Khorasan. A bread of biblical status

Also called ‘Camel’s Tooth’, ‘King Tut’s Wheat’ or the ‘Prophet’s Wheat’, Khorasan is a grain shrouded in mystery and legend.

Among Turkish farmers who still grow this ancient wheat, there is a rumour that Khorasan is the wheat that Noah took on the ark.

Many believe that it originated in what is now called the ‘fertile crescent’ in the Middle East, and takes its name from the Persian province of Khorasan in what is today northern Iran.  The name ‘Khorasan means ‘where the sun arrives from’ in Persian. 

Legend has it that it was the wheat that fed Pharaohs in ancient Egypt.  Indeed, it is commonly accepted that Khorasan was introduced back into modern times by an American airman in 1949 who obtained just a handful of grains from King Tut’s tomb in Egypt and brought it back to Montana in the US where he began to cultivate it. 

King Tut

Whether the kernels would be able to germinate after thousands of years is most definitely open to question.

But how can you resist baking a bread from a grain with such a history?

Believed to be a very close relation to modern day durum wheat which is often used for pasta, Khorasan is an ancient grain which contains far more goodness than its contemporary equivalents.  This is because it has been cultivated and modified less and therefore retains more nutrients.  Many people who have trouble digesting wheat breads find Khorasan much more agreeable.  Nutritionally it boasts 30% more protein and 65% more amino acids than standard wheat as well as being rich in Vitamin E, zinc and magnesium. 

You can see here that the flour is robust and a little coarse.  It has a very slightly nutty smell to it.

Khorasan flour

I’m using fresh yeast here but you can use dry or fast acting.  Just use 7g instead of the 14g of fresh.  The honey can be replaced with sugar if you wish.

This is quite a wet mix so you do need the electric mixer.  If you want to do it by hand then reduce the water by about 20ml to make it easier to knead.

Ingredients

250g Strong baker’s flour

250g Khorasan flour

14g  Fresh yeast

375ml water at room / blood temperature

9g salt

18g Honey

15ml Sunflower oil

Utensils

A large mixing bowl

Electric mixer with dough hook

Electric weighing scales

Baking tray

Cooling rack

Dissolve the fresh yeast in about 100ml of the room temperature water.  Add in the honey to the water.  Leave for around 10 minutes.

Sieve your two flours together with the salt into the mixing bowl. 

Add your oil to the water, yeast and honey.

Make a well in the bottom and add in your water.  Reserve a little just to make sure you get the right consistency.  You should be able to collect all of the flour and liquid together into a complete shaggy mass with no extra flour left around the bowl.  This will be quite a wet mix.

Cover and let sit for at least 10 minutes for the moisture to absorb as much as possible before kneading.  Up to an hour if you can.

Now transfer the dough to the electric mixer, attach the dough hook and mix until you have a soft, elastic and pliable dough.  Up to 10 minutes. 

When you are happy, return to a lightly oiled bowl and allow to double in size at room temperature.

When the dough has doubled in size knock back and remove from the bowl. 

Shape into a ball and place on a lightly floured baking tray.  Dust with flour and then cut a cross into the top with a sharp knife. 

Leave to prove for a second time until risen again.  This will be a shorter time than the first. 

Pre heat your oven to 220 ° C conventional and place your baking tray in the oven.  If you are using a steam bath technique put you empty tray under to heat up as well.

The dough is ready when you press a finger gently to dent the dough and the dent remains.

Return to the oven with a big spray of water into the oven or pour cold water onto your heated tray in the bottom of the oven. 

Bake for 10 minutes on 220 ° C then turn your oven down to 200° C for a further 30 minutes.  A total of 40 minutes.

Remember that ovens vary so take them out when they are done not simply at the end of the cooking time.  Bake the loaf not recipe!

Remember…

• loaves coloured on the crust
• feeling ‘light for the size’
• sounding hollow when tapped. 

Enjoy this and know that you are eating something similar to what nourished the ancient kings of Egypt.

The Red Book Cook: Unleash the Yeast!

The Red Book Cook: Unleash the Yeast!: Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like to introduce you to   Saccharomyces Cerevisiae.  You want to make bread?  You need to get to know her a lit...

Unleash the Yeast!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like to introduce you to Saccharomyces Cerevisiae.  You want to make bread?  You need to get to know her a little.

