Golden raisins with walnuts nicely distributed in the crumb. Lovely with butter!
Ingredients:
500g Unbleached organic bread flour
350g filtered water
11g dry yeast ( 1 whole sachet )
10g sea salt.
Method:
Mix the flour,sea salt thoroughly in the Kitchen Aid bowl. In a glass bowl, mix the dry yeast with the water, and let this stand for 10 to 15 mins till it looks frothy. Then make a hole in the flour mixture and pour in the water/yeast mixture.
Basic ingredients plus walnuts and golden raisin.
Flip the sides of the flour to cover the water and let this stand for 15 minutes or slightly longer for *autolysis to take place. During this time, roughly chop the walnuts and soak the raisins in warm water for 10 to 15 minutes and then drain off the water.
The water/yeast mixture covered with flour.
Soak the raisins, chop the walnuts.
With the dough hook, mix the dough until it is smooth, elastic and silky and the dough comes off the walls of the metal bowl. Add in the chopped walnuts and the soaked raisins. Mix further till the solids are more or less evenly distributed in the dough.
Dough sticking to sides.
Coming clean off the sides.
Silky, smooth, elastic dough.
Transfer the dough on to a well floured mat and gently fold a few times, then form into a ball and let this sit, covered with a damp towel for 1/2 hour. After this time, gently fold and shape the dough which should be relaxed, into a batard-shaped loaf, and let this rest to proof for a further 1 to 2 hours depending upon your ambient temperature. In the last 1/2 hour, heat up the oven with a small shallow metal tray on the baking stone to 230˚C.
Dough relaxing for 1/2 hour.
Shaped dough proofing.
Slash the dough 0.5 cm deep.
When the dough has risen to almost double its size, slash the surface a few times and transfer it on to the hot baking stone and pour 1/2 cup of boiling water on the tray for steaming. Spritz once with water into the oven and bake for 30 mins. Bread as basic as you can get.
The loaf cooling on a metal rack.
*Autolysis. More about this method in a later blog. It produces a dough that is easier to handle and bread with a whiter crumb that tastes better.
“I understand the big food companies are developing a tearless onion. I think they can do it — after all, they’ve already given us tasteless bread.”
-Robert Orben.
0 Comments