Tina’s Embercombe Wholemeal Spelt Bread: A Good Method for Baking Bread with Children

Ingredients and equipment:
Wholemeal Spelt Flour
Dried Yeast
Salt
Hot water
Cold Water
(oil for tins)

Large mixing bowl
Whisk
Wooden spoon
Baking tray/tin

What to do:

Wash hands!

Pour some hot water (about 1 inch) into a large mixing bowl and dissolve the amount of sugar that sits in the middle of a small person’s hand. Add cold water until the water in the bowl feels the same temperature as your hand, then add the same amount of dried yeast as the sugar. Whisk to help dissolve and learn for a few minutes somewhere warm (could be longer, but your bread maker may not want to wait!).

Then take wholemeal spelt flour and start to add a cupful at a time and mix in with a whisk. Keep going until the mixture becomes thicker and starts to stick inside the whisk, then tap the dough off gently against the side of the bowl and switch to a wooden spoon. Now add as much salt as fits onto a small person’s had twice and add to the mixture.

Keep adding flour and mixing until the dough feels dry enough to touch without sticking too much. Put some flour onto a clean surface and some on your hands and scrape all the dough out. Then keep kneading and adding little bits of flour until you have a lovely ball of dough that isn’t too sticky when you poke your finger into the middle of it.

Grease some baking tray or bread tins very well with oil, put dough into tins allowing for it to double in size as it rises. Or make interesting shapes and lay on a flat baking trays. Leave the dough somewhere warm. When it has doubled in size, put in a hot oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Andrew Whitley’s overnight baps

Andrew is the founder of The Village Bakery and co-founder of the Real Bread Campaign. His book Bread Matters – the state of modern bread and a definitive guide to making your own is published by Fourth Estate and is available for £20 post-free from www.breadmatters.com

‘Here is the recipe for the wholemeal baps that were one of the most popular items I made at The Village Bakery that I started in the 1970s. A little preparation on Saturday evening, a slow rise on Sunday – and by lunchtime you’ll be enjoying the tastiest rolls you’ve ever made.’

Baps (using an overnight sponge)
Although they need a long rise, these baps don’t take any more of the baker’s time than fast-made bread. They use less yeast, too, and the long fermentation gives great flavour and additive-free keeping quality. This recipe makes a dozen baps or, if you prefer, two small loaves.

Note: 1 millilitre of water weighs one gram. If you have a set of digital scales, it is often easier to weigh small amounts of liquid than to measure them in a jug.

1. The Saturday night sponge
5 g Fresh yeast (or 3 grams dried yeast)
130 g Water (at about 20°C)
150 g Stoneground wholemeal flour
285 g Total

Dissolve the yeast in some of the water and add it to the flour with the rest of the water. Mix until the dough has ‘cleared’, i.e. all the ingredients are thoroughly combined. There is no need to knead the sponge, since time will develop the gluten sufficiently.
Put the sponge in a bowl large enough to allow it to expand to at least three times its original size. Cover with a lid or polythene bag and leave it at room temperature for 12–18 hours.

2. The Sunday morning dough
285g Overnight sponge (from above)
450g Flour (wholemeal or a mix of white and wholemeal)
5g Salt
270g Water (warm to the hand, i.e. 30-35°C)
15g Butter or olive oil (optional but makes rolls softer)
1025g Total

Before you do anything else, take the lid or cover off your sponge and enjoy a first whiff of the fruity, beery, slightly vinegary aroma.
Mix all the ingredients together into a soft dough. Knead without adding extra flour until it is stretchy. Cover and leave to rise for 1 hour. Divide into 12 pieces (or two if you are making small loaves) shape into rolls, dip into wholemeal flour to get a good covering and place on a baking tray with about 2 cm separating them. Cover with a large polythene bag but don’t let it touch the rolls. Let them rise until they are just touching each other, then bake in a hot oven (220°C) for 10-15 minutes, depending on your oven. They should have a thin floury crust and feel soft after they have cooled.

© Andrew Whitley 2008

There are a load of great recipes on the British Baker website at www.bakeryinfo.co.uk/news/categoryfront.php/id/74/Breads.html

The following link shows Richard Bertinet demonstrating his special technique using a recipe for sweet dough. Richard’s recipes require more liquid than one might expect but his technique creates a wonderful bouncy dough as you will see. Better still try it yourself and you will taste the difference!

http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/video/2008/03/bertinet_sweetdough

Ned Atwater’s 5 hr country wheat bread, kindly sent to me by Dave Klinger of The Lucky Bread Co.

Note: measurements are in American cups, haven’t got time to convert it to English/European measurements at the moment. Sorry.

You can watch Ned himself demonstrate the process here. Check out the funky music! I think you’re supposed to be dancing throughout…

www.atwaters.biz/bread.php#breadVideo

3 cups ww flour
3 cups all purpose flour
3 cups H20
1 Tbs salt
1 Tbs dry yeast
2 Tbs honey

In a big bowl, stir dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, dissolve the honey in the water. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix thoroughly. Cover the dough in the bowl and let it rest for 1 hour.

Fold the dough 10 times in the bowl. Re-cover and let it rest for 1 hour.

Fold the dough 10 times in the bowl as before. Re-cover it and let it rest for 1hr ( now 3 hrs total ) .

Cut the dough in half. Shape each half into a shape of your choice for baking pan or Benneton. Cover and let Proof for up to 1 hour while oven preheats.

Bake with steam in a 450-degree oven for about 30-40 min.

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