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

I say 'her' for a good reason.  Let me paint you a picture; millions of years ago when the dinosaurs walked the Earth, some plant species developed an ingenious method of spreading their seeds a widening distance.  

They wrapped them in a sweet tasting flesh which birds loved to eat, seeds and all.  The seeds were then deposited a set number of hours later a good distance away.  The birds were kind enough to leave an appropriate amount of fertiliser as part of the deal to help the seeds get started.

Stay with me here...

Not long after that an entrepreneurial fungus realised that it could latch on to the fruit and feed away devouring the natural sugars on its skin using oxygen to convert the sugars to carbon dioxide.  Should no oxygen be available then it fed anyway, but transformed the sugars into alcohol.  

This clever little fungus multiplied by 'budding', or creating daughter cells.  Hence, 'her', she's lexically female.  

Sometimes this budding process enabled them to create alcohol whether oxygen was present or not.   As alcohol is a poison, this helped the fungus to kill off its rivals and therefore maintain a serious advantage.   

That's why decomposing fruit smells alcoholic.  Could this be why humans have a penchant for alcohol?  Our ancestors associated it with sweet, heavily ripened fruit, the world's first alcopop! 

In more contemporary times, this fungus' ability to create alcohol has been used to brew beer and its ability to to give off carbon dioxide to leaven bread.  This amazing fungus is what we refer to today as 'yeast'.

Yeast is truly remarkable stuff, a fungus which exists around, on and in us.  There are thousands of recognized types and is arguably the world's first domesticated organism.

So how have humans put it to use?

 

The first breads leavened by yeast would have been through pieces of dough left over from the previous batch of bread in which the natural yeast in the air had started to ferment naturally.  The word 'ferment' derives from the Latin 'fervere' which means 'to boil' or 'seethe', which is exactly what yeast appears to do when activated.

Throughout history there have been many different approaches to harnessing yeast to leaven breads.  The ancient Egyptians first used left over dough then progressed to using beer froth or 'barm' which of course had yeast in it. You now know the etymology of the word 'barmy'.  Barm was so important in the middle ages that it was referred to as 'goddisgoode',  because it was made with the blessing of God.

The Romans would mix grape juice with wheat bran, allow it to ferment and form into small cakes which were dried in the sun.  These cakes could be soaked in water to reactivate the yeast when needed.  

Basically, a sloppy mix of natural yeast, flour and water was used to leaven breads for centuries.  This is what we know as 'sour dough starter' today.  No one really knew why this worked or that yeast was in fact, alive.  

Right up until 1859 when Louis Pasteur proved how yeast operates.    

Louis Pasteur

Pasteur was the first to show how yeast is a living organism.  This led to the ability for scientists to cultivate the cells, concentrating them into a block and then taking the water content away from the original sludgy mixture.  This block or 'cake' is what we would recognise as 'fresh yeast' today.

However, fresh yeast has a very limited shelf life.  During the second world war there was a need for a yeast with greater longevity.  It was reduced to small granules, dried, and a natural coating was allowed to form around the granule, thus enabling it to be kept indefinitely.  Much like the ancient Roman version it is reactivated in water.  This is what we know as 'dried yeast' today.

To make life even easier, these granules were reduced in size so that they could be added straight to the dry mix of flour with no 'pre - rehydrating' necessary.  This is what we know as 'fast acting yeast' today.

So how does yeast actually work?

It's a living organism.  Like all living organisms, it feeds.  Yeast feeds predominantly on sugars which can be found naturally in flour.  When water is added to the flour, enzymes immediately break down the starches and release sugars which the yeast feeds on like Cookie Monster with the munchies.  

As the yeast feeds on the sugars it produces alcohol and carbon dioxide in the form of bubbles which raise the dough.  The gluten in the dough forms around the bubbles creating the texture of the final bread.  This stage is called 'proving', 'proofing' or sometimes 'blooming' the dough.

According to Harold McGee, the optimum temperature to raise dough is 27° C, much lower than most recipes suggest.  In fact, the longer the yeast takes to raise the dough the tastier your final bread will be.

Yeast will work faster at warmer temperatures but will also secrete more unpleasant by-products.  So give it some time and prove at a cooler temperature.  This is called 'retardation' and often used by skilled artisan bakers.

