This is my first take on another recipe from Dan Lepard’s essential The Handmade Loaf.
As we’re gearing up to move house, I’m trying to use up ingredients – resulting in some changes to Dan L’s recipe. I also didn’t strictly follow his method – hey, a baker’s got to follow their instincts right?
So, ingredients:
250g strong white flour
150g plain flour
150g rye flour
8g salt
300g water
3g active dried yeast
50g honey
450g white leaven
50g butter, melted then cooled slightly
80g hazelnuts, toasted and chopped
280g cooked, soaked rye grains
(In this case, I boiled the rye grains for about 45 mins, cooled them, drained them, and soaked them overnight in apple juice. I used the cooking water for make up the dough.)
Method:
1. Add the yeast to the water (the rye cooking water), with the honey, and leave to activate.
2. Whisk the leaven into the yeast/water mix.
3. Combine the flours and salt in a roomy bowl.
4. Pour the liquid into the flours, along with the melted butter.
5. Bring to a dough and knead thoroughly.
6. Stretch out, then sprinkle on the chopped nuts and rye grains. (I’m adding them later than Dan L instructs as it struck me that chopped nuts could tear the dough, and damage the gluten structure, if added when initially making the dough.)
7. Knead to combine, then return to the bowl, cleaned and oiled slightly.
8. Leave 30 minutes, then give it a turn (ie stretch out, fold into thirds).
9. Leave another 30 minutes, then give it another turn.
10. Leave the dough now until doubled in size.
11. Turn out, weigh, scale two pieces, then hand each one up into a ball and rest 10 minutes.
12. Pin out each piece to a disc about 20cm in diameter, and cut five slits through the dough around the edge. Stretch each one of these, er, pseudopodia….
13. Cover and leave to prove, until doubled in size and suitably soft to the touch.
14. Bake in an oven preheated to 210C for 35 mins – check after half an hour; Dan L says they should be “a good rich brown in colour”.
Yep, I’ll admit it, mine are perhaps a little too “high bake”… the recipe says bake 40-50 mins, and I stupidly didn’t check mine before 40 mins.
Bread, Cakes And Ale 