… whilst nurturing a sourdough is fun it can sometimes feel like a chore, feeding the blighter every week… for goodness sake… plus my most recent trials haven’t been as successful as the first one so it’s nice, once in a while to have a normal loaf to lust after… and this beauty was surprisingly easy to bake, I almost feel like i’ve cheated, especially doing the low-knead method (see below) that I now use for all my bread and bun baking…
… I bought one of these Allinson multi-grain flours which contains white bread flour blended with malted wheat flakes, rye flour and malted wheat and barley flour and simply followed the recipe instructions on the back of the packet… and the loaf is delicious, light, nutty and nicely sweet from the malt…
Here’s the low-knead method that I think i’ve now just about perfected… I first saw it in a D. Lepard book but have since seen it in a lot of places and have tweaked it so that it works for me… the essence of its brilliance is that bread rising is all about time, not kneading, so rather than spend 10 minutes pounding away at the dough to achieve that wonderful softness you leave it alone but give it a regular low knead… you can see for yourself that it works but you’ll have to try it to really believe how soft the dough is…
Small Country Grain Loaf
– place all the dry ingredients into a large bowl, add the water and bring together into a shaggy ball (I use my rubber spatula for this but a good old-fashion hand would work just as well…)
– after 10 minutes drizzle some olive oil onto your work surface and spread it out with your hand… tip the shaggy dough onto the oil and then drizzle some more oil into the bowl and spread that around the inside too… if you don’t want to use oil you can use warm water just as effectively… simply have the tap running and keep putting our hand under the water before you handle the dough… i’ve done both ways successfully.
– now place the heel of your hand into the dough ball and push the dough away from you stretching it as you go, drip the far edge of the dough and pull it back onto itself, in essence folding it… turn the dough 1 quarter and do the same ‘stretch and fold’ technique… repeat this for only 8 times… it should take you no longer that 8 seconds to complete and you should already feel the dough soften and fill with air
Ploughmans Bakery Brand Country Grains Bread
– repeat this method twice more… by the third time you will have soft, silky dough… now cover and let it double in size… which should take about an hour (I put mine in the airing cupboard)
– drizzle some oil onto your work surface again and repeat the 8 stretch and turn technique, then mould the bread into the shape of your choice and let it rise once more either in the loaf tin or on the tray for 30 minutes
– once you’re ready to bake either slash the top of the loaf with a sharp knife or brush with a beaten egg and bake for 30 minutes on 190C
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