. To make the filling, grab a bowl and place the butter, light brown sugar and cinnamon into a mixing bowl. Whisk everything together until everything is combined and you can’t see a trace of a single ingredient – set aside until needed, later on (you may want to place it into the fridge).

Once the dough has completed its first proof, you’ll want to generously flour your worktop and place the dough onto it. You can then knock the dough back – this is just the process of removing the gases that have built up in the dough.

Onto a floured work surface, bring the dough into a ball shape and start to roll the dough out using a rolling pin. The dough may resist being rolled out, this is a sign that the gluten has formed, this is a good sign. You’ll want to roll the dough out to roughly 40cm x 60cm.

Take the cinnamon sugar filling and spread it all over the dough, until you have a generous and level amount spread on the dough.

Now the cinnamon filling has been spread all over the dough, you can slice the dough into 5 equal (ish) parts and start to roll the dough up. Start with a piece and keep it as tight, so the swirls of cinnamon will be consistent – where the one piece of dough ends, you’ll want to start with another piece until you have used all of your dough up.

Place onto/into your prepared 10 inch round cake tin and loosely with clingfilm and proof for about 45-60 minutes or until it has proofed well. While it’s proofing, you can go ahead and preheat the oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

After the second proof, you can go ahead and remove the clingfilm and place into your preheated oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the bread is a golden brown colour.

Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool fully before you finish it off. Now is the perfect time to make the cream cheese icing.

Into your mixing bowl of choice, place the butter and icing sugar and beat them together until they are lighter combined. Once they are combined, you can then go ahead and add in all of the cream cheese and mix over a medium-high speed until everything ins well combined and a spreadable consistency.

Place in the fridge until your cinnamon has almost cooled down.

To finish the cinnamon roll, make sure your cinnamon roll is still slightly warm (the cream cheese icing will seep into it). Take the cream cheese icing and spread it all over the cinnamon roll (use as much or as little as you’d like, its really your preference).

Allow the icing to harden/skin over and then enjoy – this is the perfect alternative to a birthday cake for those like myself who don’t really like cake!

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.

50/50 Bread

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you eat a lot of bread and want to try something a little different, why don’t you give this 50/50 bread a try? You get the best of white and wholemeal bread in one loaf – what’s not to like about that?

This bread is perfect for those who just like bread. If you like wholemeal but find it too heavy or you like white bread but want something a little healthier, why not combine the two and get a loaf of bread thats lighter than wholemeal and a little healthier than white bread – that way you get the best of both worlds!

I know that this bread is readily available in most supermarkets in the UK (I’m not sure about else where in the world) but why buy something filled with preservatives an added nasties when you can make it yourself, pretty easily at home? It’ takes next to no time, perfect for those lazy winter days/nights that are coming up!

This is the perfect loaf of give a go if you’re new to bread making as it can be made by hand or stand mixer (no bread machines, they’re honestly a waste of time). It uses only simple ingredients, which if you’re a baker should have in anyway, so why not try something new? At the time of making this recipe the UK was in a national lockdown, so was using everything I had in storage up before I bought more (when this recipe is due to be shared, there will probably be new guidelines and some sort of lockdown, so use the time to learn a new skill).

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

250g Strong White bread flour.

250g Wholemeal flour.

5g Salt.

18g Fresh yeast.

30g White shortening.

12g Milk powder.

10g Granulated sugar.

310ml Water.

Methods:

Before you get into this recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up your ingredients, lining a loaf tin with a strip of parchment paper and getting any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and scotch scraper ready.

To start, grab your mixing bowl and place in the white flour, wholemeal flour and salt. Give them a brief mix together until they are combined.

You can then go ahead and add in the fresh yeast, white shortening, milk powder, granulated sugar and water and then mix on a low speed for 2 minutes followed by a high speed for a further 6-8 minutes, depending on how your dough is looking. The dough should be well formed and not sticky – the bowl will be almost perfectly clean.

Lightly flour your work surface with some flour and just give the dough a brief knead just to ensure the dough is fully ready.

Then place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and leave somewhere warm and leave it somewhere warm for around 60 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size. Please use the time I have given as a guide, depending on the climate of your location, it may take more or less time to prove up.

While the dough is proving for the first time, its the perfect time to get cleaned up and ready to work with the dough again.

