Also, do you use paper liners for the tins?
No, just a little oil. However my experiments are over. I still make my own bread, even sourdough, and use ancient grains in 50/50 mixture. Spelt and Rye. I only use the sourdough starter as a flavouring though, not to raise the dough. I am using fast bake yeast and a teaspoon of unrefined sugar to raise the dough, do three raises, and it works fine. Pure sourdough starter yeast just does not do the job sufficiently and I used a lot of patience and experimental work to investigate that. Maybe it was good enough for the ancient folks but not good enough for my wife and family who are used to bread that is fluffy as the stuff you get in the shops.
When I make some dough I use half of it to make a fruit loaf. I also make my oatcakes with sesame and poppy seeds. They are a real winner and I love them. Special oatcake recipe details below.
Here is the bread recipie again.
Message 28445859
I just use 450 grams of rye and 450 grams of spelt. I raise the dough until it doubles in size and knead again for 5 minutes. The final rise is done in the oiled baking tins. I use half the dough to make the fruit loaf and that is also added in the final knead before putting into the tins. Any packet of dried fruit can be used.
I really, really like the fruit loaf, its wonderful toasted with butter and accompanied with a cup of tea as a special treat.
My diet is so far working just fine I have so far lost four kilos in weight and I do lots of physical exercise. Keeping control of you food intake is an important factor, and doing you own baking and cooking helps in many ways imho. A few of those oatcakes can keep me going for a day if time is a premium and I have lots to do.
My "energy oatcakes" recipe.
330 grams of Oats.
100 grams of sesame seeds.
20 grams of poppy seeds.
280 grams (ml) of water.
3 grams (1/2 tsp.) Bicarbonate of Soda.
3 grams of salt.
15 (2 tablespoon) grams of butter or oil.
You can also flavour the oak cakes by pouring in a few glugs of Whiskey as part of the water component. The alcohol evaporates during the bake of course.
Add the dry ingredients to a bowel and mix thoroughly for 5 minutes using a wooden spoon or palette knife.
Warm the water (flavoured water) and melt in the butter or add the oil and mix well.
Mix the wet and dry ingredients and knead the mixture for a minute or two to make a rough dough. Divide the ball of dough into two parts and encase into a wrapping of cling film. Leave the balls of dough in the fridge for a few hours to chill.
Preheat an oven to 180 deg C / Gas mark 4, See note below.
You can use some flour, or alternatively grind up some oats in a food blender/mixer to make "oat flour" to keep hands and surfaces dusted when you roll out the dough.
The dough can be very solid after removing from the fridge. Just take your time to roll out to a thickness of 3 to 5 millimetres. I leave the thickness uneven as I like a variety of oatcake thicknesses. A 3 millimetre thickness is ideal, but I find the thicker oatcakes are more sustaining if I am really hungry. Maybe the slightly undercooked sesame seeds keep me going for longer.
Use a suitable cup, glass or a cookie cutter to cut out the oak cakes. Roll up the remains and repeat until all the dough is cut into oak cakes. I just use a 12 oz straight drinking glass as a cutter.
Load the oak cakes onto racks, and load racks onto trays. This keeps the oven cleaner and saves having to turn the oak cakes. Cook for 30 mins or until the oatcakes just start to turn in colour to a light golden brown.
Important note. Take care not to overcook. When they start to turn in colour are well cooked, but they will then burn quickly. The cooking time will vary depending on the oven and rack position. The first few batches need to be kept on close observation after 20 mins to ensure they do not overcook.
Cool on the racks. They are supposed to keep for a few weeks, but I think they could keep longer than that.
Keep in an airtight container. A great source of instant food and a really good substitute for biscuits and cookies. |
