Showing posts with label potatoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label potatoes. Show all posts

Thursday 2 July 2015

Swabian Hearty Bread Rolls

I have had a very productive and busy day today so far! Besides baking these delicious rolls I spent some time on my job search. So keep your fingers crossed for me that one day I'll be successful ;-) But I guess, as the saying goes, persistence is the key to success ;-) Sometimes, that is...if you don't make the same mistake all over again all the time. After that I indulged in my weekly cleaning project =P and in between ...

... I made these delicious rolls! So here we go in case I have confused you earlier on.

Usually I make a batch and freeze it so that I can take some out each day for lunch without any hassle ... I just love home-baked bread! I have had some conversations about my seemingly snack-like lunch...but, honestly, real, crunchy, hearty bread is so much more than a snack!!!

Bread rolls also remind me of weekends when I was a child. During the week we'd have bread, but on weekends it would be bread rolls. That was before the time when my Mum started baking, so I was a very small child then ;-)

My Dad drove to the bakery in the next village each Saturday and Sunday morning, since that used to be the one where they'd still make the bread themselves from scratch. They used to have different breads and rolls on different days of the week, since, when you actually make things from scratch, you cannot make 30 kinds of bread each day.

That reminds me... ! Have you ever seen Laugenbrot (= pretzel bread)? Actually, myself, I have only ever seen it in this specific bakery. Laugenbrötchen (= lye rolls), Laugenbrezeln (= pretzels) or Laugenstangen (= pretzel breadstick) are very common and available everywhere, but Laugenbrot doesn't seem to be. I loved to pluck it apart, as, since it was braided, like a Hefezopf bread (= braided sweet yeast bread), it was possible to divide into pieces in the places where the different strands met. I love thinking back to all the amazing things they used to bake....but let's get back:

The bread rolls: In the morning we'd have rolls with butter, jam, chocolate spread, honey or Eszet-Schnitten.
Eszet-Schnitten are very thin chocolate slices, available in different degrees of darkness, that you lay on your bread. I don't eat them anymore these days, but putting them on freshly toasted toast (on weekdays) was so much fun! They'd melt and go all gooey and, well ... CHOCOLATE! =)

The following recipe is similar to the Potato Bread one, but slightly heartier. Since it doesn't contain milk you only need items that you may have in your pantry anyway and if you'd been using nut milk it saves you that one step of making it.



Swabian Bread Rolls

recipe inspired by a recipe by Adelinde Häußler

Time: 30 minutes + 1 hours rising + 15 minutes + 3 hours rising + 15 minutes + 35 minutes resting & baking = 5 h 35 min (not all working time!)


for 7 rolls
100 g water, lukewarm
2 g or ½ tsp dried yeast (or twice the amount fresh yeast)
½ tsp honey
450 g whole wheat flour
50 g whole rye flour
½ tsp bread spice (usually a mixture of fennel, coriander and caraway seeds)
125 g potatoes
12 g salt
¼ tsp nutmeg, ground
½ tbsp red wine vinegar

  • Dissolve yeast and honey in water. Grind up the bread spice in a mortar or with a blender. Place flour and bread spice in a large bowl and mix well. Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the water-yeast-mixture. Mix with some flour from the sides of the well until you achieve a mud-like consistency. Sprinkle with some flour from the sides and cover with a lid, plate or cling film. Let rest in a warm place for an hour

  • In the meantime: Cut the potatoes in small pieces (1.5 cm size) and steam until very soft. For this place them in a metal colander or a steaming basket. Take a pot of a suitable size for the colander and add about 3 cm of water. Place the colander in the pot and cover with a lid. Bring to the boil and let cook in the steam for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are very soft. Keep the water.
  • Mash the potatoes and add some of the cooking water as you go to achieve a creamy consistency. (I use a potato masher and do this in the pot I cooked the potatoes in, since you need something with an even bottom surface).

  • When the yeast has visibly started to rise, add the mashed potatoes, nutmeg and vinegar. Also add the salt, but don't pour directly on the yeast, as direct contact causes some of the yeast-cells to die. Add a slight bit water. Knead until everything starts to come together and add more water as necessary.
  • When you have reached that consistency take the dough from the bowl and form into a ball by folding in the sides and rotating the ball of dough until the bottom side of the dough is smooth. Turn over and return to the bowl. Cover the bowl and return to the warm place. Let the dough rise until it has at least doubled in size. This may again take about 2-5 hours, depending on the temperature and the amount of yeast.

