Bread newsletter no.5
Chocolate bread and bread haikus
Dear bread friends,
…and suddenly we’re basically half way through 2022! It’s been such a busy year - the notes app (not to mention the many post-it notes surrounding my desk and inside my kitchen drawer) are filled ever more with ideas jotted down for a million things - breads, bread videos, book ideas, recipe ideas - it’s like there is so much potential for new and exciting things in the air.
It’s been a little while since my last newsletter and that’s partly because during the time between that newsletter and Easter I did actually feel a little like hot cross buns took over my life - but in a good way! I posted a couple of hot cross bun recipes (one for traditional HCBs and one for chocolate ones) which I would highly encourage you to make minus the crosses (or as nought and cross buns) throughout the year. I also wrote a recipe for Osterbrot - German Easter bread which is the German version of a hot cross bun for ABC everyday. I really enjoyed the experience of working on these recipes because I got to eat so much of this sweet, soft enriched dough! You might have noticed my face popping up a little more often at abc_everyday - I’ve been having so much fun working together with the Everyday team to create more bread related content.
I am working on my second book, an accompaniment to my existing book Live Laugh Loaf, and in the true nature of procrastination I have also just created a little mini-book (zine) called ‘Loaf Haiku’. It’s a little collection of haikus about making sourdough. Basically, it’s lots of in-jokes for sourdough bakers. If you’ve spent a considerable amount of time making bread, it will probably make you laugh. I’ve only printed off 20 of them at the moment!
Another exciting event has been the arrival of my Mockmill which has meant that I can now mill my own grains and use fresh flour in my loaves. I’ve been really excited to learn about and experiment with this different kind of flour - it smells so much more alive than regular flour! Expect to see a few recipes for fresh flour coming soon!
I think that platforms like Instagram and TikTok are so amazing for exchanges of knowledge, especially for home bakers of sourdough who I think pre-internet were limited to formal publications like cookbooks to gather ideas, without being able to talk about their own experiences. I’ve learnt SO much about bread and baking from the accounts I follow, many of which aren’t necessarily big/famous accounts. I wanted to share a few of my home / micro bakeries that I love to follow with you so you can learn from them too:
@breadbaking.orthopod (always posting very inspiring bakes and recipes e.g. this coconut bread!! )
@baxter_and_bairns (baking amazing loaves in the Rofco, lots of super interesting rye based recipes, bread info and excellent niche bread book recommendations too e.g. this very pretty rye loaf!)
@autumn.kitchen (lots of beautiful sweet sourdough recipes e.g. this sourdough brioche that I really want to make!!)
@acoupleofceliacs (excellent gluten free recipes and tips e.g. this post about making your starter happy - which is true also for gluten starters)
@cloudykitchen (not sourdough but the most amazing sweet bakes!! I’ve been learning lots about cookies through Erin’s account and also she fosters kittens!!!)
I actually follow so many amazing accounts so I’m going to make this a regular feature of my newsletter.
Finally, I’ve added some new things to Live Laugh Loaf! Including a recipe for sourdough pizza, which I only recently learnt you can make using basically any regular bread dough! I highly recommend trying it! I’ve also tweaked my sourdough hot cross bun and croissant recipes. If you have an older version of the book (it’s up to V3.0 now) or the print version, you can check for the code on the last page of the book and enter that code at checkout for the ebook - it’ll give you 100% discount on the newest version. So you won’t miss out on any updates I make. New things are all highlighted in purple in the table of contents. I know I said I wasn’t going to add any more but I just can’t help myself hehe. I’ve realised Live Laugh Loaf is like a journal of all my recipes and ideas so inevitably I’ll keep updating it periodically as long as I keep making bread (forever?!).
And now here’s the chocolate loaf recipe! A version of this recipe will likely be appearing in cookbook no.2 too - to give you a little idea of the vibe of the next book that’s coming!
Chocolate loaf
This loaf is soft and fluffy and quite cake-like but it’s still bread like enough that you can actually slice it up and toast it, which is what I’ve been doing with it all week. It makes breakfast feel very festive and at the same time you could totally eat it again for dessert at the end of the day! It uses a method of creating a kind of paste by gently heating water, milk and flour on the stove. When you mix this in with your final dough it helps to make the dough really soft and moist! I can confirm that it’s totally worth the extra little bit of effort for the difference it makes. Ideally you would start the day (or night) before you want to bake this bread.
Ingredients
Tangzhong
75g water
85g milk
30g flour
Main Dough
110g starter
200g milk (ideally at room temp)
1 egg
8g salt
50g sugar
60g butter (unsalted, room temp)
20g Dutch cocoa powder
8g cinnamon
150g milk chocolate chips
Tangzhong mix from above
400g bakers or strong plain flour
Glaze
20g brown sugar
20g hot water
Method
Step 1: Making the Tangzhong
Heat water, milk and flour over medium heat and stir constantly for a couple of minutes, until the mixture begins to thicken. Then remove from the heat and allow to cool down to room temperature.
Step 2: Making the dough and letting it develop
Mix together starter, sugar, salt, butter, cocoa powder, cinnamon, chocolate chips, egg, and milk. Then add the Tangzhong and finally add the flour. Mix together to form a shaggy dough and leave covered with a wet tea towel for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes return to the dough and do some stretch and folds so that it starts to come together to be a smoother dough.
Then leave covered with a wet tea towel overnight (approx. 9-13 hours, depending on the weather - this dough develops more slowly because of the milk and butter). It should be looking bubblier and puffier by the morning. If it’s not, feel free to give it more time. You can also refrigerate for a day or so after this phase until you’re ready to bake the bread.
Step 3: Shaping and baking the dough
Divide the dough into two portions. Roll each one out into a long, thick sausage shape and then roll it up so it’s like a snail’s shell. Coat with some flour and place into a well oiled bread tin (or you could bake in a Dutch oven if you don’t have a bread tin).
Ideally at this point you’d leave it for another hour or two so to puff up a little more but if you don’t have time you can also just bake it.
Preheat the oven to 220C.
Give it a little brushing of milk and a generous spray of water to create steam in the oven.
Bake at 220C for 30 minutes with the fan off (or in the Dutch oven with the lid on). When you put it into the oven you can do a few extra sprays of water into the oven to create a nice steamy environment. After 30 mins, bake for a further 10-20 minutes with the fan on, or until the crust has darkened.
Step 4: Glaze and enjoy
When it’s nearly done, boil some water and mix together with brown sugar to create your glaze.
Remove the loaf from the oven and paint with the glaze to make it lovely and shiny.
Let it cool before you cut into it (very difficult I know!).
Enjoy as is or toasted with some butter.