Yeast is a tough little thing too.  The only thing that will kill it is a temperature of 140° C or the 'Thermal Death Point'.  When frozen it becomes dormant and simply awaits reactivation.

When you put your loaf in a hot oven you will see it immediately rise, this is called 'oven spring' and is the result of the yeast's swan song, its farewell performance before it dies.  This is essential for your bread to have a decent crumb and one of the reasons why your oven needs to be hot enough to get a good rise.   

Much is discussed and written about whether dried or fresh yeast is better.  In my experience it is far more about the other ingredients, baking technique and hydration levels which affect the quality of the finished loaf.

There are four main types of yeast that I use for baking bread. Let's have a look at your options.

Fast acting dried yeast

Fast Acting Dried Yeast

This is the quickest and easiest yeast to use.  No need to start it up in any way so when you need to knock up a loaf quickly it works a treat.  It doesn’t bring any extra flavour the way sour dough starter can so I use it with loaves containing flour with some flavour of its own such a nice malted wholemeal.

Simply sprinkle the yeast straight into your dry ingredients before adding your liquid.  That’s it, couldn’t be easier.

Dried yeast

Dried Yeast

Larger granules than the fast action yeast, this needs to be activated in water before use.  Put the yeast in a bowl and cover with some of the water you have measured out for your bread.  Remember not to use extra water on top of the specified amount in the recipe or it will affect the hydration balance.

Fresh yeast

Fresh Yeast

Usually sold in a block, fresh yeast should have a 'fresh' smell, be moist, soft and crumble easily.  The light ivory colour should not have any dark patches or discolouration.  Once opened, fresh yeast needs to be used up quickly.  However, I buy in small packets and immediately freeze.  Crumble the yeast into a bowl and cover with some of the water you have measured according to your recipe.    

Sour dough starter

Sough Dough Starter

Using the natural yeasts in the air, sour dough starter is the most natural method for leavening breads and brings amazing results.  It takes time to create, look at my post 'Sour Dough Rules' for a more in-depth description of the process. It will keep in the fridge under the right conditions for years.  It is most definitely the trickiest to master but brings fantastic results.

So there you have it.  All you need to know about yeast.  Time to get in the kitchen and start baking!

Let’s do vegan bread and support Animal Balance!

With a Rye Smile…

My friend Emma from Animal Balance asked me to do a post on vegan bread.  It’s actually very simple, I substituted the butter for sunflower oil and we’re done.  Vegan friendly.

I made sure there is a liberal amount of seeds on the top so she can get some protein and thought I would go with the addition of rye flour for extra flavour.

Rye breads have been around for thousands of years.  The Vikings used to make an unleavened variety with a hole in the middle which could be hung up for storage. This meant that the bread could last for years!

Viking Rye Bread

Rye is closely related to wheat but has much less gluten.  What gluten it does have traps air bubbles poorly so don’t expect so much of a rise.   If you make bread with only rye flour it is dense with very small air bubbles.

A closer crumb

However, rye has more sugars than wheat, so rye dough ferments faster so watch the rise!

You can buy a variety of different types of rye flour.  Some are very pale as they have been refined and don’t include the bran or germ form the original kernel.  Others become darker and more packed with nutrients as more of the bran and germ is left in.

The added teaspoon of malt here gives a great depth but can be omitted if you don’t have it. 

This is a really good example of how you can experiment with your bread once you have mastered the basic white bread technique.  The procedure here is the same, but with 20% of the wheat flour replaced with rye and hydration increased to 65%.  Once you get the basics right you can start experimenting for yourself with different flours and loaf shapes.

Ingredients

800g Strong baker’s flour

195g Rye flour

5g Malt

14g or 2 sachets of fast acting dried yeast

650ml water at room / blood temperature

18g salt

36g Caster sugar

30ml Sunflower oil
Seeds for topping

Utensils

Large mixing bowl

Electric mixer with dough hook

Electric weighing scales

2 large wicker bannetons

Baking tray

Cooling rack

Sieve your two flours together into the mixing bowl.  Add in the salt, sugar and dried yeast. 

Add your oil to the water.

Make a well in the bottom and add in your water.  Reserve a little just to make sure you get the right consistency.  You should be able to collect all of the flour and liquid together into a complete shaggy mass with no extra flour left around the bowl.