Once the dough has proved, you can then take it from the bowl and place onto a lightly floured work surface and knock it back. This is just process of removing the gases rear built up in the dough during the first proof. Bring the dough back into a ball shape and roll into a fat sausage shape, just big enough to fit into a loaf tin.

Place the dough into the lined loaf pan and cover loosely with clingfilm and prove for a second time, this time for around 45 minutes or until the dough has proofed up nicely.

While the dough is have its second proof, you can go ahead and preheat your oven to 230˚c/445˚f.

Once the dough has finished its second proof, you can go ahead and remove the clingfilm from the top of the dough. Place it in the preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the bread has become well coloured.

To check if the bread is fully baked, turn it out of the loaf pan and tap the bottom. When you tap the bottom, it should sound hollow. If it doesn’t, place it back in the oven to bake for a little longer.

Otherwise, you’re done! If you can resist cutting into the bread while its warm, wait until its fully cooled down and then enjoy it as if it were a loaf of normal bread.

Apple & Blackberry Loaf

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

This weeks bread recipe is for something a little bit different – today I’ll be sharing my recipe for a blackberry and apple loaf!

When I say this recipe is a little different, it’s because the bread is naturally coloured purple and this is through the use of blackberries (which are still in season, I think). Normally when you add additional ingredients which may colour or tint the dough don’t add that much colour, this isn’t the case with blackberries.

This bread is made with an enriched dough, which means it’s going to taste good (the addition of butter and eggs) – this recipe also features fresh blackberries and dried apple. I like to use dried apple as it allows you to have the flavour but not the moisture of fresh apples – when you add too much moisture into a recipe, you have to balance the amounts out and it can get confusing very quickly. To make a long story short, use dried apples instead of fresh for this recipe.

I know that this flavour combination is a little out there and you may associate it with more sweet dishes like a apple and blackberry crumble, it’s very well balanced and tastes amazing once baked – you’ll have to trust me on that one!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Strong white bread flour.

50g Fresh yeast.

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

15g Milk powder.

1 Egg.

150ml Water (Luke warm).

100g Fresh blackberries.

20-30g Freeze dried apples (I use Liobites).

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, lining a loaf tin with parchment paper and get any equipment you may need ready, such as a stand mixer (or mixing bowl) and spatulas.

I like to start with the dough. To make the dough you’ll want to start with taking a mixing bowl and place in the bread flour and salt, giving them a brief mix just to combine the two.

Then place the remaining ingredients into the bowl and mix them all together on a low speed to start with (for 2 minutes approx), working your way to a high speed (for 6 minutes) until a dough has formed. The dough should be soft, if it’s sticky, don’t worry too much, we should be able to fix this in a little bit.

Flour the work surface with a generous amount of bread flour and place the dough onto it. Knead the dough until the dough is smooth and elasticated. This may take some time, but the dough will become easier to work with as some of that flour is incorporated.

Place the dough into the lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl with cling-film and allow to proof until the dough has doubled in size, for me this is usually about an hour but depending on the climate where you live this time may require adjusting.

Once the dough has completed its first proof, you’ll want to generously flour your worktop and place the dough onto it. You can then knock the dough back, this is just the process of removing the gases that had built up during the first proof.

You can then go ahead and bring the dough into a ball shape, then roll it into a fat sausage shape or a loaf shape, just big enough to fit into a standard loaf pan.

Cover loosely with clingfilm and place somewhere warm to proof for a second time. The dough should only need about 45-60 minutes but depends on the climate where you live – if you live somewhere warmer, the dough will proof quicker.

Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, around 15 minutes before you intend to use the oven.

After the dough has proofed, it should be well risen and ready for the oven. Just before you place it into the oven, sprinkle over some oats and then go ahead place it into your preheated oven and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Remove the bread from the oven and empty straight onto a cooling rack and tap the bottom of the loaf – if it sounds hollow, thats a good sign and shows the bread is baked.

Allow to cool until fully cooled down, then you can slice it up and enjoy it however you like. I like it toasted with butter but you can use it however you like!

Sourdough Bread

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

This week for the bread recipe, I’ll be sharing my recipe for a super easy sourdough loaf at home!

