ptw1953

Happy birthday, when it comes, @heidih...

@Margaret PilgrimI thank you for your kind words. My initial displeasure with the Boule concerned not the shape, or taste, of it, but my cutting with the Lame. The lame blade was tearing the dough, rather than slitting smoothly. I was aiming for a shallow cut, but my first cut went deep (trying to be rid of the ragged edges on that cut). All other cuts then had to be the same depth. Having looked at the photo of it, I am growing towards liking it very much. There is much work to be done on the cutting, but I think a huge improvement (in the number of diamonds at the sides/bottom of the Boule) is possible. Perhaps another 10 Boules will see me happy with the pattern/cutting... Philip

Magnetic mold about to be hunted down, and a sheet of diffraction grating about to be ordered from Amazon. Thank you Kerry...

I should know better than to cut shapes/patterns with a blunt Lame blade; especially when i have a pack of 12 brand spanking new blades within touching distance. But me? No siree, I do things my way (that is, the daft way)...

Only used on the base of chocolates/bars Kerry?

I do exactly that; although if left in the freezer for more than a month, I can feel the difference when rolling it out. So I make 8 x 160g balls per month, well wrapped in cling-film, and in a ziplock bag, for the 12" thin-crust pizzas we enjoy the most...

To pay for 10 days in Provence, in my wife's uncle's villa, I had to cook a meal for him and his partner (she is a Provencal), so I did so last Sunday. I also made a Boule, with an approximation of the Scottish Saltire cut into it (our standard weekly loaf) - I wanted to present a somewhat French/Scottish meal to them... The meal went well; many exclamations of 'ooh, la, la' and photos of the food taken (to me, strange...) The Boule was hardly touched, but when preparing to leave, our guests asked for a bag. 'Why?' I asked. 'To carry the bread home', was the reply. I was very chuffed...

Stunning...and inspiring.

Everytime I see your, and @Ann_T loaves, I cry; I want to eat them so much. I am off to Provence shortly, for two weeks, and I'd wager that I won't see better breads than both of you produce...

Boule made to go with wild garlic soup on Saturday. Had 2 slices toasted with poached eggs and hollandaise for brunch on Sunday. Using the remaining slices tonight for brushetta with chargrilled tomato skewers and wild garlic pesto. Taste/texture wise, I have never made a better loaf of bread. Now, I have to remember how I made it, for I consumed a lot of wine whilst baking it...

You're more than welcome @cakewalk and the loaf looks gorgeous! bon appetit...

Bon chance...

Yes ElsieD, I recall your posts on that; I shall be careful with using extra time in the oven...

@cakewalk you have it right in your question; it is a matter of filling the pan a bit more. Nothing more, nothing less. I failed in my last 4 attempts at pain de mie, because I hadn't saved the changes I had made, to the recipe, in my recipes book. I had used the old 500g of flour recipe, instead of the new 750g of flour recipe. I used 750g today, et voila...

Well spotted Margaret; not many europeans, as I am, would have spotted that. Yes, it is a 13.5" Pullman pan...

@cakewalk I thank you for your kind words. The recipe, whilst I cannot really claim it fully, is an amalgam of various recipes I have used over the last 10 years. It iis not sourdough - pain de mie is perhaps not the quintessential sourdough bread - though it is, as it should be, a bread with/of crumb. I will happily post the recipe, should the mods say that it is allowed...

Pain de mie, for Croque Monsieur tonight. Will give it another 5 minutes in the oven next time...

@Ann_T Stunning, absolutely stunning! That is what Scottish morning rolls should look like...

@Ann_T This should make 12 rolls. 550g Strong Bread Flour 28g Shortening, softened (I use Cookeen, but no reason why butter cannot be used) 17g Fresh Yeast (or 7g of instant Yeast) 11g Sugar 9g Salt 400ml water @ circa 110F \43C Rice flour to dust Pre-heat your oven to 260C. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl, add the shortening, and give it all a good mix. Add the water and mix well. This results in a fairly slack dough, i.e. quite sticky. I knead mine as best as I can by hand in the bowl, but using a Kitchen Aid or a Kenwood Chef would, perhaps, be easier. It doesn't need a lot of kneading. I have found that 5 minutes is fine. Now the slightly tricky part. You need to measure 3oz (85g) of dough per roll. I dust my scales with rice flour and have a baking sheet dusted with rice flour too. This allows you to shape the rolls without getting in a big sticky mess. Shape into a ball first, making sure the top surface is as smooth as possible. Then flatten it down slightly, into a hockey puck shape, on the baking sheet. Do this with all 12 rolls in 3 rows of 4, or 4 rows of 3. Don't leave too big a gap between rolls (perhaps 25mm?) as you want them to expand into each other as they rise. This gives the distinctive white open sides with the browned top, when you separate them after baking. Leave them to rise in a warmish place (circa 21C), inside a large black plastic bag. I leave mine for 2 hours, or until they have more than doubled in size, and have all joined up. Dust the tops lightly with rice flour. Put the baking sheet near the top shelf of your oven for 9 minutes, or circa 11-12 minutes if you like them well-fired. Enjoy warm or cold, filled with haggis, or black pudding, or a fried egg, or some cheese, etc, etc, etc... * Next time I bake these rolls, I will be increasing the weight of them, from 85g to 122.5g. This will provide 8 larger rolls, rather than 12 smaller ones...

@Ann_T In some areas of Scotland, they would indeed be called Baps. In my area of Dumfries-shire, where I grew up, we would just refer to them as rolls. We would call soft rolls Baps. They would have had an egg wash applied to them, and be very close to french brioche buns in texture. Your bread is always stunning. I am going to search the forum for where you have posted the recipe for that pizza/baguette dough (I am certain you will have been asked for it before...), and use it for barbeque pizzas this coming weekend (assuming, of course, that the Scottish weather improved greatly)... Philip

I will try making these with butter (I use Cookeen shortening) and an egg next time. I could re-name them Scottish/American morning rolls (or hybrid rolls)...🙂 For our wedding anniversary breakfast, today, my wife and I are having a couple of these cut open, and soaked in an egg and milk mixture to make french toast. Served with oven crisped streaky bacon, adorned with blueberries, and drizzled with Manuka honey...

These are my Scottish morning rolls. Most Scots will know them, and will have eaten them at some point in their lives. Filled with anything, from cheese to Link sausage, they are a good eat. Tonight, my wife and I will have a couple of rolls filled with Bramley apple and honey pork sausages that I made a couple of months ago; they are fully defrosted, and ready to be cooked. The sausages will be topped with confit onions, and a drizzle of HP sauce. Heaven! Any sausages left will be let to cool, and consumed, in front of the telly; by being dipped into the Aoli that I am about to make. Sometimes, the basic foods are the best... (they are all 85g, except for the one i have opened...)

I would give it 3 or more coatings of mineral oil. That would re-energise the wood, and darken it a tad. Beech has a wonderul close grain (aka medullary rays)...

Beautiful bread, and the beech wood cutting board is one I would wish to use. I am extremely envious...

At least you got to make an assessment of the crumb/bread lindag. I was ordered to produce a pain de mie and a boule for 11am this morning, so that my son and daughtr-in-law-to-be could take them to a brunch party in a friends garden. Was ordered NOT to cut them , so that they could do the honours when they got to the friends house (probably claiming that they had made them themselves). They were here just 15 minutes after I removed the boule from the oven, and were gone 2 minutes after I took the photos. They even had the nerve to ask me to hurry up with the taking of the photos. Sometimes I feel taken for granted...😞