  • Pre-heat your oven if necessary. You'll want 210°C. Use upper and lower heat. If you have fan heat turn to only 190°C. Place a casserole dish with a bit of water in the oven to let steam develop.
  • Keep a bowl of water at hand. Wet the surface you'll be kneading on. Remove the dough from the bowl and put onto your surface. Divide into 120 g pieces and evenly divide up any leftover dough. I had seven rolls.
    • Form rolls: Using the same technique as for the whole of the dough before, do this with the first roll. Then, place, open side down, on the surface and move your hand in circular movements, as if you were rolling a ball in circles over the table. This will make the rolls more ball like, as opposed to the flatter shape they may have had before. Don't worry though if it doesn't entirely work, it is all a matter of practice and your rolls will turn out fine no matter what!
  • Repeat with all rolls and place open side down on a flour-covered baking sheet. You can also use a non-stick baking sheet. Wet all the rolls with water.
  • Let them rest for 10 minutes in a draught-free-place. Bake for 25 minutes. To test for done-ness, tap the bottom of a roll with your finger. It should sound hollow.

  • Let the rolls cool on a rack and eat immediately or place into freezer bags immediately after baking and freeze. If you do this take them out a couple of hours before you want to eat them, keep in the freezer bag and the re-heat on top of a toaster-oven.

You can turn this into a bread by baking it according to the instructions in the Potato Bread recipe.





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Tuesday 31 March 2015

Mum's Crusty Potato-Bread

I travelled to Germany on Friday last week for my Easter-break, so this is where I am writing from today. Last Saturday we went to the market in a city nearby and bought a normal German bread... And it was heavenly! I had been looking forward to that for a while after having several conversations about German bread ;-)

Back in England I ordered 5 kg of rye before I left with the intention to bake some real German bread upon returning since I had promised to do so to a few of my friends.

I told my Mum about my plan and she promised to bake some bread with me for practise. So far usually I only watched her baking bread. Myself I usually only made easy bread recipes, sweet things or cake.

My Mum is a fantastic baker! ♡

She has a bread-baking oven where there is a metal plate that heats up instead of the air in the oven heating up. Further on the oven has a steam pipe, but apart from that it is fairly sealed so that moisture (in form of steam developing from the wet dough) is to a great part retained in the oven. This helps develop the crust.
A few years ago, when I was still living at home, my Mum used to bake lots of bread each Sunday morning. Sunday was baking day.




Today we shared the work when testing how to bake the bread with just normal means (no bread baking oven and no massive dough kneading machine). Now I think I’m going to be able to re-create this for everyone I promised to in England!
Of course now you could also give it a try yourself since I am going to tell you now how you can get your very own German bread. Maybe you'll have mastered it already when I am back ;-)

This bread is crunchy on the outside, flavourful and moist on the inside.
It is pure heaven if you slice off a piece while it still is slightly warm, spread dollops of butter on it and enjoy it.
I am awfully sorry if I sound overly enthusiastic today, but I had some warm, crunchy bread for lunch today ;-)








Mum's Crusty Potato Bread

time required: about 4-6 hours of on and off work - not straight of course ;-)

inspired by a recipe from "Brot und Brötchen selber backen" by Marianna Buser

1 loaf 2 loaves 4 loaves
300 g 600 g 1200 g whole wheat flour
50 g 100 g 200 g whole rye flour
8 g 17 g 35 g honey
100 g + 200 g + 400 g + water
1-2 g 3-4 g 7 g dry yeast (double if using fresh yeast)
200 g 400 g 800 g potatoes (the kind that mashes well)
10 g 20 g 40 g salt
40 g 80 g 160 g cashew milk
--> 7 g --> 13 g --> 25 g for the cashew milk: nuts, top up with water
(or use milk or a double cream/water mixture)
flour for dusting


If you make four loaves you might need to make the dough in two batches since the amount is rather large.
  • Mix the two kinds of flour and place in a bowl. Make a dip in the middle. Mix honey, water and yeast until honey and yeast have dissolved. Pur the liquid in the dip. Mix with some flour from the sides until a thick paste forms. Cover by sprinkling with flour from the sides. Place cling film or a lid on the bowl and let rest in a warm place for 1-2 hours or until cracks are visible in the flour covering your paste.
  • In the meantime: Cut the potatoes into small cubes. Leave the skin on. In a steaming basket or a metal sieve fitted in a pot steam the potatoes over water until very soft (about 15 minutes). You could also boil them in water, but when you steam them more nutrients will be retained in the potatoes. When they have cooked save some of the cooking water. With a potato masher, mash the potatoes as thoroughly as you can. Add some of the cooking water if you feel like this will help mashing.

  • Then add the mashed potatoessalt and cashew milk to the bowl with the dough. If you have one use a dough kneading machine for this step. Start kneading. The aim is to have a soft ball of dough that doesn't stick to the bowl anymore. Add more water if necessary.
  • When you have reached that consistency take the dough from the bowl and form into a ball by folding in the sides and rotating the ball of dough until the bottom side of the dough is smooth. Turn over and return to the bowl. Cover the bowl and return to the warm place. Let the dough rise until it has at least doubled in size. This may again take about 1 ½ - 2 hours.