You may remember that last week, I shared my sourdough starter recipe with you – this is a very important component in sourdough bread. So, if you want to make a batch of sourdough bread, you will need to make a starter.

This style of bread has gained popularity over the past few years, even being sold at smaller craft/artisan bakeries but what’s the point in that? You can make it home with some time and effort… Don’t get me wrong, it may take you a couple of attempts to get a loaf that looks like a bakery style version but trust me, it’s fully worth it.

The thing I love about this bread is how easy it is to make and the simplicity of the ingredients you need to make such a recipe. All the ingredients I mention below are pantry essentials, so you should have most of them in. This is honestly one of the perfect recipes to make if you’re looking for something to make that doesn’t require a lot of your time, the perfect weekend bake!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

250g Strong white flour.

4g Salt.

125g Sourdough starter.

125ml Water.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep. Make sure that you have made a sourdough starter and it’s at the perfect place to work with, weigh up all your ingredients and grab anything else you may need like a mixing bowl and a scotch scraper.

To start on the dough, you’ll want to grab your sour starter and test it to ensure its ready to be used. All you need to do for the test is get a small bowl of water and scoop a teaspoon or table spoon of the sour starter into it – you’re looking for it to float. If it doesn’t, then your starter isn’t correct and you will need to make it again.

Into a clean large mixing bowl, you will want to add the water and sourdough starter and mix together until combined using a spatula or a whisk (whichever works best for you).

Then you can go ahead and add in the bread flour and salt and mix the dough by hand until everything is fully combined and a dough has formed. The thing to note about this dough is the fact it’s fairly wet/loose – this is normal and will partially fix itself later on.

You can the cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave it at room temperature to ferment for about 60 minutes (or until it has risen well).

Take the dough and place it onto a lightly floured or lightly oiled work surface and use a scotch scraper to round and smooth the dough out – you will want to try and not to handle the dough too much, use a scraper to do most of the work. Once you have achieved a smooth ball, set aside for a moment while your prepare the next stage.

For the net stage, you can use a fancy proofing basket which cost £25+ online or a simple hack is to use a medium sized bowl and place a clean cotton tea-towel inside. Flour the tea-towel well with some bread flour. Place the ball of dough into the tea-towel upside down, so the bottom of the dough is showing, then flour the side of the dough you can see with more bread flour and cover with the remaining tea-towel.

Leave somewhere at room temperature and leave to proof until the dough is almost touching the top of the bowl, around 40-60 minutes was the sweet spot for me but that time may vary, depending on the climate of where you live.

When the dough has almost reached completion, you can go ahead and preheat your oven to 230˚c/445˚f – you can also place a small baking pan of water onto the bottom of the oven at this point.

Once it has proofed, you can then go ahead and line a baking tray with paper and place them directly on top of the bowl, then flip it over so the tray is on the work surface and the bowl is on top. Remove the bowl and gently remove the tea-towel (if you didn’t flour the tea bowl very well, it will stick to the tea-towel and ruin all of the work you have put into it).

Take a sharp small blade or knife and cut the dough however you like. I went with a super simple and straightforward cut across the middle.

Then you will want to take a metal bowl, one thats ovenproof and big enough to fit over the dough and place directly over the dough and place into the oven, then bake.

After about 20 minutes, you’ll want to remove the tray of water and the metal bowl from on top of the bread, them bake for the remainder of the time.

Once it is out of the oven, you can then leave it cool completely on a cooling rack.

Slice into it and enjoy!

Sour Starter

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

This week I’m showing you how to make a sour starter. Although this isn’t exactly a bread recipe, it’s a starter for all things sourdough.

If you don’t know about sourdough, I’ll give you a little rundown on it. Sourdough bread is a fermented bread that doesn’t contain added yeast, it replies purely on the naturally occurring lactobacilli and yeast. The bread does have a more ‘sour’ taste and that comes from the lactic acid that comes from lactobacilli.

This style of bread has become more popular over the years and during the lockdown that occurred in 2020, supplies were short in demand, so sourdough became a popular bread to make at home. This is mostly because you don’t need yeast and its super easy to make.

The starter is probably the most time consuming element of this bread, as it takes 6 days to make a starter that can be used… It sounds like a long time but it’s well worth it. All you need is a container, bread flour and water… It’s honestly so simple.

