Friday 8 May 2009

手做的幸福2 (Homemade Bread)

续上回手做的圆面包, 这次又动手做这款白土司面包。


'愛上做面包' 的作者, 德永久美子称它为英国面包, 也许是因为烤好的土司有一层香脆的外皮吧, 就像一般的欧式面包, 有如 Farmhouse White Loaf。我非常喜欢欧式country-style面包, 由其是法国面包。可是我还没找到勇气在家里制作! 为了让这个土司看起来有多一份乡村风味,我在第二次发酵前撒上少许面粉(有一点画蛇添足hor?!)。

As a follow-up to my previous attempts on making plain crusty bread rolls, I made another loaf from the same cookbook. This 'English Bread' has got a nice crisp crust while the crumbs is soft, almost similar to a farmhouse white loaf. Although it is not called for in the recipe, I dusted the surface with some flour to give it a rustic look :)


使用双手揉面团的好处是能感觉面团的湿度,太干就加一点点水,太湿就撒点面粉。感觉上这面团还蛮容易搓揉,不怎么黏手,可能是我用另一个牌子的面粉吧?? 还是它的油份很低?? 这个Gold Medal, Better for Bread Flour,似乎有比较高的'吸水力',它的蛋白质含量也比较高, 所以产生的筋度也比较大,做出来的面包具有弹性与嚼感,很适合烤欧式面包。所以说angmo面包还是用angmo面粉比较好?! 虽然这个牌子的价格表面上看起来似乎较昂贵,可是它是两公斤装,算算看其实贵不到那里去。

Whenever I have the time to spare, I will prefer to knead the dough by hand. This way, I will be able to get a feel of the texture, whether the dough is too wet or too dry. Some recipes will yield very wet and sticky doughs whiles others will give tougher, tenser ones. By having a feel of the texture while kneading, I will be able to co-relate it with the finished loaf, and hence, provide a better review of the recipe.

I wonder whether it was the type of flour I had used, this dough was rather easy to knead as it hardly sticked to the work surface. For this loaf, I used Gold Medal's Better for Bread Flour, which is a stronger flour with a higher protein level. It is only slightly more expensive than the usual brand I use, but I believe it gives a better flavour to the bread, and I would think it is very suitable for making rustic, country-style type of bread.


面包在炉里还没烤好就传来一阵阵熟悉的面包香, 不是那种香浓的奶油香,而是发自面粉和酵母的一股淡淡的酒香,闻起来真会另人感到很温馨很幸福 ;)

There is nothing more delightful than to have a kitchen filled with a wonderful aroma of freshly homemade bread baking in the oven ;)


烤好的土司外层香脆,里边却是松软的。因为用本色(unbleached)面粉的关系,面包也和面粉一样有点泛黄。它的口感会比较扎实, 有弹性, 没有软式面包'拉丝'般的柔软, 有点类似欧美面包却又没那么有嚼劲。

I like how the bread turned out...with a lovely crusty crust while the inside remain soft. The crumb has got a nice texture, not cottony soft and yet not overly dense or heavy.


吃之前放进面包烘烤机, 烤一烤, 涂上牛油或果酱, 再配上一杯热腾腾的浓咖啡就是一顿丰富的早餐! 还是那句老话...简单就是一种幸福。

My all time favourite breakfast...a cup of freshly brewed coffee, along with a slice of toasted bread :)


又: 这是第二次尝试用中文书写, 文笔钝拙, 用了好多照片, 就像平时用英文书写一样, 整编文章有如儿子的看图作文, 哈哈哈 ;')


English Bread

Ingredients
(makes one 7.5"x4"x4" loaf)

300g bread flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
30ml (2 tablespoons) milk
180ml lukewarm water (about 30 degC)
10g butter, soften at room temperature


