victoriamc's blog

By following one of the threads here on TFL I was alerted to an amazing bread baking book that is dedicated to wholegrain breads  I am referring to, of course, Peter Reinhardts "wholegrain breads".    I am currently baking my way through this book and I am really enjoying the flavours of these wholegrain breads, super healthy breads. One of the biggest challanges in baking wholegrain breads is making a dough that is robust enough to hold its own shape, rise up nicely in the oven and still be soft and nicely textured inside.  

I was hosting a brunch, of course I had to bake something good.  I came up with these little swirled knots of milk bread and chocolate bread.  Both are enriched yeast doughs,  lightly sweetened, rather aesthetically pleasing and very delicious.  Full instructions (with lots of photos) and ingredients are now posted on mybreadandbrot.com

Sweet bread is a bit of a staple in Latin America and Mexico.  Its something that I make very rarely, these sugar-shell topped conchas are really delicious, i made Orange and chocolate versions instead of traditional white or Matcha tea flavoured Conchas.

http://mybreadandbrot.com/orange-chocolate-mexican-conchas/

Finally, the air has cooled enough to go and into the garden and grill.  What better way to showcase your favourite homemade hamburger with a lovely Spelt hamburger bun.  These buns are perfect for hamburgers because they have just the right amount of resistance in the crust to hold all the trimmings but are soft enough to avoid a messy squidge out when you take a bite.  for details stop by mybreadandbrot.com

I am sure many seasoned bread bakers have made very similar loaves to this one, its super easy to make, I just love the style aspect to loaves formed in this way.  By splitting the dough into balls and then placing into a loaf tin, you can produce a beautifully even loaf every time.  This spelt sultana is also nice and sweet without being rich, there is no butter in the recipe!  If you are interested in more pictures and details please stop by http://mybreadandbrot.com/spelt-sultana-toast-bread/

My whole grain spelt bread is made with 100% whole spelt flour, its an easy to make yeast bread, super healthy, low glycemic and tastes lovely.  Details are to be found on mybreadandbrot.com.  Along with a couple of extra pictures of our local farmland, and some stunning wheat fields,

http://mybreadandbrot.com/whole-grain-spelt-bread-2/

Spelt (or dinkel if you are from germany) is such a great grain to use in bread baking.  I am having alot of fun, creating lovely nutty flavoursome bread, this one I made extra crunchy and nutty by adding course grain semolina, walnuts and sunflower seeds.  Its a really tasty spelt bread, all the details can be found on mybreadandbrot.com.  Enjoy.

Which other flavours and add-ins do you TFL folks like to include in spelt bread recipes?

 I am currently working on a 100% whole grain spelt bread with spelt flakes, I hope it will be up next.

So little work for such a lovely loaf of whole rye sourdough bread.  I have ventured into the world of no-knead breads and much to my surprise I am really pleased with the resulting juicey, flavourful and healthy loaf.  Its made with predominantly whole rye flour, and leavened purely with an active sourdough.  Details you will find on mybreadandbrot.com

Enjoy

Of course, one cannot host a herb-bread blog feature without including a classic rosemary focaccia!  So I have just finished a recipe for a really tasty rosemary focaccia its the final bread recipe in my herb bread collection.  Go head over to mybreadandbrot.com for the details.  With a 75% hydration the dough is pretty slack but still workable and the end result is great. A soft, supple airy interior with a nice thin golden crust.   Thanks to my little herb garden for providing me with such great flavour.

Herb bread recipe number 5.  This recipe for lemon thyme bread needed a bit of testing before I was happy with it. The final version featured on mybreadandbrot.com is an easy recipe for a lovely soft flavourful bread.  A great way to make use of fresh thyme if you have some growing in your garden.  Lovely and citrussy, fresh and summery, almost worth baking just for the wonderful aroma.