...well, I was already cooking my own food, I had just to invent something new to challenge myself and keep myself busy.
Since the beginning of this madness, I thought: "with this virus around I am surely not going to buy bread from the shops!" I was lucky enough to have bought yeast and flour before the lockdown (and before they disappeared from the shops).
In less than a month, with the help of Benedetta's video (see below) I became a master baker:
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| Sesame seeds on top: this is a typical version from Palermo |
So here the magic RECIPE:
HOMEMADE BREAD BY BENEDETTA INGREDIENTS 400 gr. of flour 0 300 ml water 1/2 teaspoon of sugar 1 teaspoon of salt
2 gr. of dehydrated brewer's yeast
When our dough is leavened we will take a steel or ceramic pot (N.B. I HAVE USED A PYREX CASSEROLE) with a lid. Mine is 21 cm of diameter but if you have a bigger pot don't worry, the bread will be just the same, just a little lower. Now we put the pot with the lid inside the oven, preheated to 230° and let it heat up. Remember to use a pot and a lid that can be put in the oven and make sure the pot is thick, aluminium pots, for example, don't work. If we don't have a pot we can make the bread in the shape of a roll and then cook it on the baking sheet, with baking paper, it will be a bit stretched.
PROCEDURE
Put the flour in a bowl, add the dehydrated brewer's yeast, half a teaspoon of sugar to activate the yeast, salt and mix with your hands.
In another bowl put the water, then add the flour stirring with a fork.
Don't worry if the dough looks a little grainy, it's normal! Once all the flour has been added and incorporated, leave the dough rest in the bowl covered with a cling film for about 10/15 minutes at room temperature.
Then with a spatula, turn it over several times, and let it rest for another 10 minutes. Repeat this step two or three times so you will obtain a softer and more homogeneous dough.
Then you can leave it in the fridge to rise, always covered with the film. We can manage the time necessary for the leavening at will, it can go from a minimum of 6 hours to a maximum of 24 hours. That's why I called it "Comfy Bread". In fact, we can bake it whenever we have time. So it's perfect if we want to prepare it in the morning and then bake it in the afternoon or prepare it at night for baking the next day. In short, it is very convenient and practical to prepare.
Once you take the dough out of the fridge, it will be well leavened and many bubbles will have formed on the surface.
We add flour to the work surface and work the dough with our hands, widening it to form a rectangle. We make the folds to the dough, we pull a strip of the rectangle towards us, until more or less half, the other half we fold it, we close it with our fingers and then we close the dough forming a bag. If we repeat the step of the folds again, it will help to give strength to the bread. Then we round our dough, until we get the shape of a bread. Now we put it in a bowl with a kitchen cloth sprankled with flour, and leave it torest for an hour and a half at room temperature (or we can put it in the oven with the light on, in that case it will take an hour).
We take the pot out of the oven very hot, helping us with the handles and we put the dough inside, directly from the bowl, helping us with the cloth.
Put the lid on the pot and cook at 230° for 30 minutes, then open the oven, remove the lid and continue cooking at 210° for another 20 minutes, until a nice crispy crust has formed on the bread.
At this point our bread is ready, we take it out of the pan and let it cool completely before cutting it and bringing it to the table!
As now I can make my own bread, it is so yummy that I cannot think myself going back to buy it from shops. I perfectioned the recipe according to my own taste, so I use 1 teaspoon of salt for 400gr of flour (Sicilian bread is generally more salty than the British one, so this fits better my taste).
I have also successfully tested different versions adding:
olives, walnuts, seeds, rosemary, sundried tomatoes.
These extras can be added while making the folding of the dough (after the second leavening).
These extras can be added while making the folding of the dough (after the second leavening).
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| Rosemary bread served with roasted veg rocket grilled halloumi cheese, olive oil and mint. |
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| Sundried tomatoes bread |
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| Walnut bread with spreaded butter and honey |
My absolute favourite is the walnut bread, especially to be eaten at breakfast (after briefly toasting the slices) served with butter and honey.... superb!
Lesson from the lockdown....there is so much potential in ourselves to un-lock!
...even in the toughest times.
...even in the toughest times.