Method:
  1. Mix milk and water.
  2. Stir bread flour, caster sugar, salt, and instant yeast in a mixing bowl.
  3. Add in milk mixture. Mix the ingredients with hand and slowly form into a dough.
  4. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Knead until the dough no longer sticks to your hand, becomes smooth and elastic. This should take about 20 mins. Do the window pane test: pinch a small piece of the dough, pull and stretch it. It should be elastic, and can be pulled away into a thin membrane without tearing/breaking apart. Wrap the butter in the dough and continue to knead until the butter fully incorporates into the dough.
  5. Place dough in a lightly greased (with vegetable oil) mixing bowl, cover with cling wrap and let proof in room temperature (around 28 to 30 degC) for about one hour, or until double in bulk.
  6. Remove the dough from the bowl and give a few light kneading to press out the gas in the dough. Smooth into round, cover with a damp cloth or cling wrap and let it rise for another 20mins.
  7. Divide dough into 2 equal portions, about 265g each. Roll into rounds. Cover with a damp cloth or cling wrap and let the doughs rest for 15 - 20mins.
  8. On a lightly floured work surface, flatten each dough into a round disc, roll the dough from the centre to the edges until the diameter is about 9". Flip the dough over. Fold the dough 1/3 from the left side towards the centre. Fold over 1/3 from the right side, to form a long rectangle (about 9" x 3"). Starting from the shorter end roll up swiss-roll style. Pinch and seal the seams. Place the two doughs, seam side down, in a well greased pullman tin. (See illustrations below). Dust the surface of the dough with some flour (optional). Cover with damp cloth or cling wrap and leave doughs to proof for the second time for about 40 ~ 50mins, or until double in size, or when the dough has almost reached the rim of the tin.
  9. Bake in pre-heated oven at 190 - 200 deg C for 30-35 mins or until golden brown. Remove from oven, unmold immediately and let cool completely before slicing.
Recipe source:adapted from 爱上做面包, 德永久美子

46 comments:

Anonymous said...

Under ingredients, you listed 10g of butter softened, but in your method, there is no mention of when butter is incorporated into the dough? Would you have missed it out?

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

I like 欧式country-style面包, especially 法国面包, I will take home this recipe, thanks ya.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Anonymous, thanks for pointing out my mistake :') I have added in the part on the butter. So sorry for the error!

Kitchen Corner said...

Very nice bread! Looks very soft and country bread. Thanks for sharing!

Yan said...

hi HHB,

really enjoy viewing your bakes... always making me drool with awe.

btw, i am lost in the steps of roll and fold in point 8. could u help to simplify the action... pls

thank you.....

cheers
yan

yuen said...

hi HHB,
Wah....your bread always look very good. I've borrowed this book before and can fully felt the love she has for baking and for her family, it is more like a journal cook book. I've tried some of her other recipe, it is really very good indeed.she is indeed a simple lady :)I enjoyed all her photos too
A belated happy birthday to you. Thanks for all your generous sharing.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Yan, I have added a sketch on the shaping method. Just double click on the sketch to zoom-in. Hope it helps.

Thanks Grace, Yuen!

Angel @ Cook.Bake.Love said...

Hi HHB,

觉得你用华文书写特别亲切。

面包撒上粉不是画蛇添足,这个小动作让面包看起来增添了不少田园风味。

很诱人的面包。。。。看来这本书真的很不错,有时间我要到图书馆去借来看。

我昨天做了你的butter loaf,有稍微更改食谱,面包很好吃。改天我upload了照片再请你来我家看。

Yan said...

Yoz HHB,

when my eyes glanced at the drawings a min ago... i thot to myself... is this in response to my 'dumb wit' query??

so sweet of u ...meltz...i am so very touched by your patience and kindness....... really!!!!

hope to try the making also...

thank you !!!!!

cheerios
yan

smarthousewife said...

純手工精心製作的麵包,真的讓人感覺幸福洋溢。

謝謝您的分享!

Passionate About Baking said...

Hi HHB,
I've been so lapsed in my comments to you! Since your post on your birthday cake, I've wanted to comment, but just so bz with everything! Your tiramisu cake is really simply GORGEOUS!! You really have a gifted hand. Everything you do comes out just PERFECT! Is it a bit waste to just make for your family to enjoy?? Perhaps you can consider selling after your children are more independant! ;) But it's all, at least, we bloggers can continue to enjoy virtual treats from you. :) Your English bread looks sooooo good too! How I wish I can have a piece when it was still warm...
Btw, you won't be available to join us for our bloggers' potluck party on 31 May? I really would like to meet you in personal! Hahaha... Thanks for taking the effort to draw out the steps for us! Happy (belated) Mother's Day!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Cook.Bake.Love, I am looking forward to read about your butter loaf :)

Hi Yan, no your asked a very valid questions! Since I am no good with words, I thot it will be good to draw a sketch instead. I hope you understand the drawings ;)

Thanks smarthousewife!

