Cuisine Fiend's blog

There are so many wonderful things about this bread, I don't know where to start. It's buttery like laminated dough but infinitely easier. It's actually fun to make. It's sociable, pull-apart, tear 'n' share bread. And it's a showpiece with a huge 'wow' factor.
Jewish breads are usually excellent, this one is the traditional bake of the Yemenite Jews. If you want to look at the details, here's my recipe link: kubaneh, yemeni bread

I first baked proper, PROPER panettone last year, with sweet starter (lievito madre) fed every 4 hours - even getting up at 4am for it - and I have to say it's a serious project. Patience, hard work, at least some bread-making skills, standing mixer (can't really imagine without it), lots of leftover egg whites, a warm place for proving, a warmer place for growing the lievito, hanging apparatus - it's a mission.

How about the Anglo-Italian fusion for Easter: a combination of hot cross buns and panettone? Yes, I know, there's the properly Italian colomba di pasqua and I've made it too, but my bunettones are just a bit of fun.

I used a sourdough starter but didn't go through the faff of lievito madre, getting up at four in the morning etc., like I did back at Christmas time. Not orthodox, but ordinary, lively 100% wheat sour starter seemed to work well.

It's fantastic what you can do with Tartine style sourdough - like these snakeskin seeded batons.

I've used a mix of seeded flours, some oat and barley flakes and millet grain. I stretched the fermenting over four days and the flavour certainly benefited.Here's the link to full recipe. Absolutely love the method.

I can't believe I haven't tried this before - Tartine is indeed the tastiest simple country sourdough. 'Simple' not at all in a patronising way, after all sourdough can ALWAYS go wrong for no reason, at least in my experience. Simple in the way of the three basic ingredients: flour water and salt, without seeds or whole grains or malted flakes.

A really fascinating exercise: wild yeast water. Not sourdough, as I used the water straight up without making a flour-based pre-ferment. I've subsequently read about different applications of the water, basically to strengthen the sour starter, but I was ecstatic to see that it actually leavened the bread on its own. That's magic.

This is a nice little loaf, good to use the cider you've found at home and are not keen on drinking...

Cider does not this bread make - as cider, beer, ale give just very subtle flavour to the bread. But the apple chunks are interesting: you actually knead in the diced apples and it takes a bit longer than expected to incorporate the moisture.

Here's the link to detailed recipe.

Black treacle. Oats and barley. Sultanas. Three kinds of seed (plus caraway). Rye and white, or spelt if you'd like it gluten free. Did I mention sultanas?

The dough feels like making mud cakes. You have to wait until it's completely cold before you slice it. What can I say? It's the tastiest non-sourdough rye bread I've made and/or tasted. Link to the recipe's here.

My recent effort in defiance of the 'vegetables belong with your main course only' claim: courgette (or zucchini to many) loaf - here's the link to the detailed recipe. Sliced and cooked courgettes plus some mashed potatoes - the bread has great texture, slices well so a good sandwich loaf, and it toasts like a dream.

My last minute (and a first ever) attempt at pandoro: where are the raisins? :-) And of course baked in a totally unorthodox fashion in a panettone tin - didn't get hold of the star shaped one in time.

Good: no orange peel, dough doesn't ever want to collapse, divine toasted and buttered.

Bad: where are the raisins?

Happy Christmas to all the bakers!