Bread with roasted soybeans

Been enjoying the arrival of spring. Tiring myself with these daily 15 kilometer walks. It’s just so pleasant out there right now. Sun shines without it being too warm, flowers bloom and already met seven common brimstones flying out there. Nobody was stoning me, just seems to be the name of the butterfly. I do like the Finnish name “Lemon butterfly” for it, but to the English speaking world this seems to look more like a lemon.

Anyway, to balance all these sporty activities I’ve been baking cakes with butter-creams, chocolate decorations and marzipan toppings. Like this one here. They are delicious…

But unfortunately this ain’t a cake blog. So, I made a bread loaf! With soybeans! Enjoyed it, something different than the basic sunflower or pumpkin seeds. And the soybeans were all soft in the bread, so no broken teeth here.

To make one bread (with sourdough)

To soak
100g   Soybeans, dry roasted (mine were halves, but I think crushing them first would work nice as well)
130g   Boiling water

1. Bring the water to boil and pour over the soybeans. Cover and let it stand for 3-4 hours.

Dough
230g   Soaked soybeans from before
78g   Wheat sourdough
235g   Wheat flour
57g   Rye flour
8,7g   Salt
11g   Fresh yeast
148g   Water

1. Measure everything into your dough mixer and mix 4 minutes on slow speed and further 2 minutes faster.
OR
Measure the sourdough, salt, yeast and water into a bowl. Mix well ’till smooth. Add the flours and knead into a smooth dough, for about 5 minutes. Then add the soaked soybeans and knead again ’till smooth.

2. Place the dough into a bowl, cover with a cloth and let it rest for about 20 minutes.

3. With help of some flour knead and form your dough into a ball. Gently roll the top in some flour and place it with the flour side up onto an oven tray with baking paper. Cover with a cloth and let the bread proof for about 45 minutes, ’till clearly grown.

4. Meanwhile, heat up the oven to 230°C degrees. After proofing place the bread tray in the low-mid level and turn the heat down to 200°C degrees. I baked mine for 50 minutes, but keep an eye on yours and bake ’till nicely brown, at least 30 minutes, though. Enjoy!

Marika~

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Braided rolls

For my absence one might assume that I’ve finally had it and quit baking. Sorry folks, quite the opposite. Been baking like no tomorrow, at least on the last day before my practical test, when there really was no tomorrow.

So yes, had my examinations, not the final ones, but still enough important (also stressful) ones to matter. But they went smooth in the end, had fun and actually quite a bit of excess time in the practical test. And they always call me slow in my bakery, hah, here I was referred as the one with the best time management. Take that!

And next week more stressful times ahead, no I mean, more baking ahead. Leaving to Hannover to bake on Monday again, and returning only on Friday. But last time had fun, so hopefully it will be as good this time, too.

But that’s it for the applesauce, actually wanted to share a recipe. These bread rolls I had to make in my practical test, too, so, by now, this recipe is surely tested. They are quite huge, and therefore make a great meal to take with you to work or then to enjoy as a part of a luxurious breakfast brunch.

Dough, makes nine rolls

750g   Wheat flour
35g   Fresh yeast
413g   Water, lukewarm
15g   Salt
15g   Sugar/syrup – I also recommend using some (5g) dextrose/glucose (many groceries sell it these days for all sporty purposes), happened to buy some for one candy recipe that called for it, and now have been using it to feed my yeast doughs, and it does improve the proofing, must admit
23g   Margarine

Seeds to cover the bread; like sunflower, sesame, flax – and some oatmeal, too

Measure the ingredients into a mixer with a kneading hook, and knead about 4 minutes on the slowest speed, and another 6 minutes on the second slowest speed. Or hand-knead the dough by dissolving the yeast into the water and pouring this over the dry ingredients. Knead into a smooth dough, add the margarine, and knead ’till the dough is smooth again. Let it rest for 15 minutes covered.

Divide the dough into 9 equal pieces, also each weighting about 140-145g, and shape them round. Let the pieces rest covered for another 15 minutes.

