Bread!

I hope you've had a lovely weekend.   What a fabulously hot end to June we've had across Britain.  I saw June out just perfectly!

Fun with the family,  Hot sunny beach walks, shaded country walks.  Swims in the sea.  A beachside gig.

But now, back to my "day job"... and the recipe you've been waiting for!

Remember breadmaking?  All that faff?  

Temperature vigilance throughout, not killing the yeast, kneading, waiting, kneading again, more waiting, then finally baking. 

So when breadmakers came along we thought we'd been liberated.

But the breadmakers are a ***ger to clean.  They're huge monsters on the countertop, yet you forget they're there  can't be bothered to use them,  so they eventually get tidied up despatched forever to the back of a cupboard.  Is that where yours is right now?!

So Old Method and even Older method result in very few of us actually making bread!   This is a shame as modern day bread contains many artificial preservatives to lengthen shelf life, and that can't be doing us much good eh?

Enter New Method.  The Lékué Bread Maker.

(It comes with full instructions and recipes)

What's it's USP, you ask?

Well it's  labour saving.   The bread is nourishing and preservative-low.  It keeps you feeling fuller for longer.  

It all happens in the mould, no pile of utensils to wash up after!

And it's cost effective - my £10.15 outlay for ingredients gave me 8 loaves.  And that's Guernsey prices - UK/US prices are lower so it will probably come in cheaper for you.

Are you sold? 

Well I was as soon as my Norwegian friend J showed me what a doddle it was to bake bread like this by the Lékué method.

 Do YOU want freshly baked bread for little effort?

Well I'm going to explain the process and I think your answer will be a big yeasty YES!!!

Here's what you do.

First you need to get yourself a Lékué mould.

Or maybe two.  My Norwegian friend works a labour/energy-saving two mould system.  Half a loaf for now, three halves in the freezer. 

Then you proceed as follows.

Bread making - Lékué Style

Ingredients

400 gr flour mix*

1 x 7gr pack dried yeast

1 tspn salt

1 tbspn oil, if you wish

About 2 cups of cold water

Mix of seeds, 1-3 tbspn - I'm using a bag of sunflower, pumpkin and a few other seeds that I can't remember!

Method

I suggest making the mix early evening so that the bread can be baked early the next morning.

1. Remember, it all happens in the mould! Place it on scales, then adjust the scales back to zero.

2. Add flours to the mould until you reach 400gr. 

*I'm currently using about 100gr ea spelt and rye, and 200 gr of wheat flour*.

3. Take mould off scales, add salt and yeast to flour,  Blend a bit.

4. Start adding cold water bit by bit and mix for a few minutes using a wooden spoon until you have a dropping consistency.  No kneading required!

5. Add 1-3 tbspn seeds, according to preference.  Mix well.

6. Close mould, place in a plastic bag** and cover well.

Place mould in fridge overnight.

Next morning, when making early morning tea/coffee:

7. Set oven to 230c. Take mould out of fridge and out of bag so it adjusts a little to room temperature; place mould on baking sheet, still closed

Open and sprinkle a topping if desired like rolled oats, then close.

8. When oven hits 230c, place baking sheet in the oven, reduce temperature to about 180c, set your timer for about 40 minutes.

(I'm being a bit vague with all my "abouts" as numbers depend on your oven.  My Rangemaster oven is quick and hot so I bake for about 30-35 minutes.  Trial and error here - my first was a bit crusty!)

9. Get a cooling rack and clean tea towel to hand.

10. When your oven timer bleeps, take out the baking sheet and using the tea towel, carefully take the bread out of the mould.  I say carefully because although it pops easily out of the silicone mould, everything is very hot!

Flip the bread over and bake out of the mould for about 6-10 minutes, depending on your oven.

11. Take out of oven and cool on the rack, top side up.

If you want extra crusty bread, do not cover; I don't, so I cover with the clean tea towel. Leave for about 30-60 minutes.  And here you have to exercise some control, because the wafting of freshly baked bread is most alluring.

12.  Enjoy!

Now that seems like an awful lot of instruction, but after you've baked this bread once, the few things you need to know are stored in your head and, to be honest, you become a bit of a bread making robot!

Here are a few visuals to help in along the way.

So let's talk a little about the consistency you're aiming for, because it's pivotal to your baking success.

Getting the consistency right is a trial and error because of the variance of flours.  This was my first attempt.  A bit gloopy and the bread came out quite dense.

Here's my second attempt.  I added less water.

See - it all happens in this single piece of kit!

The more water, the more dense, the more "European-style" the bread, is my observation.

Yes, I'm rambling on about consistency, but it is a very important factor in the success of your bread and getting it to your personal preference.

When all is mixed, you simply close the mould.

Wrap it loosely in a plastic bag**.

**Now hold your horses, I use plastic bags but then reuse them to store the current bread in the bread bin and freezer.  And I reuse and reuse … so I'm as green as I can be until I can come up with a better wrapping method.  Any suggestions?

My first attempt!

And with only a mould and a wooden spoon to wash up through this whole process, what are you awaiting for?

Enjoy freshly baked good bread to your liking.

Click below for details of the Lékué bread maker, then get yourself one and get baking!!!

Includes recipes.

If not now, then when?!!

A la perchoine, 

Mary x.