Hi Jane, thanks! It certainly warm my heart to read your lovely comments :)
Nah, I am not up to standard to sell my bakes. Thanks for the invite, however, I am not able to go as my husband is away and my kids won't want to tag along!

Cuisine Paradise said...

Wow..HHB... Happy Mother's Day to you......

I always love to read on your "Bread" post... as in i can almost smell the fragrant of it from the screen...lolz....

Thank you so much for taking the effort to explain and draw in details for us to follow...... :) Thanks...

Yan said...

hi HHB,

as the saying goes, 'a picture paints a thousand words'.. and you have achieved that very well indeed through your drawings which i believe will 'enlighten' many who are curious about this receipe and its making.

and you are a linguist coz you have blog frenz from Japan and taiwan as well...not many of us can read mandarin that well you know... =p

cheerios
yan

thinkingmama said...

Hi HHB,

Can I trouble you to try out a bread bowl recipe from here? http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/bread-bowls-recipe

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Thinkingmama, thanks for the link. Have you tried making the bread bowls? How did it go?
I am not sure whether I will be able to try this recipe as I don't have semolina. I have not tried baking crusty bread as I don't even have a spray to mist the dough ;p Guess I will only be able to try it after I get all the necessary items.

thinkingmama said...

Hi, I have tried it using bread flour and using the machine to knead for 20 + 10 mins as well as using the dough function and the dough was very very wet and its not successful. The only time the result seems a little successful was when I used plain flour and then the dough was not so wet. It manage to form a decent looking shape.

I do not understand why the dough was so wet. Another blogger had used bread flour and her bread bowls look very nice as bread bowls should be.

Therefore, I would like to trouble you when you are able, to try this recipe if possible.

The link of the blogger who tried this http://myculinaryjournal.blogspot.com/2007/11/bread-bowl-2.html

youfei said...

Hi HHB, I've ALWAYS loved how your dough proofs! I can never ever get it to nice, smooth and round like yours =(

It sure looks like an super inviting breakfast bread european style with butter and jam or even clotted cream! YUM!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi thinkingmama, could it due to the measurement of the ingredients? Too little flour, too much water? Did you measure the amount correctly? Did you use the correct measuring cup for measuring dry ingredients?
1 cup of King Arthur's bread flour is about 4.5oz (127.5g) and if u check it's website, 1/3 cup of water is 2 5/8 oz, base on my rough calculation, 1 cup of water in the recipe is around 7.9oz, around 230ml. Did u use this same measurement?
I also think the type/brand of flour will also affect the outcome.

Anonymous said...

i love it when you post in chinese, because then i can practice my reading skills! i'm actually looking for a sweet coconut asian type of bread/pastry that they sell in a lot of asian bakeries; would you happen to know of any recipes?

Angel @ Cook.Bake.Love said...

Hi HHB,

Besides butter loaf, I also tried ur matcha red bean loaf. I made it in March but only manage to blog about it now.

Here is my attempt.

http://angelcookbakelove.blogspot.com/2009/05/another-hand-kneaded-bread-matcha-red.html

My first time making swiss roll style bread. I think it's not easy to roll it evenly to become a 'pillow' like urs. haha!

Thanks for sharing such a nice recipe.

Edith said...

You write beautifully in Chinese.

Squirrel said...

Hi,

I have been following your blog ever since I found your site 2 months ago. Nice pics and write-up. Well done! Keep up the good work.

The first recipe I tried was hokkaido milk bread. It was fantastic. However, when I tried the sweet bun recipe and now you latest recipe, the dough somehow is very sticky. I used the machine to kneed for 30 mins and hand kneed it for more. However, it's still sticky, not like the texture for milk loaf. Because of that, I can't really make any nice shapes. The end result wasn't that bad though.

Any tips you can give to make the dough not as sticky?

Thanks in advance!

Iv

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Squirrel, the sweet bun recipe is very wet and sticky, even after the 1st proof, the dough can still feel sticky. You can dust your work surface lightly with some flour, flour your hands as well and it will be easier to shape the dough.
Are you referring to this English Bread recipe? For me, this dough was quite easy to knead, it is not sticky at all. I'm not sure what went wrong? How was the texture/taste of your finished bread?

Squirrel said...

I used the bacon and cheese bread recipe. Is the dough meant to be sticky too? I will try the English Bread soon. The dough looks soooo tempting!! But if I were to compare cheese bread and english bread recipe, I would think that the texture of both should be similar since the ingredients and portions seem to be more or less the same.

