Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Roasted Potato Multigrain Bread #BreadBakers

Roasted Yukon Gold potatoes and a hefty pinch of rosemary give these low rising loaves a wonderfully savoury character. A sourdough preferment adds tang while keeping the crumb moist and open. A slice or two is perfect with any soup or stew, or just on it's own!

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Is there anything better than roasted potatoes to cure a comfort carb craving? I'll admit, I don't indulge in them as much as I should, but when I get the chance I'm all in! This bread was sparked by an abundance of potatoes left over from a family dinner, and fresh rosemary by the windowsill. I've made roast potato bread before, but when I saw this recipe on My Love of Baking that used a sourdough preferment, I had to give it a try!

Not only does this bread have the rich flavour of roasted potatoe and rosemary, but the preferment used an unusual ingredient - beer! The amber ale I picked was ever so slightly sweet (and not hoppy) and local to me. I took that idea and paired it with the nuttiness of barley flour and my standard whole wheat bread flour.

Once you combine the preferment with the rest of the ingredients (apart from the potatoes, that is) and knead it all together, be prepared to let it rest - think of the bread like your body after running a marathon (or conquering the work week) - it needs a spa day. A few folds and the addition of the potatoes later, it gets shaped and given a final proof in a bowl. I don't have a round banneton, but I imagine it would be better! A final rise and its plopped (gently) into a screaming hot Dutch oven and baked to a deep brown with a prominent crust.

The bread itself is time consuming, but well worth it in the end - the smell that came from my oven as it baked in a Dutch oven was out of this world.

Slicing into the cooled loaf, you're met with a slightly dense but still tender crumb speckled with bits of roasted potatoes. My mom immediately spread it with cream cheese, but the heels of the bread made stellar soup dippers from what I hear!

This loaf is my submission for the #Breadbakers Mixed Grains Bread event. 

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

BreadBakers

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Bunny Bread #BreadBakers

My niece and I have started baking together on Fridays, this was our first project - whole wheat Bumny Bread! Whole wheat and decorated with food colouring mixed with egg whites.

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It's no secret that I love teaching kids (and adults) how to bake. From learning why we follow a recipe, to reading the ingredients and making sure everything we need is out, to measuring things to the fun part of mixing everything and learning about the science of it all, kids learn so many different things in the kitchen! While I no longer teach formally, I'm lucky enough to have 4 niblings who love getting into the kitchen with me and making all sorts of things!

Tackling bread with kids is both incredibly rewarding and incredibly tricky. My niece (who was 5 at the time) loved helping to knead the dough, shape it and paint it, but waiting the hour for it to rise felt like a century to her. I had plenty of activities for her to do in the meantime - she loves helping to clean up (just like her younger brother, who is the king of cake pops) and we watched plenty of YouTube videos during the wait. When the bread was done, she couldn't wait to take a bite, and considering the finished loaf was almost the size of her head, she got through the ears before we packed it up for her to take home.

Since then, we've baked a plethora of things together, and her younger brother is old enough now to really get into the kitchen so I cannot wait to see what we come up with!

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.