Friday, November 27, 2009

Basic Organic Wholemeal Bread Making

Ingredients
¾ cup warm water with a few drops of vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 cup wholemeal flour
2 cups strong bread flour
2 tsp dry yeast with ¼ cups warm water
½ tsp molasses sugar

Method
1. Put a little of warm water into a small mug and gently stir in ½ tsp molasses sugar and yeast. Leave for 5 minutes until frothy.
2. Put the wholemeal and high protein bread flour, salt, molasses and oil into a mixing bowl. Stir well and make a hole in the centre.
3. Stir in the frothy yeast into the centre hole and add water slowly while starting to mix with fingertips
4. Add enough of the remaining water to make a firm dough without sticking the bowl.
5. Sprinkle a little extra flour on a working surface and knead the dough for about 20 minutes until it is no longer sticky and the surface becomes smooth
6. Put the kneaded dough into a plastic bag and leave to rise in room temperature for about 1 hour or until it is doubled in size
7. Press out the air from the dough and shape into a loaf pan
8. Place the loaf pan into a plastic bag or cover with damp towel for another hour.
9. Preheat oven at 180ºC and place a cup of water in the oven
10. Sprinkle a bit of wholemeal flour on top of the bread and use a sharp blade to slice a few times on the surface
11. Bake bread at 180ºC for about 25 minutes