Saturday 25 April 2015

BROWN BREAD

SATURDAY BAKING!
BROWN BREAD
I have just made some yummy fresh brown bread.  I haven't baked in a little while, since coming back from holidays.  So today, with the rainy weather, i think it's the perfect day for it.
I was given a simple, easy to follow recipe and have stuck with this ever since.

This recipe amount will make 3 loaves, as the 3 take 1 litre carton of buttermilk. I tend to freeze any loaf i am not using straight away after its cooked and cooled.

Here's how i made it:
In a large mixing bowl combine your dry ingredients: 850g COARSE WHOLEMEAL FLOUR; 510g SELF RAISING FLOUR; PINCH SALT; 1TSP BREAD SODA. (you can also add up to 3 handfuls of brown sugar here if you wish, however i like to omit it as it can be quite sweet).
In a bowl melt a block of BAKING BUTTER. Add in 4 EGGS, whisked. Add to your dry ingredients.
Add 1LT BUTTERMILK.  Mix until all ingredients combined.  I tend to get in there with clean hands and combine well. 
Transfer mixture between 3 loaf tins.  I line mine with paper baking liners.  If you are not, you need to greese your tins.
TIP: if you are going to use these liners, make sure to remove them carefully from the cooked breads. 
If you remove them too soon, when the breads are too hot, you will remove half your bread with it! 
If you remove it too late, when the breads are cold, you will never get the paper off the breads!  So, there's a happy medium you need to find to remove the paper liners carefully.
Also, wet the back of a wooden spoon and smooth the tops of your loaves. It is a fairly wet sticky mix so this will help to smooth the tops easily.
Bake in a pre heated 200 degree oven for the first 20mins then turn heat down to 180 and bake for a further 40mins.
I then remove the breads from the tins and leave bake for 10 more mins.
Cool on rack. (see tip above)