PARKIN

As a lad in Yorkshire we always seemed to have some parkin about the house, but you don't hear of it anywhere else. I came across a recipe a while ago, well two actually - one for Yorkshire Parkin, and another for the Cheshire version. I made the yorkshire version, but it came out far too dark and treacly for my liking (but we ate it anyway) and I've recently come across this recipe which uses both fresh and ground ginger. I made a batch a few days ago, which is now all gone, a good sign. I've been making a few curries and meals containing plenty of ginger and garlic lately to keep the kids from getting congested, so there's plenty of ginger left to use up.

Recipe:
100g Butter
250g Soft Dark Brown or Muscovado Sugar
125g golden syrup
125g treacle (not wishing to use treacle, I meant to substitute this for extra golden syrup but completely forgot to compensate when measuring...)
150ml dark ale or porter (I used Theakstons Old Peculier)
2cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
150g fine oatmeal (I used normal porridge oats in the blender)
2 large eggs
250g plain flour
3 level teaspoons ground ginger (I also added nutmeg)
3 level teaspoons baking powder (I completely forgot this also, this could have something to do with it not rising...)
which just goes to show, don't start baking when you're too tired to think... this is hopelessly wrong - nice taste, but it's a dense slab of dough with the texture of a wet towel.

WHITE FARMHOUSE TIN LOAF

A white tin loaf made the sourdough way, presented as "the easiest loaf in the world" by the Guardian.

I made the sponge last night:

• 225ml warm water
• 1 teaspoon (sachet) easyblend yeast
• 175g strong white bread flour (used Allinson's)

The mixture started off quite vigorously and smells good. It stood from last night until I got home from work this afternoon.

added the dough:

• 175g strong white bread flour
• 25g butter (the recipe said unsalted butter and a level teaspoon of salt, and I left the salt out as I used salted butter)

At this point the dough looks a bit runny and watery, certainly not something kneadable, so I'm just moving it around the bowl a bit. Possibly the scales were faulty and I have not added enough flour... (sprinkled the dough with extra flour prior to second knead). I really did not expect this to work, it hardly rose at all in the bowl, -it seemed to take ages to rise when in the tin, and when I cut the top it sank again, but it has produced a tasty bread with excellent texture. I had to add flour at each knead and for the final roll out, so I'm assuming the weights were wrong.


EDIT: I've made this loaf three times now; the third time I could only leave the sponge for a few hours rather than overnight and half the next day. As a result it was much drier, but either way, adding a little flour during the kneads doesn't seem to hurt any - we LOVE this bread, the taste and the texture are superb!

CHEWY LIGHT RYE BREAD

Recipe: Saturday Guardian Supplement 24/11/2007
Ingredients:
for the sponge: (also called here "pretend sourdough")

• 4 Slices plain Ryvita (here I used the end of a shop-bought loaf)
• 275ml cold water
• 150g Rye Flour
• Half a small onion, finely grated (I did not include this as we had no onions in when I made the sponge)
• 1 tablespoon live yoghurt
• 1 teaspoon easy-blend yeast (I used a sachet)
• 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds, lightly ground (I used whole seeds here, but on reflection I could have used the mortar and pestle)

I made this up last night, first soaking the lump of bread in warm water, so the sponge has stood from about 9pm till I came home from work at 1:00pm.

for the dough:

• 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds
• 2 tablespoons of treacle (used 3 desert spoons)
• 150g Rye Flour
• 250g Strong bread flour (I used Allinsons)
• 2 level teaspoons of salt
• Beaten egg and caraway for the crust.

When all the ingredients are combined, knead lightly every ten minutes for 30 mins (I used olive oil on my work surface instead of flour). 1st photo taken after 1st knead
Leave covered in mixing bowl for 30 minutes at room temperature, then roll out into a rectangle of 30x20cms on a floured surface.
Roll this rectangle up tightly "like a scroll".
Place it seam side down on a floured baking tray, punching it gently down along the top to squeeze out air pockets.
Place the tray in a carrier bag and leave somewhere warm for a couple of hours until the dough has almost doubled in height.
Heat oven to 220C (gas mark 7) and steam the oven with a tray of water in the bottom.
Brush dough with beaten egg and sprinkle with caraway seeds, and slash down middle with sharp knife
bake for 20 mins at mark 7 then 20 mins at mark 6, until the loaf is a rich dark brown.
This one got a bit singed in the oven, so I shall place on a lower shelf and probably reduce the heat to 6 or even 5.

FIRST POST

I've started breadmaking. Under the circumstances it feels like the right thing to do. I have a few recipes which seem worth experimenting with, and I need to record recipes, thoughts, comments, deviations from the recipe etc. I have made bread before, but not very often, so I'm prepared to discard all former knowledge and start right from scratch. I do not have any fancy equipment such as a breadmaker, or an expensive food mixer with a dough hook attachment, just a few mixing bowls, the co0ker, and my bare hands. I welcome new recipes, if you have any, though they must be tried and tested!