British Bread Week - 4th to the 10th May 2009
British Bread week gives us all the opportunity to celebrate one of the oldest and most popular types of food – bread! Ours is a nation with a rich and diverse bread making history, with the most marvellous, quirky names; bloomers, cobs, cottage loaves, baps, barm cakes, bannocks, Kentish huffkins, Sally Lunns, stottie cakes, farmhouse, buttery rowies, Granary etc…the list goes on. In fact we have over 200 different types of bread in Britain. The numerous regional varieties of bread products provide us with a culinary map of our nation, some famous and well know, and some not known out of their own villages, towns or regions - variety truly being the spice of the British bread basket delight!
Different types of bread can be further broken down into the flour and grain types used, such as wholemeal, soft grain, wholegrain, corn, rye and buckwheat, again, usually due to local availability and demand. There is also Granary bread which is a brown bread made from special Granary flour (a trademark of the Hovis brand), which includes kibbled and whole grains.
The arrival of the Normans in Britain was the first major era that influenced the types of bread we ate; rye flour was gradually replaced for the finer and soft white French flour – only for the rich and courtly people of course! During Tudor times, bread became a huge status symbol, the nobility only eating white bread, tradesman and merchants eating wheaten cobs and the serfs eating bran – how times have changed!
Sliced mass produced bread provides us with the ease and convenience of eating bread at all times of the day or night for that matter, especially if we are working – but why not take the time this week to make some bread at home. The satisfaction and elemental pleasure that you get from putting your own home-baked bread on the table is immeasurable; and it is NOT difficult at all – you just need to set aside some time. I like to have a pot of tea or coffee on the go, my favourite music playing, then just me with my yeast and flour in the kitchen!
If you have a local baker that still makes and sells artisanal, regional bread, try to support them and their products. Hopefully, we may still have all of these traditional and unique breads, with their very British names for years to come! To celebrate British Bread Week, we have three very different types of bread recipes for you to try: Farmhouse Oatmeal Bread – wonderful for sandwiches as well as toast; Rustic Flower Pot Bread Loaves – amusing and easy little bread loaves baked in plant pots; and finally, Baps, sometimes called Scottish Morning Rolls – perfect for sandwiches, both hot and cold. For ease, I have stated dried fast-acting yeast in these recipes, but if you are lucky enough to be able to source fresh yeast, please use it instead. (I have listed conversions from dried to fresh yeast in the recipes) Have fun and get baking!
Karen Booth - Country Kitchen June 2009
Farmhouse Oatmeal Bread
A wonderful country style loaf made from oatmeal flour and white flour with crunchy jumbo oats on top! This bread is excellent for sandwiches and makes the most delectable toast, a treat if eaten dripping with melted fresh butter. The texture is light as well as being hearty and rustic. This bread is a great choice to serve with a ploughman’s lunch, cut the slices very thickly for the ideal “vehicle” for lifting the cheese and pickle to your mouth!
Ingredients:
350g white oatmeal bread flour (Allinson oatmill)
300g strong white bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
25g butter
1 X 7g fast action dried yeast, or ½ ounce fresh yeast mixed with tepid water
1 teaspoon sugar
450ml tepid water
Milk
Jumbo oats
Put both of the flours into a large bowl. Add the salt and rub the butter into the flour to combine. Add the sugar and the dried yeast.
Pour the tepid water (and fresh yeast mixed with the water if using) into the bowl and mix with your hands until all the ingredients are combined and you have a rough dough ball.
Tip the dough on to a floured board or work surface and knead with the heel of your hand, turning all the time, until the dough is smooth and elastic and not sticky – about 10 minutes.
Grease a 900g (2 lb) bread tin and shape the kneaded dough into an oblong – ease the dough into the greased bread tin; brush the dough with milk and sprinkle the jumbo oats on top of the dough. Cover with an oiled plastic bag and place in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, about 45 minutes to an hour.
Pre-heat the oven to 220C or Gas 7. Remove the loaf from the plastic bag, and place into the hot oven on the middle shelf, immediately turning the heat down to 200C or gas 6. Bake the bread for 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown. (To test to see if the loaf is ready, upturn and tap the base - it should sound hollow.)
Remove the loaf from the tin and allow to cool on a wire cooling rack.
Makes one 900g/2 lb loaf
Rustic Flower Pot Bread Loaves
These quirky little Flower Pot bread loaves will no doubt bring gasps of pleasure and admiration when you serve them! Plus, they are so easy to make with only one kneading required. Bread was originally baked in terracotta or clay pots, so these little bread loaves are not that different from old-fashioned bread made many years ago. You must make sure your flower pots are seasoned before you bake in them, but once they are seasoned they are ready to be used repeatedly. I always like to sprinkle mixed seeds on top of these - they almost look like seeds that have been sown in the flowerpots! I am sorry, but I have to say it, these flowerpot loaves or rolls should turn out "Blooming Marvellous"! That had to be said! Have fun!
