Tag: Tame the Yeast Beast

“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.”
Robert Browning

Bread we love! French Fougasse with Roasted Red Bell Pepper & Garlic, Walnut & Mozarella … one of the most satisfying, indulgent and ‘would sell like hot cakes’ breads I’ve made ever since I’ve got back into bread baking mode! There’s been a bread baking frenzy of sorts and the net seems  knee deep in dough!I switched into bread baking mode with wonderful wonderful Ottolenghis focaccia and there’s been little looking back. That was a most excellent bread to bake … deep, rustic, complex flavours. The stamp of Ottolenghis culinary brilliance!! It must have been more than a coincidence to find Jamie in Nantes baking focaccia too … whihc is how I walked into the Twelve Loves Challenge. What is that? Simply said, an event  ‘for the love of bread‘!

I missed their August challenge but looks like carbs all the way this month and the bread monster is alive and kicking yeast on PAB! The September Twelve Loaves Challenge calls for Bread with Cheese; for me it meant baking French Fougasse stuffed with cheesy goodness, a bread we LOVE at home.

In French cuisine, fougasse is a type of bread typically associated with Provence but found (with variations) in other regions. Some versions are sculpted or slashed into a pattern resembling an ear of wheat.

I’ve baked this often, always with fresh yeast and plain flour. This time though, with carbs threatening an overdose, I did a tiny substitution with whole wheat flour and used instant yeast. I also literally stuffed the dough, almost making it a more like a baked sandwich than bread. It was delicious … and disappeared soon! I didn’t have Gouda so used mozzarella instead. Any cheese is good and mozzarella was great … warm, stringy, flavourful, cheesily indulgent.You could always halve the cheese but mine had a good dose ‘For the Love of Bread’ of course! Bread with Cheese Twelve Loaves is kneadlessly hosted by my sweet baker friends – Jamie @ Life’s a Feast, Lora @ Cake Duchess and Barb @ Creative Culinary. They are immensely talented ladies, inspirational too.Along side, the very viral FB group on CAL took off and we voted for a bread baking event … it was time to Tame The Yeast Beast. A lot of bread talk took place – dough ‘mentoring‘, recipe swaps, inspirations across the board, ideas exchanged, meals virtually dug into … The flour and yeast industry must be feeling the upswing these days with home bakers doing bread from scratch across the globe!Never has it been a better time to ‘break bread’ together. There’s been plenty of bread talk, FAQs, fresh yeast vs instant yeast vs sourdough {sourdough bread above}, why the yeast won’t rise, the brand of flour, the temperature etc. I’m no expert but have found that more often than never it’s the quality of the yeast which plays spoilsport and gives rise to beastly failure!This week, I also baked my maiden sourdough bread thanks to Sangeeta who shared some sourdough with us at Veda. My bread didn’t come out looking too good, and the recipe needs some further experimenting. Sangeeta’s posted a wonderful sourdough FAQ on her blog and I now know my bread was pleasantly sour because it was proofed for 3 days. The kids loved the flavour … {Sorry about the photographs. All done in a rainy day hurry}Those loaves too disappeared pretty soon… some with lunch, and the rest as sandwiches for dinner. Will tweak the recipe and get sourdough confident soon. I want to make a San Francisco Sourdough bread one day … have you made one yet? Until then, here is one of my favourite meal breads for you, a  French Fougasse, almost a meal in itself. Serve alongside a light salad {I did a chickpea salad}, steamed French beans or char grilled broccoli, maybe a soup.

[print_this]Recipe: Bread – French Fougasse with Roasted Red Bell Pepper & Garlic, Walnut & Mozarella

Summary: Bread we love! With carbs threatening an overdose, did a tiny substitution with whole wheat flour and used instant yeast. I literally stuffed it, almost making it a more like a baked sandwich than bread! Any cheese is good here and mozzarella was great. {Recipe adapted from The Practical Encyclopedia of Baking}. Makes 2 breads {each serves 4}

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes {plus rising time}
Ingredients:

• 350g all purpose flour
• 100g wholewheat flour
• 300ml warm water {divided 250ml + 50ml}
• 1tbsp instant yeast
• 30g olive oil + 15g for garlic
• 10g /1.5tsp salt
• 1 red bell pepper, roasted, skinned, chopped
• 1 head of garlic, roasted
• 200g mozzarella, chopped {can decrease if desired. Can use Gouda, cheddar, well drained ricotta etc}
• 100g walnuts, chopped
• Extra olive oil for brushing
• Sea salt for sprinkling

Method:

1. Squeeze out the roasted head of garlic and mash with 15g /1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Reserve in a small bowl.
2. Take 50ml of water {lukewarm} & dissolve the yeast into it. Stir the salt and 30ml of olive oil into the remaining water.
3. Mix both flours, make a well in the centre and pour the yeast/water mixture into it.
4. Knead to a dough, kneading further on a floured surface for 8-10 minutes, till  smooth & elastic.
5. Thermomix: Place both flours, salt and yeast in bowl of TM and whiz for 5 seconds on speed 10. Add the water and olive oil and mix on Speed 6 for 30 seconds, then knead in closed position for 5-6 minutes.
6. Place in an oiled bowl, cover the bowl with cling wrap & leave in a warm place for about an hour until doubled.
7. Punch down & divide into 2.
8. Roll one half out to about an 12″ oval, spread half the roasted garlic olive oil mixture on the base, sprinkle over half the bell pepper and half the walnuts. Season lightly salt and freshly ground pepper. Roll up gently like a swiss roll.
   
9. Fold over the dough 2-3 times on itself to incorporate the stuffing.
10. Shape each back into a flattish ball, then fold the bottom third up, & top third down to make an oblong.
11. Roll into ovals with a flat base, cut slits diagonally, three on each side. Pull slightly to open the cuts. {Repeat with the other half.}
12. Place on parchment lined baking sheets. Cover with cling wrap & leave to double for 35-40 minutes while you preheat the oven.
13. Preheat the oven to 220C, brush the loaves with olive oil, sprinkle over sea salt and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes till golden brown. Brush with more olive oil as they come out of the oven. Cool on racks. Serve warm {that’s how we love it} or at room temperature.

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