Every other day, you’ll be emptying about 70% of the mixture (which is called sour discard and can be used in other recipes such as pancakes and muffins), adding fresh flour and water and allowing it time to work. You’ll know it’s working as the starter will rise and bubble and start to smell more sour.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Day 1 –

500g Strong bread flour.

375ml Water.

Day 3 –

250g Strong bread flour.

188ml Water.

Day 5 –

250g Strong bread flour.

188ml Water.

Day 6 –

250g Strong bread flour.

188ml Water.

Method:

Before you get started on the sour starter, you’l want to do some prep work. You should start by weighing up all of your ingredients and grabbing any equipment you need such a container (feel free to use glass or plastic, glass works better for smaller amounts) and a silicon spatula.

This recipe takes almost a week to make but once you have a starter going, you’ll be well away to keep it going ultimately forever. This is perfect if you intend on making sourdough bread more often in the future.

To start on the sour starter, take your clean container and add in the bread flour, followed by the water and mix until a loose dough forms. Then you can place the lid on the container and leave somewhere at room temperature for 2 days.

You may not notice much difference on day 2 and this is completely normal but by day 3, you should see the mixture has grown a fair amount and has become fairly bubbly.

Now you’re on day 3, you can take the lid off the container and give the starter a good mixture, then into a jar (or bowl) pour out about 70% of it. This is known as sour discard and it can be used to enhance the flavour in many other baked goods such as muffins and brownies. Store the discard in a contain in the fridge and use within 2-3 days.

Into the starter, add day 3’s flour and water and mix until a loose dough has formed, place the lid back on container and leave again at room temperature for 2 days before you interact with it again.

On day 5, you will basically repeat what you did on day 3. Grab a jar or bowl and pour out about 70% of the starter (again, this is the sour discard). You can then go ahead and add in the flour and water and mix until a loose dough has formed – place the lid back on and cover for 24-48 hours.

If you are intending to make sourdough bread on day 6, you’ll only want to leave the starter for 24 hours. After the 24 hours, you can repeat the same steps as in previous days. Empty out about 70% of your starter into a jar or bowl and then go ahead and add in the flour and water then mix until a loose dough has formed.

Leave the starter for about 6-8 hours and then you can use it. This 6-8 hour window is what works for me, you may be able to be flexible either way.

That’s it for this weeks recipe, join me next week when I’ll be showing you how to make a simple sourdough loaf.

Farls

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

This weeks bread recipe is for something a little different – it a batch of yeast free farls.

Farls are a super easy bread to make, they are yeast free and only require minimal ingredients, perfect to make as a side for breakfast or along soup. They are aren’t the lightest but they are hearty and perfect to enjoy on these colder mornings/evenings.

As you read the recipe, you may also notice that these farls aren’t like normal bread and that’s because you start with a lactic ferment and theres not yeast at all, theres actually baking powder (there are some people who wouldn’t classify this as bread but believe it or not, it is).

These aren’t commonly called farls anymore as they have taken on different names depending on where you are. The most common places to find these or something similar is in Ireland and Scotland, both use different names for these.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Lactic Ferment –

160g White bread flour.

160g Wholemeal flour.

325ml Buttermilk, cold.

180g White bread flour.

1/2 tsp Salt.

25g Baking powder.

15g Granulated sugar.

Method:

As with all of my recipe, before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to start with some prep work. I recommend you start by weighing up all of your ingredients, grabbing any equipment you may need such as a mixing bowl and spatula (for the time being).

Now you can start on the recipe, well, there is a step you need to do before you consider making the farls. It’s the lactic ferment, once this is made, you will need to let it ferment for a minimum of 2 hours up to a maximum of 24 hours – if you go over the 24 hours, restart. Make sure you leave this ferment at room temperature.

I used my ferment after about 12 hours, that was the perfect time for me. I simply grab myself a mixing bowl (I used my stand mixer bowl but feel free to do this by hand) and add in the white bread flour, baking powder, salt, then give it a brief mix to combine.

Into the bowl, add the lactic ferment and start to mix the ingredients together on a low speed to start with for around 2 minutes, followed by 4 minutes on a medium-high speed. If you’re doing this by hand, get your hands into the bowl and mix together until a dough forms, then knead on a floured surface until a clean and clear dough has formed. Repeat the final part on a floured surface if you’re using a stand mixer.

