Nanterre Brioche

I didn't have any moulds for making the traditionally shaped Brioche, so I made the so-called Nanterre Brioche variant which is made in a loaf tin.

It was not so pleasant to make, as the greasy butter and egg mix had to be kneaded into the flour.

But it came out fairly well, with a cake-y taste to the bread. Unfortunately I was in the restaurant downstairs having lunch while this was in the oven, and when I ran up to check it, well before the directed baking time, it was already blackened on top.  This was probably because I had it too high up in the oven, and perhaps because I made a small mistake with the egg glaze forgetting to add water to the egg. Well, I learned another lesson, that I should watch over the oven...

Parker Bread Rolls

Light and fluffy bread rolls with white flour, milk and eggs. Made together with the girls.

Childsplay

The girls helped me out with the kneading. Look at that for technique!

Pane con Pomodori e Cipolle Rosse

Tomato and Red Onion Bread.  This was a lot of work because I had to cut up the tomatoes, remove the skin core and seeds, soften the onions and tomatoes by simmering in olive oil, mix into the dough, etc.  Used up some of our own home-grown tomatoes!

Turned out good, except I wasn't paying attention and the top got slightly blackened. Next time would add more tomatoes, onions and salt. Although it smelt great and tasted great, it wasn't as strongly flavoured as I expected.

The yeast and flour "sponging"...

Meaty tomatoes from the garden:

Red onions:

Fry 'em up:

Knead into the dough:

And voilà!  (the yellow slices are a cornbread I made earlier)

Classic Corn Bread

This was a quick bread to make, a traditional American recipe... really it was more like an unsweetened cake than a bread.

Contained eggs, baking powder, baking soda, buttermilk, ...  actually I didn't have any buttermilk so used kefir mixed with milk. No rising or proving time, just mix it up and straight into the oven. Turned out pleasant enough, if a bit unexciting.

Below, the red coloured slices are from the Tomato and Onion bread which I made next.

Repeat order

At special request for Györgyi's birthday I made the "Dark Chocolate Bread" again. Unfortunately I had to substitute vanilla sugar instead of caster sugar which we had run out of, and the vanilla flavour was too dominant, and the cocoa flavour not bitter enough. Lesson learnt!

The bread machine is now also in regular use, as an easy way to experiment with ingredients, sometimes adding corn flour, sometimes rye flour, more or less sugar or oil, different proportions.

Torta di Testa di Prosciutto e Formaggio

Golden Cheese and Ham Bread

I didn't have enough prosciutto so it's a bit light on the ham. And I used a slightly different cheese than the Emmental called for by the recipe. Contains 4 eggs. Tastes a lot like Hungarian Sajtos Pogásca (cheese scones).

Pain au Noix

Walnut bread... using walnuts from our own garden of course! Patricia's favourite!

South African Seed Bread

An interesting one.  Not only really easy to make - no kneading required - but also a very healthy recipe. Mostly wholemeal flour, runny honey, and lots of nuts and seeds.  Absolutely wonderful eaten warm with melted butter.  This one will be repeated!

Dark Chocolate Bread!

Made with 100g of cocoa.  The recipe recommended it be eaten with rich broths and soups.  I ate it with melted Kerrygold butter and plum jam! A rich sour-cherry jam would be perfect.

Broa, a traditional Portuguese corn bread

Turned out really well, tasted great.  I washed the outside with salt-water before baking, which gave a nice crunchy crust. 

Wholemeal bread, made in the machine

Didn't really follow any recipe for this one, just dumped a bunch of ingredients in the breadmaker from a list in the manual.  It turned out really well, the ingredients included a little sugar which combined with the wholemeal flour gave it a really nice taste.

Victorian Milk Bread

This was only the second loaf I made. It turned out completely perfect, a simple white bread made with mostly milk instead of water.  I glazed it with an egg wash before baking which gave it a really attractive shiny soft crust.

Beginnings

Prior to one month ago, I had never baked anything more than a few chocolate chip cookies for the kids. We have a breadmaking machine but don't use it frequently, and I had never used it at all. On the other hand I love bread and even though one can buy a lot of nice freshly-made bread in Hungary, I have become very bored with the standard loaves.

I'd often glanced through a very nice bread-making recipe book that has been lying around at home for a few years, with breads from all over the globe. So recently, I decided I am going to work my way through the book during the coming year, bake all the breads it contains.

I might use the machine now and again but mostly I am going to make them completely by hand.  From start to finish this is often 4-5 hours during which I cannot stray too far from the kitchen so it will be more a winter activity. However I've started with enthusiasm and made 5 in the last 2 weeks.

Photos of each will be posted here.

Well, except the first one which I forgot to photo.  It was the most basic recipe, a french "Pain Ordinaire" which turned out ok except I messed it up when putting it into the oven and it flattened out a bit. Learn by mistake...