Thursday 17 May 2007

Wholemeal Bread


I've been missing from blogging for the past few days...was busy...hmmm...with doing Nothing ;) Yes, I have let my oven and bread machine a good rest while I was busy with nothing in particular...unless you count watching Korean drama on VCDs as doing something :P

I tried making kaya with the bread machine...but it was a complete flop :'( couldn't really pin point what went wrong...except I could have used coconut cream instead of coconut milk, the kaya was not smooth at all, it looked like a bowl of scramble eggs, haha! I still didn't want to throw it away though...will keep it in the fridge until there's a need to clear space for other stuff!

Was deciding whether to give the chocolate swirl bread a second attempt, but was too lazy to do anything too complicated other than a simple loaf. I made this country-style wholemeal round instead.


Presenting my first rustic loaf!

I would usually make soft sweet bread as my kids don't really like rustic kind...they find them too hard, coarse and chewy. Nevertheless, I went ahead with this as I really wanted to give rustic bread a go. It was a rather straight forward bread with very basic ingredients, there's no eggs or milk added. It is also not written anywhere in the recipe that there is a need to spray water in the oven, to create steam for the bread...something I am still a little afraid to try, as I wasn't sure whether it is necessary...since my oven comes with a function that will diffuse vapour?

I used the bread machine to knead the dough for 20mins and left it to rise in room temperature. I must say, our weather here in Singapore, with a typical room temperature of 28~30 degC plus the high humidity all year round...is really good for rising bread. The dough would usually double the size within an hour. It was very easy to shape the dough as it was not sticky at all. After punching down the dough to knock out the gas, simply give it a few knead and then lightly flatten it before shaping it into a smooth round ball. The trick here is to shape the dough as if you were filling it with some fillings, and gather all the loose ends and seal them together. Let it proof for another 30mins before dusting it with some wholemeal four and making 2 long slits (I made 4 instead! wanted to make 3 but due to my wrong judgement, got to make 4 cuts to make the dough look balance), and it is ready to send into the oven.


I pinched out 2 small dough and had a little fun decorating them. With some cookie crisps, chocolate rice and chocolate chips, my kids and I made these two cute bears or do they look more like the horlicks doggies? I actually wanted to make them into piggies, but my younger son strongly disagree with the idea! It wasn't easy to stick the cookie crisps onto the dough as it was not sticky at all, and the chocolate chips fell off the noses while the rolls were baking in the oven. The rolls expanded in the heat and pushed the chips off. I managed to "patch" them up after the rolls were cooled ;)


The crust of the bread was crisp and I really like the "look and feel" of the rustic loaf, not forgetting the smell of the bread when it was fresh out of the oven. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the crumbs were rather soft and tender, the texture was very much like a slice of wholemeal sandwich bread.

Here's the recipe for the bread which I have taken from a Japanese-Chinese translated cookbook, 面粉点心大会串.

Ingredients(makes a 20cm round bread)

150g bread flour
150g wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
10g butter
170ml water

Method:

  1. Place bread flour and wholemeal flour in a mixing bowl and stir with a whisk to combine. I did this by measuring both types of flour in a plastic bag and then give a few shakes to mix the flours.
  2. Place all ingredients (according to the sequence as stated in your bread machine manual) in the bread pan and set the machine to the Dough setting. You can either leave the dough to proof in the machine, or let it proof in room temperature. If you are proofing the dough in room temperature, place it in a big mixing bowl, and cover it with cling wrap. Let is rise till double in bulk, takes about 1 hour.
  3. Remove dough from bread machine/mixing bowl. Knock out the dough and give a few light kneading. Gently flatten the dough and shape into a smooth ball. Place dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover with a damp towel or plastic bag and let it proof for another 30mins. Note that this time round, instead of cling wrap, you should cover the dough with plastic bag, as the cling wrap may stick onto the dough and prevent it from rising properly.
  4. Preheat oven to 180 degC. Dust with some wholemeal flour and make 2 long slits on the dough with a sharp knife. Bake for 30mins until the crust turns golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack.

37 comments:

lafillefolle said...

healthy living!! your bread is so perfect looking! haha thanks for your reply! i'll be going oven shopping really soon! will let you know if i post entries of my baking escapades! :)

Unknown said...

Lovely wholesome bread. I love thr rustic look here. Think it'll go well with a creamy mushroom soup. Yummy!!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi lafillefolle, I can't wait to see your postings!

