Tuscan Bread
The first time you try Tuscan bread, it feels like someone must be playing a joke. This bland-tasting, pale-crusted bread surely can’t be right. But Tuscan bread it is! In fact, the bread is (quite deliberately) missing one key ingredient.
Tuscan bread is intentionally made without or with very little salt. Tuscan bread not only lacks depth of flavour without salt, the crust also doesn’t brown and the structure is much more delicate.
Salt-less Tuscan bread is really not intended for eating on its own. It’s usually served along with the main meal and is meant for sopping up thick, rich sauces. The bread doesn’t compete with the flavours in the dish, and both are enhanced.
1st Fermentation
35 g yeast
1 Tbsp flour
125 ml lukewarm water
1250 g flour
500 ml lukewarm water
pinch of salt
Method
1
1st fermentation – Dissolve the yeast in 125 ml lukewarm water. Add 1 tablespoon flour and leave to rise.
2
Place the flour in the bowl of a mixer, add the fermented mixture and the remaining 500 ml water. Add a little more water if necessary to get a soft but not sticky dough.
3
Mix all together and knead for 5 -10 minutes to a small ball.
4
Shape into an oblong and wrap in a cloth dusted with flour, leave to rise for 1 hour.
5
Carefully remove the bread from the cloth and place in a baking tray dusted with flour.
6
Bake in an oven, preheated at 180°C for about 50 minutes.
Pear bread
600 g - 1kg strong white bread flour
1 x 7 g sachet of dried yeast
300 g strong white bread flour
350 g strong white bread flour , plus extra for dusting
oil , for greasing
- For the starter, combine 200g of the flour with 200ml of lukewarm water in a non-metallic container – a glass jar is perfect. Leave it somewhere warm uncovered overnight.
- The following day, feed it by discarding half and adding a further 100g of flour and 100ml of lukewarm water.
- Repeat this feeding process each day until you see bubbles throughout the mixture (this is where a glass jar comes in handy). It will take a few days, possibly more, for the mixture to pick up the natural airborne yeasts and really start living. Don’t lose hope, it will happen!
- Removing 100g of the starter to make your loaf, chill the rest, covered but with a hole for it to breathe. You’ll need to feed this once a week – bring it up to room temperature first, allow it to bubble up, then recede (somewhere warm) for 30 minutes to 1 hour, then return it to the fridge within an hour or so. A liquid layer may develop on top, called hooch; stir it in if you like, or pour it off.
- To make the sponge, bring the 100g of starter up to room temperature.
- Combine the 300g flour and ½ teaspoon of sea salt in a bowl, then add 300ml of warm water and the starter.
- Cover with a towel and leave it to rise somewhere warm for 3 to 4 hours, or until doubled in size.
- In the meantime, top up the starter with 50g of flour and 50ml of lukewarm water (the weight you removed), allow it to bubble up and down as in step 3, then return it to the fridge.
- Either use your sponge straight away or chill it, covered, overnight.
- Now to make the sourdough bread. Bring the sponge up to room temperature (if needs be), combine it with the flour and 2 teaspoons of salt, then turn it out onto a floured surface.
- Knead for 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 2 to 3 hours, or until doubled in size.
- Tip the dough onto a floured surface, knock out the air, then shape it into a round loaf, placing the pear inside on an oiled baking sheet.
- Wrap the thyme around as crown, over and prove for about 1 hour in a warm place, or until it doesn’t spring back when prodded.
- Preheat the oven to 220°C.
- When the dough is ready, place a tray of water in the base of the oven (this will help it develop a good crust) and score the top of the loaf with a sharp knife.
- Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until golden and sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.
Delicious served with blue cheese.
Cape Seed Bread
This is a typical South African bread recipe. It's healthy and delicious.
Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
1 cup bran
4 cups wholewheat flour
15ml sunflower oil
15 ml honey or brown sugar
15ml salt
100ml each sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and poppy seeds
3 cups lukewarm water
30g fresh yeast
Method
Mix the bran, flour, honey or sugar, salt and seeds together in a bowl.
Dissolve 1 teaspoon sugar in 250ml lukewarm water, add to the fresh yeast and leave in a warn place until frothy. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and pour in the yeast mixture.
Now, using a wooden spoon, add as much of the remaining water as the flour will absorb. (The consistency should be that of a fruit cake).
Spoon into a well-greased 750g loaf pan. Cover and set aside to prove for about one hour until the mixture has risen to fill the pan.
Bake at 200º C for approximately 60 minutes until the bread is cooked through.
We, the Amsterdam Flavours chefs, hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. If you have any questions on how to prepare it or just want to send us your feedback, you can reach us here Contact Amsterdam Flavours