Cover and let sit for at least 10 minutes for the moisture to absorb as much as possible before kneading.  Up to an hour if you can.

Now transfer the dough to the electric mixer, attach the dough hook and mix until you have a soft, elastic and pliable dough.  About 10 minutes. 

When you are happy, return to a lightly oiled bowl and allow to double in size at room temperature.

Meanwhile, flour your bannetons well and throw in liberally your choice of seeds.  I’m using a mix of sunflower and pumpkin seeds here.

When the dough has doubled in size knock back and remove from the bowl.  Using your scales divide the dough into equal sizes according to how you are going to do your final prove.  This amount gave me two 815g loaves.

I shaped each into a ball by gently flattening the ball and then folding the edges to the middle. 

I’m using large oblong shaped bannetons here so I then elongated the loaf to adjust to the shape of the basket.

N.B. If you don't have bannetons then simply shape your loaves and leave to rise on your baking tray at this stage.

 

I then turned the dough into the floured and seeded banneton upside down as I will later turn it onto the baking tray back on to the under side. 

Leave to prove for a second time until risen again.  This will be a shorter time than the first. 

Pre heat your oven to 220 ° C conventional and place your baking tray in the oven.  If you are using a steam bath technique put you empty tray under to heat up as well.

The dough is ready when you press a finger gently to dent the dough and the dent remains.

Remove the baking tray from the oven and sprinkle with a little flour.

Now turn the dough onto your pre heated and floured tray, spray with water, sprinkle with more flour and then very lightly carve three lines in the top with a very sharp knife.  

Return to the oven with a big spray of water into the oven or pour cold water onto your heated tray in the bottom of the oven. 

Bake for 10 minutes on 220 ° C then turn your oven down to 200° C for a further 40 minutes.  A total of 50 minutes.

Don't forget that ovens vary so take them out when they are done not simply at the end of the cooking time.  Bake the loaf not recipe!

Remember…

• loaves coloured on the crust
• feeling ‘light for the size’
• sounding hollow when tapped. 

Enjoy

Sour Dough Update

Sour Dough in the garden.

Well, it’s been almost three months since I created my starter and I’m pleased to say that it is still alive and well and producing decent loaves of beautiful sour dough bread, flavoursome with a gorgeous texture.

3 months old this week!

I am able to leave it in the fridge for weeks at a time and reactivate it with a good feed to get it going again.  When left alone for a while it does develop quite a strong ‘alcohol’ smell which is a by – product of the feeding but that disappears when you work up the sponge.

It also separates when left alone as you can see here but returns to normal when mixed. 

I'm keeping it in a 2 litre Kilner style jar with a clip lid which gives me enough room to give it a good feed when needed.

I must say a huge thank you to Ballymaloe Cookery School as they have been most interested in my progress and still giving me advice by email.  Now that goes to show Ballymaloe is a school that actually really cares about their students’ progress even after the course has finished.

A few things of note...

Firstly, follow the procedure carefully!  On one occasion I didn’t do the float test and ended up with a very flat loaf indeed as the starter wasn’t at the active stage.  The activity of the yeast is of paramount importance to get a well risen loaf.

Secondly, it’s tough doing it by hand.  Whilst I got good and tasty results, it is extremely hard going kneading by hand due to the high level of hydration in the dough.  I have bought a Kenwood mixer for the first time to make life easier and I must admit I love it.  Although I still believe that we should all learn how to make bread by hand first so you know the stages from flour to loaf intimately.

Thirdly, it really does need that level of hydration.  As I was experimenting  I tried reducing the amount of water to make it easier to knead.  It was not as good by a long chalk.  Get the water in there no matter how sloppy it is.

And finally, sour dough toast with seasoned fried field mushrooms is a thing of beauty.  Tasty enough for you to give up the search for a meaningful relationship. 

If you want the full details on Sour Dough then check out my post...

http://theredbookcook.blogspot.com/2014/07/sough-dough-rules.html

Bon Appetit

Orange and Almond Cake

Sweet and sticky with a beautiful nutty flavour laced with orange and cinnamon.  This is a really impressive cake which simply develops the basic sponge recipe and elevates it to a massive crowd pleaser.  Orange and almond is a great combination and has a real taste of the Mediterranean.

