Thursday 25 March 2010

Mid week bread baking - with sausages in!

I don't normally get the chance to bake much bread during the week as I do shift work, though luckily was on the 'early' today and as the beloved was going to be home later this evening the kitchen beckoned and I decided to make some bread, using a pretty failsafe recipe translated and passed on from the Italian In-law's :) I also realise that I've been using this base recipe for a couple of years now and never blogged it!

This dough makes rolls, loaves and is very flexible as can use fresh or dried yeast, plus a variety of things liked dried herbs or even sweeter with a few rum soaked raisins and cinnamon! Flavoured oils are also good, I like to make rosemary infused oil specially for breads. Depending on the time of year it seems and flour ratio you may need a little more or a little less liquid.

Overall I like to mix 70/ 30 mix of organic stoneground wholemeal and strong white bread flour for most of my bread but today just used strong white bread flour and made some poppyseed rolls, along with a few experimental ones filled with a half a bockwurst sausage (like frankfurters!) which were really good!


When I was in Amsterdam last year I had something similar and had been meaning to make ever since, were very tasty warm from the oven!

Amsterdam Bread -

Todays mix was:
450g strong white bread flour + extra for dusting
1 x 7g sachet fast action yeast
280ml warm water (maybe go for 250ml next time as needed a little more flour)
2 tsp EVOO
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

A little milk for finishing

Place the yeast, sugar, 1 tbsp flour and 1/2 the water in a bowl, mix well and leave to settle for about 5 minutes.

Sift the flour, add the salt and mix in, make a well in the middle. Add the remaining water and oil to the yeast mix, stir into the dry ingredients until you have a dough, tip onto a well floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes until soft and smooth, place in a covered bowl and allow to rest in a warm place for 45 minutes or until doubled.

Tip out onto a lightly floured surface, knock the air out and shape as desired! Either milk or egg wash, you can sprinkle with herbs, cheese etc at this stage. Allow to rest for a further 20 minutes or so. Heat the oven to 180o fan/ 200o. Small rolls will take about 12-15 minutes, turn upside down and tap - if hollow sounding then will be cooked. Allow a little longer for larger shapes. Can really recommend using baking parchment to line your tins as no sticking!

These are previous ones using the base recipe:

Left: Italian herb - right: Sultana and rum


Seeded bun loaf and mini rolls


Poppyseed topped with rosemary oil and herbs round loaf:

9 comments:

  1. This is so close to my basic recipe! I have just made mine a little smaller so I can mix it up in the foodprocessor to make it easier for me. It is such a winner!
    PS Your sausage rolls are sensational!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love that photo from Amsterdam - it looks a bit rude

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Brilliant idea, Anne! I might do that!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lovely looking bread. Those rolls with the sausages in look great.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Do you think it would be possible to get a bit of ketchup in them sausage ones? - like a ready made sausage butty?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Joy - I occasionally use the mixer for kneading but quite enjoy doing by hand, good stress relief! They didn't last very long!

    Beth - I know! Was main reason for choosing it out there too, lol!

    Wendy - Need to perfect the wrapping as most of them burst but in some ways made them more inviting! Hope you enjoy them :)

    Janice - thankyou, our bellies thought so too ;-)

    VegBoxBoy - I don't see why not! Gives me a good excuse to whip up another batch! Have made proper sausage rolls before with tomato puree inside and they were lush :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a great idea to put sausages in the bread!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Anne

    Just found your blog. I've had a bit of a look round and it's jolly interesting!

    About the sausage parcels, I press out a rough oval, put the sausage across the dough, bring the dough over the ends, then join the top and bottom and put them on the baking sheet seam side down. The weight prevents the seam from opening up.

    Oh, and I generally include a smear of wholegrain mustard under the sausage!

    Just decided that's what I'm having for lunch today! Thanks!

    Regards, Paul

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by my kitchen! I love to hear your thoughts and comments on my recipes!

Anne

01 09 10