Simple Linseed and Oat Loaf

Told you I would be back later today!

Here's a recipe for a really simple Linseed and Oat White Bread loaf. It's quite quick and easy and costs less than a loaf of commercial bread and best of all it tastes better. I use a Braun Combimax 600 to do most of the hard work, but you can do it by hand. Doing it by hand gives you the chance to make the loaf slightly more rustic, however, I'm a lazy bloke who wants his bread faster.

This will take about ten to twelve minutes of actual work. The rest of the time can be spent doing something else useful, like having a home brew beer.

While plain white bread is pretty much a staple of every household in the western world, I like grains not only for their often touted health benefits such as fibre for the digestive tract and lowering of cholesterol but also because they feel good to eat.


Here's what you need to do it:

* 500 grams plain white flour
* 1 packet of yeast
* 1 heaped teaspoon of baking powder
* 1 heaped teaspoon of salt
* 1 heaped teaspoon of sugar
* 2 tablespoons of linseeds (more if you like)
* 2 tablespoons of rolled oats
* 1.5 - 1.75 cups of slightly warm water
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
N.B. There are some explanations about the ingredients below if you're new to making bread. If you're already a bake-meister, you know what you're doing. I'm only including explanations once in the blog. Only new tips, tricks and traps will be explained in future editions, so don't worry, most post aren't going to be so long as this one.



And here's how you do it:

* Put the dough hook / arm into your food processor and put it on your scales
* Measure out 500 grams of flour, add the yeast, salt, sugar and linseed straight into the vessel.

* Mount the vessel back onto your food processor. Let it run for a couple of minutes at a nice low speed so that all the dry ingredients mix well.




* Add the olive oil and let it mix through well, just like when you combined the dry ingredients.



* Add the water a little at a time. You'll see the dough consistency begin to change.




* Keep adding it until the dough 'balls up'.
* Add a little more so that the dough is wettish and sticky.




* Splash some olive oil in a bowl and...




* Roll the dough ball in the oil so that it's lightly covered all over. Cut a few slashes into the dough ball as it will help speed up the proofing. Cover with cling wrap (Glad Wrap, Saran Wrap or similar) and put in a warm, draught-free place to proof rise for about 45 minutes to an hour or so.




* After the dough has doubled in size, maybe even more, it's time to punch it down.



* Punch the dough down while it's still in the bowl. Go on - punch it. Gently - just knock the air out of it.





* Turn the dough out onto a floured board, toss the oats all over it and...



* Knead the dough so that the oats are well distributed throughout the dough. Form it into a suitable shape for your loaf pan.



* Put the dough into the pre-greased pan. I grease with a thin coat of olive oil. You might need to press it outwards a little to stretch the dough to fit your pan.



* Cover it loosely with cling wrap and put it back in that warm and draught free place again for about 30 minutes or until the dough has risen to be about one centimetre above the lip of the loaf pan.



* Slash the risen dough again to assist the rise.



* If you want to decorate the loaf with more grains, now is the time to do it. Spray a little water on the top of the loaf, sprinkle your grains and press very lightly as you don't want to knock the loaf down again. Drizzle a little olive oil on top. This will help it brown nicely.



* Preheat the oven to 190C fan-forced and cook for 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Et voila!




* Put the loaf onto a cooling rack for about thirty minutes or so to cool out and lose any residual moisture. Store it as you like, but I prefer to wrap it in a clean linen tea-towel and leave it in a cool place on the kitchen bench. It will be supremely fresh and tasty for a couple of days and makes excellent toast after that.





And those explanations I mentioned above:

Ingredients
* Olive oil

I choose olive oil because it is reputedly healthier than other kinds. Canola is said to cause macular degeneration, other kinds are linked to other ailments including diabetes. It's up to you what kind you would like to use.

The oil is added to the dry flour so that it combines better. This aids in keeping the loaf moist and helps keep it fresh and moist longer. Adding the oil after the water doesn't work as well.

* Water

The water needs to be a little warm because that helps the yeast grow, making carbon dioxide bubbles and making your bread fluffy. Somewhere around 25C - 35C is pretty good. Too hot and you will kill the yeast, too cold and the yeast won't wake up leaving you with a thick and unpleasant loaf.

* Baking Powder

You say "You already used yeast. Why add baking powder?" It's because it gives a little more lift to the loaf, an improved rise. If you're making plain white bread then it's not very necessary unless you're trying to make perfect fluffy white bread like a Vietnamese baker. When you're using whole grains, they tend to weigh the loaf down a little and cause it not to rise fully and evenly. The little cheat of some baking powder (not baking soda) will fix this.

Method
* Vessel and dough hook / dough arm before adding ingredients

This makes sure that the dry ingredients aren't caught between the spindle and the dough arm. Less mess, easier clean-up.

* Adding water slowly

Unlike pulling a dough together on a bench-top or a board, things happen faster in a machine. Sometimes too fast. If you add the first cup of water quickly that's OK. You want to put the second three-quarters in slowly so that you don't end up with a wet, sticky lump of dough whirling around inside your machine stuck to the spindle and not being kneaded. As you add the water, the dough will begin to form and be kneaded properly. Keep adding water a little at a time until almost all of the loose bits on the bottom of the vessel are caught up in the dough. Stop at that point and let the machine knead a lovely loaf for you.

Also, different flours take up water at different rates. Different species of wheat, different country, different anything can change this critical point. If you find that you've added too much water, just add more flour in small quantities until the dough picks up and forms a dough ball in your machine. Once you've seen it happen and tried it, it will make much more sense.

* Oiling the dough ball

This is so that the dough doesn't dry out while it's rising.

* Proofing

This first rise can be made easier and faster with two cheats:
* Slash the dough just like in the pictures. It gives more surface area for the dough to rise rapidly.
* While you're adding water to the flour, turn your oven up high (>200C) for just a couple of minutes. It will make a nice warm place for the dough to rise quickly and help the yeast do their good work. Not too hot or you will be cooking the dough and have a less pleasing result.

* Why add the oats after knocking down?

If you add the oats with the other dry ingredients then they begin to take up water very quickly. While it doesn't always happen with normal rolled oats, it can mean that the dough ends up dry and tough by the end of the first rising / proofing. If you use instant or quick cook oats I can almost guarantee it will happen.

* Kneading

The kneading after knock-down needs to be gentle but firm. As Jamie Oliver explained his old master in Italy told him, "Do it gently, like making love to a very beautiful woman." Sexist but true. Gentle, long, smooth and fluid movements kneading with one hand will make a great result for you. If you use your weaker hand you will find this easier.

* Spraying water on the risen dough when adding grains

It makes the grains stick to the loaf better. A light spray, sprinkle grains, another light spray and then a drizzle of olive oil.

* Cooling Rack

This is so that the loaf can cool out properly. If it is left in the pan, it will sweat and become soggy and unpleasant.

I'll be back with more bread recipes that anyone can do, that are quick and tasty and most of all reasonably health conscious.


Happy baking!