Jacelyn, thanks! Next time I will make it into small rolls to go with creamy mushroom soup :)

Patricia Scarpin said...

I'm in love with the teddy bear breads!! :)

Anonymous said...

Hi, about your kaya flop, I was wondering if it taste alright? If the taste is ok, except that the texture is lumpy, then you can blend it or pass it thru a strainer, it should do the trick (talking from my own experience)

Jo

lafillefolle said...

hehe i'm going to try your durian muffins! :) mom and dad love durians so i think they'll like the muffins! one question (okay a series of them) though: where do you usually get all your baking stuff? are there shops specialising in baking ingredients and equipment? i remember there used to be one at hougang but i'm not sure if it's still around :\ oh or can you find most of everything at say, ntuc?

Anonymous said...

Lovely!!!

I like the doggies and i bet my boys will love them too :)

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Jo
Thanks for the tips :)
Yes, I did try to pass it over a strainer, but it didnt work...my strainer is too fine, only some juice went thru, haha! and I don't have a blender :( but I am not gonna give up...will try it again soon!

Hi lafillefolle, do remember NOT to use Thai durians...it's less fragrant...should use those from Malaysia. I usually get my baking equipments (pans, paper liners) from Phoon Huat...you can refer to their website for the address of the various outlets. There's one outlet near Hougang Mall. There is another baking supply store by the name of Sun Lik, at 33 Seah Street. I get basic ingredients like flour, butter, baking powder/soda from NTUC, coldstorage or carrefour.

I must warn you, baking is very very ADDICTIVE ;)

Hi ^cherie, do give it a try...but for small kids, I think they will prefer soft sweet buns...and guess it will be easier to stick the stuff onto the buns as the dough is more sticky compared to a wholemeal dough. btw, you can also use almond flakes for the ears...have fun!

Anonymous said...

Hi. I've just tried the hokaiddo milky loaf and used a breadmaker just like you did. however, my breadmaker did not have the 'sweet' function so i used the basic setting, which took 2hr & 50 mins. The bread turned out a failure =( it did rose but it sunk terribly at the last part. do you know what went wrong? can i also know the steps of adding the ingredients and how long did your bread machine took to bake the bread under the sweet setting function?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi es, it takes about 2hr 55mins to bake the loaf under the Sweet function. For my bread machine, the instructions specify that the wet ingredients will go in before the dry ones...ie first add in water/milk, followed by whipping cream, or eggs, butter/oil, sugar, salt, then add in the flour to cover the wet ingredients...make a small indent on the flour and add in the yeast, making sure that the yeast doesn't come in contact with the liquid and salt, especially if you are using the delay function. As you didn't provide more details, I am not able to comment on what went wrong. Did you suspect that it was due to the sequence of adding in the ingredients? anyway, you may refer to this site for the possible causes for bread problems. Hope this helps :)

Anonymous said...

Hihi..i want to make this bread tmr..but i was wondering if i make it by hand how will i go about to do it? hope to hear from u soon...thanks!! =)

Anonymous said...

Hihi..i wanna bake this tmr...

but i was wondering, i dont have a breadmachine...how do i go about to make this bread?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Anonymous, for kneading by hand...mix all ingredients except water and butter in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre, add in the butter and water. Mix with hand to form a soft dough. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic and no longer sticks to your hand. This may take about 15-20mins of kneading. Then proceed as step2 in the above recipe...ie place the dough in a mixing bowl, cover with cling wrap and let it rise. and proceed with step 3 & 4. Hope this helps.

Kitchen Corner said...

Hello HHB,
Your wholemeal bread really inspired me to try. It looks so delicious and healthy. May I know what is the different between whole wheat flour and whole meal flour? Are they the same things? How long can it last for the wholemeal bread?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Grace, if I am not wrong, they mean the same thing. I usually finish my loaf within 2 days. I think the longest you can keep them (in room temperature) should be around 2~3 days. Hope this helps :)

Kitchen Corner said...

Hi Happy Home Baking,
Thank you for the wholemeal bread recipe. I have tried it and my husband and I love it so much because it is really healthy recipe. I shall say this is a real wholemeal bread. This is what I have done http://gracekitchencorner.blogspot.com/
Once again, thank you very much!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Grace, glad to hear that you like the bread! too bad, my kids don't really like the texture of rustic breads, as such I hardly make this kind of bread. After the school's exam this week, I will try make a loaf of soft, wholemeal bread next week. Will share it with you then :)
btw, I saw your blog posting! but I can't seems to leave any comments? I like your curry buns!! They look so lovely!