  • After that time heat up or turn on your oven. For a gas oven use gas mark 9, for upper and lower heat use 260°C, for fan heat use 240°C. Additionally place an old baking tin or any enamel dish filled with water in the oven. This helps to keep the bread moist and helps with letting the crust develop. If you happened to have a bread baking oven you could skip this step.
  • Line a baking tray with baking foil or non-stick parchment paper.

  • Take the dough out of the bowl and divide into as many pieces as you are making loaves. Using the same technique as before give them a short knead to shape the pieces into balls. Place them on the baking tray, the dough ends facing down. Wet your hands and moisten the loaves. Using a fine sieve dust the dough balls with flour until totally covered. Let them rest for 5 minutes.

  • Place the loaves in the oven.
  • Bake (these are upper and lower heat temperatures):
    • 15 minutes at 260°C (whatever you started with)
    • + another 15 minutes at 220°C (turn down by approx. 40°C)
    • + another 20 minutes at 190°C (turn down a bit again)
  • This procedure will first let a firm crust form. Then when the heat is decreased the bread will slowly bake on the inside (pretty much like a cake).

  • Remove the bread from the oven. If you peek under one, tap on the bottom of the bread with your finger. If it sounds hollow the bread is fully baked. This should be the case. Otherwise you would bake it for another few minutes. Place the loaves on a baking rack for cooling.
  • If you made more loaves than you plan to eat right away you can freeze them. To do so place them in a freezer bag after 20 minutes when they are still a bit warm and freeze immediately. To defrost, place them on a rack again and let it defrost in the freezer bag. If you want to you can pop it back in a warm oven for a few minutes to get it crunchier again.
  • If you eat your bread right away (this is the very best option!) let it cool on the rack for a minimum total of 30 minutes and then slice carefully.
  • For fresh keeping any leftover bread a good option is to wrap it in a dish cloth (preferably linen) and place in a paper bag.



Enjoy it =)


Friday 13 February 2015

All-About-The-Sauce-Potato-Casserole

Over the past week I've collected some photographs of what I've made, but it's kind of hard to decide what to post next for you. Right now there was the choice between....hmm...should I tell you? No, I won't so it will still be a surprise in case I decide to write about the other things as well ;-)

Today you're seeing something that is a really great winter dish that doesn't require any fancy summer-ish ingredients.


This is it!

In this case it is a potato-broccoli casserole, but in fact it's all about the sauce. Over time my Mum and I have had several versions of this dish with potatoes plus several varying vegetables. Without the sauce, though the dish wouldn't be as good as it is. I had this with my housemate during the week and the thing she said to me was that the sauce was really nice (was this a British understatement for "great"? - I'd hope so), so this must be the key factor.


vegetables
350 gpotatoes
250 gbroccoli
sauce
1onion
20 gbutter
about 4 tbsp = 35 gmillet flour (you can make that in any blender from millet grains)
125 gcashew milk (grind 15 g cashew nuts and blend again with 110 g water)
250 gvegetable stock
salt
pepper
1/4 tsppaprika powder (sweet if possible)
nutmeg

  1. First of all, cut the potatoes (unpeeled) into halves if they're big or leave them whole if they are small. Make sure that all pieces are relatively evenly sized. Cut the broccoli roughly in smaller florets. You can use the stems as well. You don't need to make them as small as you want to eat them though, it's less fiddly if you do that after steaming,
  2. Place all vegetables in a steaming basker or a metal sieve and steam over boiling water for about 15 minutes or until as soft as you like it. In the meantime prepare the sauce.
  3. Prepare cashew milk, vegetable stock and millet flour.
  4. Finely chop the onion. Gently heat butter in a small pot and fry the onion in the butter. When fried, add vegetable stock and cashew milk. Bring to a boil. With a fork whisk in millet flour. Over low heat cook for a bit and keep stirring. The mixture should thicken up and get creamy after a short while. If it doesn't add some more flour. Season with spices to your liking.
  5. When potatoes and broccoli are tender, cut potatoes in slices and the broccoli into bite-sized pieces. Grease a small casserole dish with butter and first put in potato slices and then the broccoli pieces on top. Evenly distribute the sauce on top.
  6. Bake at 250 °C (or as hot as your oven goes) for about 20 minutes until the top is slightly browned.

Instead of millet flour you could also use regular flour, but millet flour makes the sauce have a nicer looking yellow colour.

You could vary this by for example adding some fried mushroom (this adds a dirty pan, though) or by  cooking potato slices and zucchini in a bit of vegetable stock. I recommend you try it as written and then you'll be able to make up your mind as to what vegetables go well with the sauce until maybe I've made the other varieties of the dish as well ;-)

Ah, by the way I've added a print button to the blog! When you open a specific post (not the home-site, but by clicking on the title of the post) you can now find it under the post and can optimise each page to the way you'd like to print it! In case you ever want to print something which I sincerely hope :-)