Make sure you scan the dough at 450g per head of dough.

I like to flatten the dough a little by pressing/tapping it down with my hand, retaining the round shape. Then you can go ahead and roll the dough until it’s roughly 9 inches and/or 3/4 of an inch thick. Loosely cover with clingfilm and leave to rest for 20 minutes.

While your dough is resting, it’s the perfect time to get the frying pan heated. Place the frying pan onto the hob and bring to a medium-high heat (theres no need to oil the pan).

Once your frying pan has come up to heat and the dough has had its rest, you can go straight into getting these baked. Simply take your dough rounds and place directly into the heated frying pan and using a scotch scraper or something similar and cut the dough into a ‘+’ shape, so you have 4 triangular farls. Fry on each side for between 3 and 8 minutes (the time will depend on how thick your dough is) to check, simply flip them over and they should look well baked and puffed up. I found around 6-8 minutes for mine was perfect, but it will vary for you and your farls.

Now that your farls are baked, you can go ahead and allow them to cool a little and enjoy them fresh and warm and allow them to cool down and enjoy them at a later time.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Rolls

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

This weeks bread recipe is for a batch of peanut butter and jelly rolls, its something a little different but the combination and balance make these rolls work really well.

These rolls were the accidental creation… I was trying to use up the odds and end I had in the cupboard and magically, I came up with these stunning rolls. I know they aren’t the best looking but trust me, they are super tasty!

If you like cinnamon rolls or Chelsea buns, then you might like these – seeing as they are the perfect alternative to either of them. They’re not the most seasonal baked treat, I’m aware but hey, they are packed with flavour and delicious – what more could you ask for really?

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Bread:

500g Strong white bread flour.

50g Fresh yeast.

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

15g Milk powder.

1 Egg.

175ml Water (Luke warm).

Peanut Butter Filling:

150-200g Light brown sugar.

80g Butter.

20g Ground cinnamon.

Topping:

Strawberry Jam (the amount will vary on how much you’d like, I used a fair amount to balance out the ratio roughly compared to the peanut butter).

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, lining a 9×13 inch deep sided baking tin with parchment paper and get any equipment you may need ready, such as a stand mixer (or mixing bowl) and spatulas.

I like to start with the dough. To make the dough you’ll want to start with taking a mixing bowl and place in the bread flour and salt, giving them a brief mix just to combine the two.

Then place the remaining ingredients into the bowl and mix them all together on a low speed to start with (for 2 minted approx), working your way to a high speed (for 6 minutes) until a dough has formed. The dough should be soft, if it’s sticky, don’t worry too much, we should be able to fix this in a little bit.

While the dough is proving, you can make the peanut butter filling. Into a bowl, place the butter, light brown sugar, ground cinnamon and peanut butter into a mixing bowl.

Whisk all of the ingredients together until they are all well combined, they should come together and form a peanut butter coloured spreadable paste.

Now the dough has been knocked back, bring the dough into a ball shape and start to roll the dough out using a rolling pin. The dough may resist being rolled out, this is a sign that the gluten has formed, this is a good sign. You’ll want to roll the dough out to a rectangle with the rough dimensions of 25cm x 45cm.

Take the peanut butter filling and spread it all over the dough, until you have a generous and level amount spread on the dough.

Take the long side of dough (the one nearest you) and start to roll it up. Start by rolling around 2cm of the dough into the first roll and then just continue the rolling until you’ve fully rolled the dough. Make sure that you keep each roll of the dough tight (ensuring the seem is on the bottom of the dough.

Slice the dough at around 1 inch increments, they’ll be your individual

Place the rolls into a deep sided tray, I used my trusty Nordic Ware 9×13 baking tray (this is not an affiliate link, it’s a link to the exact one I have). Cover the tray with cling film and allow to double in size. Prove for around 30-45 minutes – these rolls will batch while baking, this is normal.

While the rolls are having the second proof, you can go ahead and preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f. Once your rolls have proofed up nicely, you can remove the clingfilm from on top of the dough and place into the preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes (they should be a golden brown colour).

Now that the peanut butter rolls are baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool down, almost fully before you finish them off.