Kitchen Corner said...

Hello HHB,
I think children hardly accept those dense and rocky bread, perhaps they would love it when they are growing older. Can't wait to see you soft wholemeal bread. Is it also consists with many wheat flour?
Sorry that I'm not very good using this blog and forgot to add the comments feature. I've posted the curry bun recipe if you like to try. Happy to know you. Have a good day!

Kitchen Corner said...

Not to forget ... wish you Happy Mother's Day! You are really a wonderful mother! May God bless you healthy, happy and cheerful day!

Anonymous said...

hi, can i use this wholemeal bread recipes for the hot dog rolls and ham&cheese buns? how much water should i add into it if i'm using wholemeal breadflour? still the same?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Anonymous, I don't think it is advisable to replace bread flour with wholemeal flour for the other recipe. The amount of water has to be adjusted, and I am not sure how much is required. Maybe you would like to look for other wholemeal bun recipes. I'm sorry I'm of not much help here.

Anonymous said...

by the way if i'm using wholemeal breadflour, isn't it the same as ur bread flour+ wholemeal flour? can i just use 300g of wholemeal BREADflour instead of 150 breadflour+ 150g wholemeal flour?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Anonymous, My apologies, I misunderstood your earlier comment. I thought you were asking whether you can use wholemeal flour instead of bread flour for the hotdog and ham sweet buns recipe.
As my knowledge on baking is rather limited, and I have not used wholemeal bread flour before, I am really not in any position to advise whether you could replace it. You may want to give it a try, and adjust the amount of water accordingly, I think you will probably need to add a little more water so as to form a soft dough.

Anonymous said...

thanks for your advices. =)

E ling said...

hi HHB!

your wholemeal bread looks really yummy!

if i wanted to use a breadmaker to bake the bread, which function do you think i could use? the basic?

thanks so much!

edel

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Edel, I have not tried using the bread machine to make this bread. Maybe you can try with the Whole Wheat Setting which is for wholemeal breads.

Madamoiselle Sophie said...

Hi,
I want to make this recipe but I do not have a bread machine. Will I have to change the sequence of ingredients up a bit? Or do I just throw everything in the mixer? Thanks.

Sophia

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Sophia, I have not used a mixer to knead a bread, maybe you can check the instruction manual of your mixer. I know that some mixer (eg Kenwood), liquid will go in first before the flour.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I quite new in baking bread. I would like to make this recipe, but can i mix all the ingredient and leave it overnight in the fridge for proofing?
The next morning only start with the kneading process.

Thanks in advance.
Babe KL

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Babe KL, for this recipe, the kneading comes before the proofing. With my limited knowledge on bread making, I am not sure whether you can leave it over-night and do the kneading the next day. Sorry, I am of not much help here.

Ronni said...

Hi HHB,

I went through a few sites and they all point me back to yours! Seems like you are now the big sister of blog recipes online in our region!

I made this today and it was so good and fresh. Fed my baby and hubby well. They loved it. Thanks for posting.

Btw, do you have a thin crust pizza recipe? Thought I read it on your site but couldn't seemed to find it now.

Cheers,
Ronni
http://cookingmemos.blogspot.com/2010/07/all-roads-lead-to-rome.html

Happy Homebaker said...

hi galronni, nah, there are many experienced and professional food bloggers/bakers out there, I am no where near them, especially I have not attended even one baking workshop.
Anyway, you have made the wrong link ;p You have actually tried another wholemeal loaf, but no worries.

I don't really have a thin crust pizza recipe, there is one that is quite close though, see here (http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com/2008/03/pizza-express.html)
I recently learned that for real thin ones, the crust is made with plain flour, not bread flour.

Ronni said...

Ooops....sorry yah should have commented at the right place. :P

Hehee.. thanks for the pizza tip. I'll use your recipe and maybe change the bread:plain flour ratio for the thin crust pizza.

Keep your recipes coming!

Cheers,
Ronni

Anonymous said...

hi, since u've baked so many bread before, can i ask, if using breadmaker machine to make wholemeal bread using wholemeal flour, do we need yeast? is it a must?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, yes, you will still need to use yeast otherwise the bread will not rise.

Unknown said...

Hi, just want to comment you make lovely bread, makes me want to bake one myself!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Natasha, thanks for your kind comments, do give bread making a try, I am sure you will find it very rewarding to be able to make your own bread!