Braid the rolls:

Prepare a seed mixture of your liking into a bowl and take some water into another bowl. Dip the rolls in the water and then in the seed mixture. Divide the rolls onto two baking trays to proof. Let the rolls proof covered in a warm place ’till well risen, about 30-40 minutes.

Bake the rolls for about 20 minutes in 210°C. Enjoy!

Marika~

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Bread with spelt and seeds

Well, isn’t it that time again. To start a new happy healthy year. Though I didn’t make such promises, at least not officially, I still happened to make something to go with that theme. Bread with 100% wholemeal spelt and seeds.

The first thing I’ve ever made with spelt and spite all my prejudices it’s delicious. I’m such a white wheat bread eater that even baking with spelt is a huge step for me. But it worked out, yay! So, enjoy the recipe.

Dough, makes either one big, two small or one and a half medium breads (100% wholemeal spelt)

40g   Fresh yeast
400g   Water, lukewarm
10g   Salt
10g   Syrup, dark

50g   Sunflower seeds
50g   Flax seeds, brown
50g   Sesame seeds
500g   100% Wholemeal spelt flour

More seeds to cover the bread

Grease the bread forms. Pour some seeds on your working table, or onto a deep plate and mix them (this is for covering later). Make the dough: Dissolve the yeast, salt and syrup into the water and combine with the wholemeal flour and seeds.The dough is not knead-able, so just mix it ’till everything is well combined.

Depending on the size of your bread mold, take a piece of dough and roll it in the seed mixture. The form should be at least 1/2 filled, but I think filling 3/4 of the form gives the best result.

Place the dough onto the bottom half of your oven. The oven should be cold at this point. Once you have the bread in, put your oven to heat up to 200°C degrees. Mine took about 15 minutes to reach that, and then I kept baking the bread for another 20 minutes in the form and further 10 minutes without. Therefore the total baking time was 45 minutes. The time can vary depending on your oven and the size of your forms, so keep an eye on the bread, but in an hour it ought to be baked for sure.

Let it cool down before slicing and then simply, enjoy.

Marika~

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Cheesebread

Though summer and therefore grilling season is coming to it’s end, it never is too late to post the cheesebread recipe. Let it cheer up your autumn instead. Make a nice mushroom soup and bake a cheesebread for those who do not eat mushrooms. For it’s so good, it almost counts as a meal on it’s own. Try and enjoy, different cheeses and different flavors for your liking. It’s delicious!

Cheesebread in a form

350g    White flour

200g    Lukewarm water

15g    Fresh yeast

7g    Salt

10g    Sugar

20g    Oil

170g    Diced cheese (I used processed cheddar cheese and some gouda, too. Like the color of the cheddar when slicing the bread. To dice the the processed cheese I unwrap the slices, pile them and squeeze them together. Then I have a chunk of cheese to dice.)

1. Dice the cheese and place into freezer. This way it doesn’t get smashed into the dough, when kneading. Then again, freezing the cheese also lengthens the proofing time.

2. Measure the flour, water, yeast, salt, sugar and oil into a bowl and knead ’till a smooth, elastic dough is formed. I kneaded my bread this time with the Bosch, and it did work out, almost as good as hand. Just a bit too fast.

3. Cover the dough with a cloth and let it proof for about 40 minutes, ’till about doubled. Then scrape your dough onto a working table (don’t let the picture fool you), spread it our a bit and pour the frozen cheese cubes over it. Knead the cheese gently into the dough, so that the cubes are evenly distributed.

4. Shape the dough into a long loaf, so that it fills your bread form. Grease the form and place the dough into it. Let the bread proof covered for about an hour, ’till clearly risen. It might take a while to proof now, ’cause of the cold cheese, so let it take it’s time.

5. Heat up the oven to 190°C and place your bread onto the bottom-mid level of it. Let it bake for 30 minutes, keeping an eye on the browning, and if necessary, turning the bread around. If your bread is a lot paler from the bottom, simply take it out of it’s form, and lastly bake without a mold for some time.

6. Let it cool, slice and enjoy. Doesn’t store too well, so don’t worry if you end up eating it all in a one go. Or then freeze some of it right away.

Marika~

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