Once they’re almost cooled down, you can the dollop the strawberry jam on top of each of the rolls and spread it all out until you have a good coverage of jam over the rolls.

Brown Bloomer

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

I’m taking this weeks bread recipe back to basic with this brown bloomer.

If you have been around for a while, you may remember that at the start of 2020 I started this very bread series and started it with a white bloomer .

I don’t know why but when it comes to autumn, I automatically think about colder weather and enjoying all thinks comforting and it’s sometimes the simplest things, such as wholemeal bread or a simple brown bloomer. You can enjoy it however you like but I like to have mine thickly sliced with butter on a morning for breakfast or a few slices with a bowl of soup on an evening.

This bread is perfect for everybody to try, it’s only a few ingredients and a little time and you’ll have a perfect loaf of bread – its honestly so easy, once you make your own, you may never go back to shop bought bread again.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Brown flour.

8g Salt.

25g Fresh yeast.

30g White shortening.

10g Milk powder.

10g Granulated sugar.

310ml Water.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, lining a baking tray with parchment paper and getting any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and a scotch scraper.

To start, grab your mixing bowl and add in the bread flour and salt then give a brief mix, just to incorporate them together.

You can then go ahead and add in the fresh yeast, white shortening, milk powder, granulated sugar and water.

Then mix everything together on a low speed for 2 minutes, followed by 6 minutes on a high speed. The dough should be easy to work with and leave the bowl almost clean.

Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface and give it a brief knead, just until smooth and elastic. Once you’ve achieved that, you can go ahead and place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and leave somewhere warm to proof for around 45-60 minutes or until it has doubled in size.

While your dough is proving, its the perfect time to get cleaned and tidied up.

Once the dough has proved, you can go ahead and knock the dough back (this is just the process of removing the gasses that have built up in the dough during the first proof).

You can then bring the ought back into a ball shape and the roll out into oblong shape and place onto your lined baking tray, covering loosely with clingfilm and allowing it to proof up for a second time – roughly about 30-45 minutes should be perfect. I recommend preheating your oven to 230˚c/445˚f. You’ll know the dough has done proving as you’ll be able to gentled press the dough and it’ll spring back.

After the second proof, you can remove the clingfilm from off of the dough and make score the dough. I think more traditionally its around 7 cuts but I went with 6 – if you’re making this for home, you can make as many or as few cuts as you’d like. Bake in the preheated oven for around 30-35 minutes.

To test if the bread is done, turn it upside own and tap the bottom – if it sounds hollow, thats a good sign and shows the bread is baked, remove from the oven and take off the baking tray and place onto a cooling rack to cool down fully.

Once cooled down, you can then go ahead and slice the bread to your desired thickness and enjoy it however you like!

Potato Bread

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today I’m sharing my take on potato bread – perfectly light, fluffy and easy to make. What more could you ask for?

I have shared a few basic bread recipes throughout the year but this is on another tier, trust me when I say that. I remember a while ago when I first made this loaf, I as amazed at how light and fluffy the bread was. I was expecting the end result to be a heavy and dense loaf but it really isn’t. Adding the potatoes in once the dough has done mixing certainly helps with keeping this loaf perfectly balanced.

This is the perfect bread to make if you have either some left over boiled potatoes or have some potatoes to use it, trust me. This is one of those breads, when you tell them what it has in, they’re intrigued and want to try it.

I’ve kept it very plain and simple but feel free to add other flavours like herbs and spices with other addtions like meat or cheese – it’s a really easy to customise. What would your combination be?

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Strong bread flour.

5g Salt.

15g Fresh yeast.

30g White shortening.

10g Milk powder.

210ml Water.

250g Potatoes (peeled, boiled and fully cooled down).

Method:

Before you get into making this loaf, you’re best to do some prep work. I like to start by weighing up all of my ingredients, preparing the loaf pan with a slip of greaseproof paper and get any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and a spatula. Don’t forget to peel and boil your potatoes and allow them to cool down fully before you use them.

To start on the dough, take your mixing bowl and place in the bread flour and salt, giving them a good mix, just until they are incorporated.

You can then go ahead and add in the fresh yeast, shortening, milk powder and water – then mix on low speed to start with for around 2 minutes, followed by 6 minutes on a high speed. You will notice the dough isn’t as soft as usual, this is normal and will change.

