Sunday morning breakfast

The week-end was supposed to be all rainy so I had in mind to do a lot of cooking but in the end it’s a beautiful sunny day ahead!
For breakfast I wanted something new to try, and since I bought nice ham and free range eggs, I’ve been thinking about English muffins. I love English muffins, but until now I’ve only bought processed ones. So it was time to give it a try. When cooking British (scones, crumpets…) the BBC website is always my best resource and I found there a recipe for English muffins. It is incredibly simple and the result is just stunning!

Of course I had to adjust a bit the recipe to my taste and the available ingredients in my cupboard. So I changed the white flour for whole wheat flour, and prepared without the finish with semolina. The recipe is vegetarian: milk-egg-butter are needed. I love the fact that it is baked on a hot plate or in a pan, in summer I like not to have to lit the oven. The preparation is also quite quick because it needs only 1h proving and 30min rest. So basically in 2h you can have your muffins ready. For breakfast I served them with egg and ham, or butter and jam but there are so many ways to serve them! And to complete a fresh fruit salad with seasonal fruits. The perfect start for a Sunday in the garden trimming trees.

Recipe:
– 300g of whole wheat flour
– 6g of instant yeast
– 6g of salt
-1 egg
– 15g of butter
– 15g of brown sugar
– 150ml of milk
– a little bit of oil
In a bowl set the flour, and in the middle the yeast, the sugar, the milk, the egg, the salt and the butter. Knead until soft and smooth. Move the dough in an oiled bowl and leave for prove for 1h. When the dough has doubled volume, of a dusted surface roll-out the dough on a 2cm thick rectangle. with a 8cm to 11cm circle cut-out the muffins and leave for prove an other 30 min. Pre-heat a hot plate or a pan at very low heat and set the muffin, bake until golden (5~7min) and flip on the other side and bake again until golden. It’s ready to eat!

June 28, 2015

Gâche bread and Italian cheese

On Saturday evening I often prepare bread to have something fresh and delicious for breakfast on Sunday morning. This time it’s a bread called gâche. I used half whole wheat flour (83g) half white flour (83g) to prepare it, then the usual 8g of sourdough, 2g of yeast, 3g of salt, 100g of water. It takes about 90min for the first rise, 60 for the second, and in between plan about 45min. Baking time is about 18min. If you’r in Japan I would recommend to prepare your bread right before being eaten because the weather is so humid that the crust gets soft very quickly, and originaly the crust of that bread is quite soft.

Well, if this bread was just perfect for breakfast, I then went to Eataly (I mentioned it in an earlier post) . Eataly is my best provider for delicious fresh Italian products, in particular San Daniele ham, pancetta and fresh cheese. They use to have fresh ravioli, but it didn’t last long. This gâche bread with a little La Tur cheese was just stunning!

June 15, 2015

Basilic bread

This bread looks a lot like foccacia but is shaped in a ball shape and is thus less oily and more fluffy. The recipe is basically the same, but a little less olive oil and fresh chopped basil leaves are mixed in the dough. Delicious with a summer salad, grilled vegetables, or just olive oil…

June 11, 2015

More bread

I can’t stop making bread and trying new recipes each time. And each time being delighted by the result, yet the other day I bought some bread at Viron (the top place for me to buy bread in Tokyo) and I realized that I need much more practice to attain such a stability in the result.

Anyway, it just mean more fun!

Here is a recipe of a delicious meslin bread. For a large bread you need: 250g of flour, 250 of rye floor, 25g of sry sourdough, 2g of yeast, 10g of salt, 350g of warm water. As usual start by mixing well the ingredients, then stirr until soft. Wait for 90min, shape the bread, wait an other 90min. Spread flour on top of the bread and cut in a cross. Bake for 25min at 230C.

June 2, 2015

Focaccia

When summer starts I love a good piece of bread with fresh vegetables and why not a barbecue. My favorite bread for that time is focaccia, and even better rosemary focaccia. It’s so easy to make and with a delicious olive oil it’s just too good!!!

To make a focaccia you just need fresh rosemary roughly cut, a fruity olive oil, flour, yeast, water and salt just like for gbe fougasse. But the preparation of the bread when shaping it is slightly different (just as on the picture). And the final touch is to fill the finger holes with olive oil before baking for 20 minutes.

May 22, 2015

A good start!

Of all meals breakfast is my favorite and I like all of its variations. I also like that my breakfast changes everyday, even if there are some common ingredients. Bread or similar and fresh fruits in salad, smoothy, or just plain are on the menu everyday.

I baked this wholewheat soft bread that accomodates perfectly with jam, honey, butter or cheese. It’s very similar to wholewheat pain de mie but because my covered pie dish was too big the bread occupied only half of it and the result was really delicious with a thin crispy layer covering the soft and tender center.

For the bread it’s really simple. I used 250g of T150 flour, 180g of water, 13g of sordough, 1g of yeast, 5g of salt.

May 18, 2015

Boule bread Recipe

A few days ago you may have seen a picture of a boule bread that I prepared for our breakfast. Actually this bread itokyos one of the simplest bread to prepare.

Here is the recipe for a 20cm diameter bread: mix 250g of flour (T60), 125g of water, 12g of dry sourdough, 1g of yeast, 5g of salt. Mix all the ingredients together and malax until the dough is smooth and soft. Then keep under a humid cloth for 90 minutes. Then make a ball of the dough after flatening it and folding it. The folding marks on top. Wait an other 90 minutes. Pre-heat the oven at 230 degrees celsius. Return the dough (folding marks below) and incise the dough with the square pattern. Put in the oven, and bake for about 40 minutes. (If necessary you may need to add water to moist the air in the oven)

May 10, 2015

Fougasse

The fougasse is one of my favourite bread. It goes back to when I was a little kid in Aix en Provence and a few days a week “le pere Richard” was making these delicious plain fougasse with little hearts to take off. Since then this olive oil base bread has gained popularity and now you can find fougasse of pretty much any taste pretty much everywhere. As part of my bread making “training” preparing some fougasse was an essential step and it’s surprisingly simple! Actually, olive oil based breads: foccacia, fougasse etc… Are extremely easy to make and to bake.

For one large fougasse I use: 166g of flour (of your choice); 9g of dry sourdough; 2g of dry yeast; 4g of salt; 105g of water; 10g of olive oil; 75g of filing of your choice: olives, herbs, dry tomatoes, anchovies, cheese, ham… or just nothing. After stirring all the ingredients for about 10 to 15 minutes, keep in a warm place for 2h, then shape the dough, wait for an extra 1 to 2h before baking at 230 deg until goden. Finish with a thin layer of olive oil applied with a brush.

April 25, 2015

Chestnut and soya flour bread

Since I’m still trying a few cheese from the Komagata factory, I wanted some bread to eat with. The problem with bread is that it takes at least 3h30 to have something ready to eat assuming that you have a room heated at about 23deg… Knowing that Japanese houses are not well isolated not even well heated, and that it is freezing cold recently, making bread is more about 5 or 6h… Not something you improvise. But this chesnut and soya flour bread, since it is gluten free and don’t need to rise can be ready in 90min!!!! (Recipe from my bakery bible) Wonderful! And not even quick it’s super delicious. It’s quite compact and sweet, with a good taste of chesnuts. Perfect for the cheese I was trying this time!!!

April 13, 2015