Colin Grigson
Bass guitarist - Bad News
- Location
- Slovakia
Homemade energy bars .... ridiculously healthy ingredients
The bakers' thread
- Thread starter glasgowcyclist
- Start date
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glasgowcyclist
Charming but somewhat feckless
- Location
- Scotland
Reynard
Guru
- Location
- Cambridgeshire, UK
Turkish / middle-eastern bread, I'd hazard a guess...
Going to throw some naan together to go with tonight's curry.
Going to throw some naan together to go with tonight's curry.
figbat
Slippery scientist
- Location
- South Oxfordshire, UK
Barbari comes from the area around the Afghanistan/Iran border. In Farsi nun barbari means literally the bread of the barbarians, and is the most popular bread in Iran according to Wikipedia.
It is fairly easy to make though for a long time I couldn't get it right, until I found out that it needs to be baked in a very hot oven. You can find loads of recipes online, mine is as follows.
300ml water
3 cups white bread flour
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
A squirt of olive oil
¾ tsp quick yeast
Mix and knead as usual, I use a breadmaker for this. I leave it to raise for two and a half hours, then knock back, split into four parts and let relax for a bit.
In the meantime put a pizza stone in the oven and let it warm up to maximum temperature, and prepare a flour wash, I use 3 parts water 1 part flour.
Take one of the dough parts and stretch to a rectangular shape by hand, to a thickness of between five and ten mm. Press with your fingertips lengthwise to form the lines you can see, press as much as you can without breaking the dough. Lift from the surface to make surely it isn't stuck. Brush with the wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Now lift the bread onto the stone, and bake for about 10 minutes. Repeat for the rest of the dough.
@glasgowcyclist was correct, mine are the first photo.
It is fairly easy to make though for a long time I couldn't get it right, until I found out that it needs to be baked in a very hot oven. You can find loads of recipes online, mine is as follows.
300ml water
3 cups white bread flour
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
A squirt of olive oil
¾ tsp quick yeast
Mix and knead as usual, I use a breadmaker for this. I leave it to raise for two and a half hours, then knock back, split into four parts and let relax for a bit.
In the meantime put a pizza stone in the oven and let it warm up to maximum temperature, and prepare a flour wash, I use 3 parts water 1 part flour.
Take one of the dough parts and stretch to a rectangular shape by hand, to a thickness of between five and ten mm. Press with your fingertips lengthwise to form the lines you can see, press as much as you can without breaking the dough. Lift from the surface to make surely it isn't stuck. Brush with the wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Now lift the bread onto the stone, and bake for about 10 minutes. Repeat for the rest of the dough.
@glasgowcyclist was correct, mine are the first photo.
Last edited:
Sorry for the late reply, I think that marmite is the salt source.
BrumJim
Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
- Location
- Selly Oak, Birmingham
Father's Day baking with my son. Using weekendbakery.com and trying their cinnamon bun recipe:
Very, very tasty. Highly recommended.
Very, very tasty. Highly recommended.
Reynard
Guru
- Location
- Cambridgeshire, UK
BrumJim
Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
- Location
- Selly Oak, Birmingham
I know. You've mentioned them before. Working out what to do without the moulds.If you like the Lotus biscuits, I highly recommend their recipe for Speculaas
Reynard
Guru
- Location
- Cambridgeshire, UK
The moulds are a faff.
Just make balls the size of a walnut, put them on a greased and lined baking sheet and squash them. They will spread a bit, so give them a bit of space. In my oven, they take about 10 mins at 170 C (fan) - you may want to tweak this a little.
The alternative is to roll the dough into a log, wrap in cling film, cool till very firm and then cut into slices about 4mm thick.
glasgowcyclist
Charming but somewhat feckless
- Location
- Scotland
Talking on the other thread about overnight doughs got me hankering for another of the Jim Lahey variety so I started it last night. Having had trouble previously getting the floured towel off the dough without degassing it, I thought of another option; using my Lékué silicon bowl/mould.