Once the dough has been mixing for around 6-7 minutes, stop the mixer and place in all of the potatoes and mix on a low speed for around a minute, followed by 1-2 minutes on a high speed. By this time, you’ll notice the dough is looking a lot better, much lighter and fluffier.

Lightly flour your work surface with a small amount of flour, then place the dough onto it and give it a brief knead. You just want the dough to be smooth and elastic.

You can then transfer the dough into a bowl which has been lightly oiled with. flavourless and colourless oil. Place the dough into the bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave somewhere warm until the dough has doubled in size (which usually takes around 45-60 minutes, depending on the climate).

While the dough is proofing, it’s the perfect time to get cleaned down and ready for when the dough is proofed.

Once the dough is well proofed, you can then go ahead and flour your work surface with a small amount of flour, then you can go ahead and add the dough on to it and knock it back. Knocking the dough back is the process of removing the gases that have built up in the dough. Once the dough has been knocked back, you can bring it back into a ball shape, then roll out into a fat sausage shape and place into your lined loaf pan. Cover loosely with clingfilm and leave to proof for a further 30-45 minutes.

Now you can see your dough has risen well, you can preheat your oven to 230˚c/445˚f.

Remove the clingfilm from on-top of the dough and place into the preheated oven and baked for 15-20 minutes, it should be well coloured.

Once the baking time is done and the bread is baked, remove from the tin/tray and allow to cool fully before you slice it up. If you’re not sure your bread is full baked, turn the loaf upside down and tap the bottom – if it sounds hollow, its baked.

Slice and enjoy, once the loaf has cooled down fully. This is the perfect bread for sandwiches, toast and if you allow it to go stale, bread pudding.

Bagels

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today I’m sharing an easy recipe for homemade bagels.

These bagels are soft on the inside and have the perfectly chewy crust – just as a bagel should have.

Now, these may not be a traditional bagel but they are my take on how to make them, plus this was the way we made them at college.

From personal experience, some of the best bagels are made by jewish bakeries. They are just perfect but I cannot recreate that at home but this is pretty close, so why not give them a try?

I love how versatile bagels can be. They can be enjoyed at breakfast, lunch or dinner – even as dessert, if you’d like.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Strong white bread flour.

9g Salt.

20g Fresh Yeast.

20ml Vegetable oil.

10g Granulated sugar.

2 Eggs.

175ml Water.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work to start. I like to start by weighing up all my ingredients, lining my baking tray with parchment paper and get any of your equipment, such as a stand mixer and bench scraper ready.

To start on the dough, grab your mixing bowl and place in the flour and salt, then give a good mix just to incorporate.

You can then go ahead and add in the fresh yeast, vegetable oil, granulated sugar, eggs and water and mix on a low speed for 2 minutes to start with, followed by 4 minutes on a medium-high speed.

The dough should be clear and leave next to no traces in the bowl, this is when you know the dough is done.

Place the dough into a bowl and cover with clingfilm and leave to proof for around 40-60 minutes.

Then you can knock the dough back. This is the process of removing the gasses that have built up in the dough during the first proof – bring then dough back into a ball shape and keep covered, so a skin doesn’t form on the dough.

You can then go ahead and scale the dough into 120g portions, smoothing the dough up into a ball shape.

to make the hole in the middle of the dough, use your index finger and thumb and just rub them together until a hole as formed. Ensure the hole has a good opening, so when it proofs up, it’s still there.

Place onto a lined baking tray, cover loosely with clingfilm and leave to proof for about 40-50 minutes or until they have proofed up well.

While the bagels are proofing, place a large saucepan of water onto the hob over a high heat, ensuring the water reaches a boil before you use it.

Depending on the size of your saucepan, you should place 1-2 bagels at a time, making sure each side has around 1 minute in the boiling water. Once they have been blistered, place back onto the baking tray – now they are all done and on the baking tray, give the bagels a good coating of egg wash. If you want to, you can add sesame seeds or similar on top, after the egg wash and before they’re baked.

Now you can place them into your preheated oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until they have become consistently well coloured.

Once they have been baked, allow to cool fully before you enjoy them. Enjoy them however you’d like, I like to keep it simple with cream cheese, avocado and salmon.

Bread

Footer