Making an orange and cinnamon syrup to be poured over the cake when cooked brings a glorious stickiness and also gets more flavour into the sponge.

Make sure you buy whole almonds with the skin on as the flavour is so much better than the pre – skinned ones.  Almonds can be replaced with hazelnuts if you prefer.

I’ve chosen a simple segmented orange and mint accompaniment to balance the sweetness but you could easily use crème fresh instead.

Read my post on how to bake a sponge for the basics…

http://theredbookcook.blogspot.com/2014/07/rachel-allen-fairy-cakes-and-me.html

The technique is the same but with a few added twists…

Ingredients

For the cake…

• 2 eggs weighed in their shells
• Equal quantities of caster sugar, butter and self raising flour.
• The zest of one large orange
• 75g whole almonds with the skin on.
• A little whole milk

For the syrup…

• A small stick of cinnamon
• 75g caster sugar
• 75 ml water
• The juice of one large orange

To serve…

• Two large oranges
• A sprinkling of caster sugar
• Chopped mint

Utensils

• A big mixing bowl
• An 18cm cake tin
• A wooden spoon
• A metal spoon
• A skewer
• A sharp filleting knife.

Method

Pre – heat your oven to 180 °C / Fan 160 °C

Have your cake tin greased and ready to go.

Blanche your almonds by pouring boiling water onto the almonds in saucepan.  Leave for a couple of minutes.  Drain.  You should be able to squeeze the almond and it pops out of the skin cleanly.  If not, repeat the process until it does.

Place the almonds on a baking tray and put in your pre - heated oven to brown.  About 10 minutes should suffice but keep your eye on them as they must not burn!

Reserve 8 of the nicest looking almonds for decoration and then bash the rest into coarse pieces in a pestle and mortar or under a tea towel with a rolling pin works well.

Using the wooden spoon cream the butter, orange zest and sugar together in the mixing bowl until pale and fluffy and lots of air has been incorporated.  10 minutes should do it depending on the strength of your arm!

Whisk your eggs in a separate bowl and gradually start to add a little at a time to your butter / sugar mix.  Beat well between each addition and incorporate all the egg before adding more.  If it looks like it has split then you can add a teaspoon of flour to stabilize it.

Once all the egg had been added then sieve your flour into the bowl.  Sieving gets rid of lumps and incorporates more air.

Fold in the flour using the large metal spoon.  Check for dropping consistency.  Add milk a little at a time if the mixture is too thick.

Then fold in the bashed up almonds.

Spoon the mixture into your pre – greased cake tin.  Try to smooth it level and have the edges higher than the centre as it will rise more in the middle.

Put it straight into the oven and bake for 25 - 30 minutes depending on your oven. 

Meanwhile, make your syrup…

In a small saucepan place the sugar, water, orange juice and cinnamon stick.  Bring to a gentle simmer and let it seethe until it has reached a sticky syrupy state yet is still most definitely mobile.  It needs to be a pouring consistency.  Remember also that it will thicken as it cools, you can always return to the heat to reduce more if needed.

Now the Orange and Mint…

Simply segment the orange (there are lots of instructional videos on YouTube) and then mix with chopped fresh mint and a sprinkling of caster sugar depending on the sweetness of your orange!

Remove the cake from the oven and insert a skewer.  If it comes out clean with no mixture sticking to it then it is ready. If there is any mixture on the skewer return to the oven for another few minutes. 

Allow to cool a little and then release from the tin and put on a cooling rack.  While still warm, pierce the top all over with the skewer to create small holes for the syrup to penetrate.

Pour the syrup all over making sure it gets into all the holes and is smoothed over the whole top of the cake.

Decorate with the reserved almonds and pieces of orange.  The rest of the orange can be served by the side of each slice.

Lovely at any time.

A Highland Wedding Tradition - Shortbread.

My friend and housemate from Ballymaloe Cookery School, Katie, is getting married this Saturday.  I am absolutely bummed that I can't be there, so I wanted to research and dedicate a post to Katie and her groom, Nick, wishing them joy and happiness from their wedding day onwards.





Slushy stuff over, let's talk Scottish wedding traditions!  Of all the Scottish traditions I found that I could post on a family friendly blog such as this I discovered Shortbread.

Apparently, it was tradition that the bride would have shortbread broken over her head upon arrival back at the new marital home.  I can't find any suggestion of why, so if anybody knows then please tell.