I could ferment the dough as usual in the big glass bowl, shape it the next morning and then transfer it to the Lékué. The only problem is that the silicon mould isn’t as steam-tight as a pot so I used tin foil to seal the thing better. It was an experiment but I’m glad to say it worked well.
I mixed the dough at 21:25 last night, leaving it covered in the kitchen.
Next morning it was a wonderful, bubbly, wobbly mass.
At 10:40 I shaped it into a boule and transferred it to the Lékué.
By 12:35 it was nearly doubled in volume and it went into the oven with the extra tinfoil sealing the end gaps to keep the steam inside as much as possible.
After 30 minutes I removed the foil and opened the mould to start colouring the bread.
10 minutes later I took the mould away completely to let the bread bake on the stone and properly darken.
I was happy with the colour after 50 minutes of baking.
I listened to it crackle and pop, desperate for it to cool so I could cut it.
My word, what a smashing loaf, so full of flavour.
I think my total hands-on time was about 10-12 minutes, it did most of the work itself just developing flavour overnight while I slept. Easy peasy.
I could ferment the dough as usual in the big glass bowl, shape it the next morning and then transfer it to the Lékué. The only problem is that the silicon mould isn’t as steam-tight as a pot so I used tin foil to seal the thing better. It was an experiment but I’m glad to say it worked well.
I mixed the dough at 21:25 last night, leaving it covered in the kitchen.
Next morning it was a wonderful, bubbly, wobbly mass.
At 10:40 I shaped it into a boule and transferred it to the Lékué.
By 12:35 it was nearly doubled in volume and it went into the oven with the extra tinfoil sealing the end gaps to keep the steam inside as much as possible.
After 30 minutes I removed the foil and opened the mould to start colouring the bread.
10 minutes later I took the mould away completely to let the bread bake on the stone and properly darken.
I was happy with the colour after 50 minutes of baking.
I listened to it crackle and pop, desperate for it to cool so I could cut it.
My word, what a smashing loaf, so full of flavour.
I think my total hands-on time was about 10-12 minutes, it did most of the work itself just developing flavour overnight while I slept. Easy peasy.
IaninSheffield
Veteran
- Location
- Sheffield, UK
Never tried a no-knead bread but, inspired by @glasgowcyclist, I thought I'd give the Jim Lahey method a try. I've also never tried baking bread in a pot before, mainly because I didn't think I had one ... but then remember I had a rarely used, large metal casserole languishing at the back of a cupboard.
Oh my! Such taste!
I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as an 'easy' loaf - the high hydration dough takes a bit of wrangling. After the overnight prove and a quick 4 'folds', I gently placed it onto semolina'd parchment paper for the 2nd prove. The paper allowed me to easily lower it into and when baked, remove it from the casserole. Got this tip from here:
I think it might have been slightly better for a couple of minutes more in the oven with the lid off, but after this success, the casserole dish and I have agreed not to remain such strangers.
Oh my! Such taste!
I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as an 'easy' loaf - the high hydration dough takes a bit of wrangling. After the overnight prove and a quick 4 'folds', I gently placed it onto semolina'd parchment paper for the 2nd prove. The paper allowed me to easily lower it into and when baked, remove it from the casserole. Got this tip from here:
I think it might have been slightly better for a couple of minutes more in the oven with the lid off, but after this success, the casserole dish and I have agreed not to remain such strangers.
glasgowcyclist
Charming but somewhat feckless
- Location
- Scotland
When mine was the colour of your finished loaf I baked it for another 15 minutes.
I was nervous at getting the crust a dark chestnut colour as that was way beyond my normal cue for taking it out of the oven, but the flavour of that crust is soooo intense.
BrumJim
Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
- Location
- Selly Oak, Birmingham
Fascinated by the idea of no-knead bread. Surely that's like decaffeinated coffee? What is the point in making bread if you don't take out the frustrations of life on the dough for 15 minutes?
Might give it a go, though. Just have to wait until I'm in a good mood.