Flower Pot Seasoning:
Oil, lard or butter
To prepare the flower pots: Take two to six earthenware flowerpots (3 to 6 inches in size). Wash thoroughly and grease them inside and outside, with lard, butter or oil. (Please use NEW plant pots, of course!). Repeat the process two or three times for a good "seasoning" and non-stick surface on your flowerpots. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 190°C or Gas 5, for 25-30 minutes. NB: Before baking with them, line the base with greaseproof paper or baking parchment - especially if there is a hole in the bottom of the flowerpot!
Bread Ingredients:
350g strong white flour
100g granary bread flour, or multi-grain bread flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt
25g butter
1 X 7g sachet fast action yeast, or ½ oz fresh yeast mixed with tepid water
300ml tepid water
Milk to glaze
2 to 3 tablespoons mixed seeds or grains
Grease and line the base of the flowerpots with greaseproof paper.
If you are using fresh yeast, blend it into the tepid water. Place the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and rub in the butter. Add the sugar and dried yeast and then the tepid water, mix to soft dough with your hands.
Turn the dough onto a floured board or work surface and knead the dough by folding towards you, then pushing down and away from you with the heel of your hand. Give the dough a quarter turn and repeat the action. Knead until smooth, elastic and no longer sticky, about 10 minutes.
Cut the dough into equal sized pieces and place in to the prepared flowerpots. Glaze the loaves with a little milk and then sprinkle some seeds or grains over the top of them. Place the flowerpots on a large baking tray and then put them inside a large oiled plastic bag, leave them in a warm place until they are doubled in size, about 45 minutes to one hour. (An airing cupboard is good!)
Remove the oiled plastic bag and place the flowerpot loaves on the middle shelf in a pre-heated oven, 200C or gas 6, for 25 to 35 minutes, depending on size of the pots; or until golden brown and the loaves sound hollow when tapped from underneath. (If the loaves are browning too quickly, cover them with some baking paper) Remove the bread from the flowerpots, gently easing a butter knife around the rim of the flowerpot and allow them to cool on a wire tray. You can serve them in the flowerpots at the table once cooled! Serve split or sliced with butter or as sandwiches with fillings of your choice.
Makes 2 to 6 flowerpot loaves, depending on size of pots.
Baps – Scottish Morning Rolls
These classic Scottish bread rolls are also easy to make - with only one kneading required. They are soft with a distinctive floured finish and are excellent for sandwiches with all manner of fillings, but especially bacon or cheese and salad. These baps are quite wide without much height, and they must only be baked for a maximum of about 20 minutes in order to maintain their soft texture. They are best eaten on the day that they are made; however, they are delicious toasted the next day and they freeze very well. This is my Mum’s recipe, she makes these at least once a week and they are firm family favourites; her recipe is a little different from the classic all white baps, as she adds a little wholemeal flour for a nuttier flavour and texture.
Ingredients:
350g strong white bread flour
100g wholemeal bread flour
1 ½ teaspoons salt
50g butter
1 X 7g sachet fast action dried yeast, or ½ ounce fresh yeast mixed with tepid water
1 teaspoon sugar
300ml tepid milk and water – in equal measures
Put both of the flours into a large bowl. Add the salt and rub the butter into the flour to combine. Add the sugar and the dried yeast.
Pour the tepid water (or fresh yeast mixed with the water if using) into the bowl and mix with your hands until all the ingredients are combined and you have a rough dough ball.
Tip the dough on to a floured board or work surface and knead with the heel of your hand, turning all the time, until the dough is smooth and elastic and not sticky – about 10 minutes.
Grease and line two baking trays. Cut the dough in half and then cut the halves into equal pieces, I usually get between 8 to 12 baps, depending on the size. Roll into balls and then flatten lightly with a rolling pin or the palm of your hand – place on the greased and lined baking trays; sprinkle a little more flour lightly over the tops of the baps and place inside a large oiled plastic bag, place them in a warm place until doubled in size, about 35 to 45 minutes.
Pre-heat oven to 200C or Gas 6. Place the baps in the heated oven, swapping the trays over half way through baking time; bake for 20 minutes, or until the baps a very pale golden colour – they should NOT be too dark, and should still feel soft and hollow when tapped from underneath. Place them on a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight tin or pack into freezer bags and freeze for up to 1 month.
Makes 8 to 12 baps.
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