Why is it called 'shortbread'?  Well, firstly it is short, as in crumbly due to the high amount of shortening or fat, in this case butter.  Think of 'shortcrust' pastry which is high in butter content and should also be crumbly.



But why 'bread'?  Most accounts have it that the original shortbread was indeed bread dough which was left over and then baked twice in the biscuit tradition with added sugar to make a sweetened and hard biscuit.

As time went on the bread was replaced by the simply flour, sugar and butter combination we know today.  This was of course more expensive and therefore reserved for special occasions such as weddings.

The rule of thumb for the quantities is 1:2:3.  Or 1 part sugar to 2 parts butter to 3 parts flour.  That's what I'm using here, but please adjust to your own taste.

If you research shortbread recipes you'll find a plethora of different quantities and ingredients.  Some call for plain flour only, others to mix in either cornflour, rice flour or semolina flour to bring an extra crunch.  A good pinch of sea salt brings an extra depth.


There do seem to be certain elements on which most people agree though.

• Only 3 base ingredients?  Use good ones.  Decent caster sugar and good quality butter and flour.  
• As it's short, don't work the dough.  It should be crumbly and melt in the mouth, overworking the dough will toughen it.  Bring it together quickly.
• A short resting time in the fridge before baking helps the texture.
• Shortbread should be pale so a low oven and longer cooking than more conventional biscuits.
• There are 3 main shapes for shortbread.  The triangular petticoat tails, rectangular bars or a circular biscuit shape.

Here are 2 versions for you to try.  The first is using flour and cornflour while the second is using a flour and semolina flour mix.

Petticoat Tails

Ingredients

Cornflour

50g         Caster sugar + more for sprinkling
100g        Good quality softened butter
120g        Plain flour
30g          Cornflour
A pinch of good quality sea salt




Utensils

A mixing bowl
A wooden spoon
A 20cm removable metal cake tin base (Sides not needed, just the base)
A sharp knife
A fork

Method

Pre - heat your oven to 160 ° C conventional / 140 ° C fan.

Using the wooden spoon cream the butter and sugar in the mixing bowl until light and fluffy.

Sieve the flour, cornflour and good pinch of sea salt into the butter and sugar and bring together completely but working the dough as little as possible.  It should be soft and malleable at this stage.

Using your hands work it quickly into a disc to fit on to the cake tin base.  

Flatten off with a rolling pin if you like but make sure it is of an even height to ensure even cooking.

Crimp the edges of the disc using your finger and thumb.

Using the sharp knife mark the disc into 8 equal segments and then make holes using the fork prongs.

Let it rest in the fridge for 20 minutes or so until firmed up.

Place into your pre - heated oven and bake for 40 minutes.

Sprinkle with extra caster sugar and immediately cut into segments before it cools.  As it's heavy on the butter it will feel soft and pliable when warm.  Allow to cool completely before eating so as to get that lovely short and crumbly texture.

Bars

Ingredients

Semolina Flour

50g         Caster sugar + more for sprinkling

100g        Good quality softened butter

120g        Plain flour

30g          Semolina Flour

A pinch of good quality sea salt

Utensils

A mixing bowl

A wooden spoon

A 20cm removable metal cake tin base (Sides not needed, just the base)

A sharp knife

A fork

Method

Pre - heat your oven to 160 ° C conventional / 140 ° C fan.

Using the wooden spoon cream the butter and sugar in the mixing bowl until light and fluffy.

Sieve the flour, cornflour and good pinch of sea salt into the butter and sugar and bring together completely but working the dough as little as possible.  It should be soft and malleable at this stage.

Using your hands work it quickly into a rectangle.  I did use a rolling pin here to really flatten it evenly  

Divide it into even rectangles wide enough to take the fork marks.

Let it rest in the fridge for 20 minutes or so until firmed up.

Place into your pre - heated oven and bake for 40 minutes.

Sprinkle with extra caster sugar and immediately cut into segments before it cools.  As it's heavy on the butter it will feel soft and pliable when warm.  Allow to cool completely before eating so as to get that lovely short and crumbly texture.

Enjoy these with a wee dram of decent highland whisky.

That's what I'll be doing on Saturday as I raise a glass to Katie and Nick.