whole-wheat flour - Welcome to my kitchen!

It’s been some time now that I’m baking bread following thoroughly recipes from books, but this time I felt like I can change that and start thinking about my own mix and recipes without opening a book. once you’ve learned the basic proportions and you know what kind of texture you need to achieve after kneading it’s not difficult at all.

So my first original recipe is a warming whole wheat and rye bread. I used 160g of rye flour, 90g of whole wheat flour, 180g of water, 12g of sourdough, 5g of salt, 3g of yeast, knead until smooth and soft. After the dough has taken enough volume I shaped it, leave again a few hours, and finally baked it at 235deg for 10min, then at 220deg for 20min.

Multi grain and whole wheat little bread made for breakfast

At first when I started to bake my own bread I didn’t know much about it and I didn’t know how to chose the ingredients. As in any preparation the quality of the ingredient is crucial and it is not easy to understand what is a good flour and what is not, and also there are so many types of flours and bread that it took me some time. More over as I access information about bread mainly from French sources adapting to the Japanese available products was a hard task!

After using a lot of French organic products and random flours I could find in Japan, I think I have found a good set of resources locally. My main source of ingredients and in particular raw yeast is Cuoca. They have a wide selection of products, you can order on-line, but for me the best is that they have a shop that covers half a floor at Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi. My favorite flour there is the “Tradition Francaise” by Viron, perfect for every white bread, and in particular baguette.
For most of the bread now I use the organic flour I can find in the supermarket. It is not a local product but the whole wheat flour and the hard flour are really perfect for my breads.
For the seeds, I haven’t find yet something that satisfies me fully in Japan. A lot of the seeds are not organic or comes from China, which I must say worries me because of pollution problems. Right now I use seeds that I buy in France in any organic shop such as Bio C Bon, Naturalia etc… but I hope I’ll find something suitable soon in Japan!

Happy week-end, for me it’s going to be a lot of baking I know!!!

So, last week I told you about these delicious and amazingly simple bagels I made for the first time. And since it was too good I couldn’t believe it was true, remember? I’ve tried the recipe again, with a few variations and yes! they are delicious and it’s really not difficult. So I’m ready to share the recipe now!

For 10 large bagels I use 500g of flour (white, whole…); 200g of water; 20g of sugar; 1 egg; 25g of butter; 25g of sourdough; 5g of yeast; 10g of salt. For the topping 1 egg and seeds you like. In a bowl I set the flour, add the water, sourdough-yeast-salt, sugar, egg and stir well. Then add the butter and mix until the dough is soft and smooth. It takes about 10 to 15min. Then let the dough rest under a wet clothe for 1h. After that time flatten the dough and roll it to obtain a tube. Cut it in 10 equal pieces and let rest under a wet clothe 15min. Make balls with each piece of dough, flour littly the top. Now, let’s form the bagels. With your index, punch a hole in the middle of the ball and roll it around to increase the size of the hole until it reaches about 3cm. Take care to keep the dough uniform all around. Repeat for each ball, and let rest under a clothe for 30min. Prepare a Pan of biling water, boil each bagel on both sides for 1min30, and drain them. Now the topping part can start. With a brush spread the batted egg, then chose the topping of your choice, set in a plate and roll the bagel in. Line the bagels on a cooking plate covered with cooking paper. Bake at 200deg for 15min.

Et voila! Ready to eat in less than 2h and so delicious that eating industrial bagels is not an option anymore!!

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.

Starting the year in veggie mood!

Our local shops were closed when we arrived in our country house and they will remain closed until the end of the week fir the traditional Japanese new year holidays.

Since shopping possibilities were limited I starting the year with a number of veggie receipes.

Starting with a spinach and tofu whole-wheat and soya flours tart for 2015!!

Tag: whole-wheat flour

My first original recipe for bread

Ingredients for bread

My bagels recipe

A good start!

Happy new year 2015!!!