Thanks for the tips. :)

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Squirrel, the dough for the bacon & cheese bread is not as sticky as the sweet bun. I can't really compare the two doughs(this one with the bacon & cheese) as I used different flour and also, I knead this by hand while the other I used the bread machine.

Squirrel said...

Thank you so much for your help and explanations. :) Again, very inspirational site you have.

Diet Plan said...

Hi

These are all light foods and there are so many people like these kind of foods.

FAD MOM said...

hi HHB, ever since i bought a breadmaker, I've been so fascinated by the breads and i love your blog.. i am very inspired by all your breadmaking.. thanks for sharing them..

this recipe looks very good... i've been making the sweeter type of bread so far and the kids love it.. but i think this one looks very good with Curry Chicken?

The Little Teochew said...

Amazing how you do it. Your breads look as good as any French baker's!

Anonymous said...

Hi Happy Homemaker,

I would like to try my hands on your Swirl n Twirl bread but cannot figure out how to cut lengthwise n roll d dough.Hope yopu can help and could you kindly email me the pics of illustration on the rolling please.Thank you in advance.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi FAD MOM, thanks for you comments :)
I think my previous post, the plain white rolls will go better with curry chicken :)

Hi The Little Teochew, nah, I have yet to try making a French bread ;)

Hi Anonymous, I have sent it to you, hope you have received it.

gluten free pammy said...

love your blog

Unknown said...

Hi, I tried this recipe, my very first bread :) The bread is awesome. Thanks for making the recipe so easy and comprehensive.

The bread was not as soft as it was the following day. Is that to be expected with home-made bread or is it due to some other reasons?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Han Han, most homemade bread doesn't keep well as there is no addictives used. For this bread, it won't stay as soft due to the recipe (use less butter and no eggs). You can keep your bread in air tight container, and toast it before serving and it should taste as good as fresh from the oven.

Alima Bell said...

Fresh bread crumbs are so good. I always use to eat the bread in my breakfast so it is very nice suggestion for me and my family. I will keep it my mind. it is always delicious eat bread every morning meal. it is nice idea to freezing them. Thanks for making the recipe so easy and comprehensive. Dude This homemade bread recipe is bomb and my whole family loves it. thank you for posting and sharing it.

Anonymous said...

hi when i look at the bread, it looks quite yummy and soft... keep up the good work and hope to see more of your recipes...bye bye!!!

breadlover said...

I think this is one of the best recipe for homemade bread. So easy to make and the result was good. I've already baked it 4 or 5 times and it never turned me down. Tks for sharing such a good thing.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I just tried this recipe today...
But unfortunately, it didn't turned out the way as yours did...
I'm not sure where I went wrong...
It came out hard crust though passable inside...
But it gets a little tough as well by the time it cooled completely...

I guess I'll just have to try again...

I would like to actually post my result on my blog...
But I would like to link to yours with the recipe intact...

Thought I should seek your consent before I actually did it to respect your work...

Thanks!!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Just G, could it be due to kneading? You will have to knead the dough till it turns smooth, elastic and doesn't stick to your hands. Did you knead by hand? Thanks for letting me know about linking the recipe...I appreciate the link back to this post. Thanks :)

Anonymous said...

Hi HHB,

Thanks for your consent...

Hmm, I'm not sure if my kneading is correct...
But that might just be the cause of it...

Yeah, I did it all by hand as I don't have a bread machine...
I made sure it turned smooth, elastic and doesn't stick though...
Probably not kneading enough...
The dough proofing seemed pretty ok though...

I probably could have just overbaked it a little bit as well... :P

Guess more practice will makes it perfect!

PS: I've yet to write up the blog on my result, but I will linked it here when I'm done..

Cheerz!

Anonymous said...

Hi HHB,

As promised, this is the link to my post on my results...

http://g-for-short.blogspot.com/2010/07/failed-english-bread.html

Nothing fancy compared to yours though...

Cheerz

Rainie said...

Hi HHB

May i know where to buy Gold Medal Flour in Singapore?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Rainie, you can try cold storage. I used to get it from the outlet at vivo city. You may also find it at certain fairprice outlets like fairprice xtra or finest.

Anonymous said...

i would like to know the brand of bread flour. thanks

-andrew

Happy Homebaker said...

I used prima brand.