English Granary-Styled Bread
Wednesday, September 25, 2024A simple homemade granary bread recipe that is delicious when straight from the oven. It's excellent toasted and buttered for breakfast and sandwiches.
Granary bread is a classic English brown bread made with a mixture of whole wheat, rye and white flours, with cracked grains of malted barley and wheat. This recipe, adapted from Delicious Magazine, combines an oaty topping, a handful of seeds and a mix of white bread, wholemeal spelt and rye flours to give your bread more substance. Since I don't have malted barley or wheat on hand, I added two teaspoons of malted barley extract powder to give the granaary bread that characteristic taste and aroma.
Wild Garlic Cheddar Soda Bread
Saturday, April 13, 2024Make the most of this antibacterial and antifungal spring herb and try this delicious wild garlic Cheddar soda bread that the whole family will enjoy. The bread has a deep brown crust with a dense, but quite tender crumb. The crust is lovely crunchy when it comes out of the oven and becomes a little chewy next day. Serve warm out of the oven with lots of butter or/and homemade wild garlic pesto.
Turmeric and Mustard Sourdough Bread
Saturday, February 17, 2024This bread is delicious, unique, and smells amazing while it is baking. It has a soft, chewy crumb and crackly, crispy crust. The beautifully golden colour comes from turmeric and mustard sauce. It's pleasantly mustardy in flavour and great with some aged Cheddar (or smoked Gouda), Bresaola, or liver pate. It go well with a bowl of soup too.
Seedy Kamut Bread
Friday, February 09, 2024This simple bread recipe uses a straight bread dough method. That means that you just combine all ingredients in the mixing bowl and mix. Though it's basic, the mix of flours (kamut, buckwheat and rye) and seeds (poppy, flax, pepita and sesame) gives the bread an interesting and multilayered taste, texture and aroma.
Kamut is nothing other than the ancient ancestor of our modern wheat, i.e. it belongs to the so-called heirloom grains, which was already used to bake daily bread about 6,000 years ago. Strictly speaking, kamut, aka khorasan wheat, is a cultivated form of durum wheat, which is derived from wild emmer. They resemble conventional wheat, but are about twice as large. Kamut is extremely nutritious, easy to digest, and tastes mild and slightly nutty.
Quick Rye Bread with Leftover Sugared Cranberries
Wednesday, January 10, 2024This tender and flavorful quick rye bread is packed with sweet tart cranberries and aromatic rosemary, topped with a simple sugar crunch. The bread is tasty as is, but if you want to dress up the quick bread, try a citrus glaze, or cream cheese frosting. If you are using fresh cranberries for the batter, coat them with a tablespoon of flour before adding to the batter, so they won't sink to the bottom.
Effortless Overnight Rye Loaf
Monday, November 27, 2023It's not typical to bake a good rye bread without using sourdough starter, and it can be quite challenging as the gluten in rye does not develop into strong and stretchy dough the way wheat gluten does, so the dough is more fragile, sticker, and the crumb is usually tighter and denser due to its low gluten content. And it also takes ages to rise, sometimes it could take up to 3-4 days before the bread is done. But it's undoubtly more delicious, flavourful and nutritious. This is why I am so excited to share this effortless overnight 100% rye bread recipe with you. We will use exclusively two grams of fresh yeast and an overnight rest of the dough to make the bread even more digestible and aromatic. Due to the long fermentation, sugar molecules that are difficult to digest and cause bloating and discomfort are broken down. Besides that, fiber and starch swell better, which also ensures better digestibility. If desired, you can also add 1 tablespoon of caraway or anise seeds to help with the digestion and for an even earthier flavour.
Unlike wheat breads which are best eaten shortly after cooling or right out of the oven, both the texture and flavour of rye bread improves after a rest of 12-24 hours. Once the bread has cooled completely, place it in a paper bag or wrap it loosely in foil and slice it the next day. If you can't wait, then allow it to rest at least 3 hours before slicing.
Ginger Crunch
Tuesday, November 21, 2023Ginger crunch or ginger slice is a classic New Zealand bar that's basically just a delicious shortbread base topped with a smooth ginger icing. They are best enjoyed with a nice hot cup of tea or coffee. The sea salt atop is completely optional. However, I would have topped the icing with some sliced crystallised ginger if I had them.
100% Rye Bread (Roggen Brot)
Monday, October 30, 2023Compared to typical wheat bread, rye bread is considered more nutritious, lower in gluten, more in soluble fiber and have less of an impact on blood sugar. This recipe uses coarsely ground rye meal and light rye flour to create a deliciously crispy, healthy and rustic bread with chewy texture and depth of flavour.
Icelandic Rye Bread
Thursday, July 20, 2023Icelandic rye bread, or rúgbrauð, a staple of Icelandic cuisine, is traditionally baked underground, buried in a bubbling geothermal pit for 24 hours. Since I don't have a hot spring in my back yard or live in a geothermal area, baking the bread in a simpler and more convenient modern oven is an ideal alternative way to get to taste this iconic Icelandic Rye Bread, which you would think it's healthy. Well, not this one as it contains a whole cup of honey and molasses in it, but it's DELICIOUS with a light caramel note and dense texture. Since it’s leavened with baking powder and baking soda, it’s very easy to throw together. This delicious traditional rye bread can be served in a variety of ways, topped with smoked fish / lamb, skyr, cheese or even just butter or simply with your favourite toppings. Store leftover bread tightly wrapped at room temperature for several days or up to 3 months in the freezer.
I adapted the recipe from King Arthur Baking, as 2-hr-baking time seems reasonable for me. Other recipes suggested baking at 100C/200F for 6 hours. Alternatively you can make this in a slow cooker, covered with aluminum foil, for 4 hours. I haven't tried it myself yet, so if you do please let me know how it turns out!
100% Rye Muffins with Blackberries and White Chocolate
Sunday, July 02, 2023These 100% rye muffins are moist, hearty, super delicious and bursting with berry goodness with just a touch of sweetness from Lindt white chocolate and xylitol. They are quick and very easy to prepare. The most important rule to follow when you bake muffins is to NOT OVER MIX the batter (just mix until the ingredients are moist, no need to stir until lump free and smooth) and you will have some fluffy muffins for either breakfast, afternoon snack or any time you crave a sweet treat. Use fresh berries if you can, otherwise, don't thaw the berries. You can prepare the batter in advance and let it rest overnight, covered in the fridge, next morning you divide the batter among the muffin liners and bake for breakfast. It's convenient and chilling the muffin batter also helps to improve the flavour and make them more fluffy and moist.
Walnut Boule with Wild Yeast Water
Thursday, June 08, 2023Rich, wholesome with roasted walnuts, combined with medium rye flour gives this rustic, hearty artisan boule a darker colour and more robust rye flavour. It's perfect for any sandwich or toasted and slathered with butter and honey for a deliciosu and fulfilling breakfast. The bread is naturally leavened with wild yeast water - the most organic, natural and fascinating way of leavening bread. The bread has a thin, super crispy crust that crackles in your hand with even a gentle squeeze and a soft open crumb with some nutty bites.
Greek Yoghurt Rye Bread
Monday, March 13, 2023A quick and delicious no yeast bread made with full fat Greek yoghurt, organic wholegrain rye and bread flour. Adding yoghurt to the bread dough is the easy hack for a fluffy and soft crumb. The crust will stay crunchy for a couple of hours and will become softer after it cools down. The bread is scrumptious slathered in butter and / or homemade marmalade. You can substitute for plain yoghurt, which is slightly runnier, thus add an extra 30 grams of flour if using.