Garlic Naan bread

Naan bread, originally uploaded by yongtze.

I was planning to bake some fresh Turkish bread to accompany the grilled Turkish chicken thighs for dinner. However, there is no more olive oil left in my kitchen. Sigh. Luckily I still have plenty of clarified butter and Greek yogurt left. So I decided to make some Naan bread as an alternative to Turkish bread (I know they are QUITE different) and it turned out that it is actually quite delicious and goes well with the grilled chicken.

I had fun making Naan bread because I wasn't actually 'baking' it. Instead, I was cooking the bread directly on a hot heavy-bottomed skillet, just like making pancakes! This garlic-flavoured Naan bread is best served hot.

- Makes 8 small pieces

• 1/4 cup clarified butter
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons yogurt
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup warm water

1. Whisk the warm water with the yeast and sugar until the yeast is dissolved. Let stand in a warm place for 5 – 10 minutes until the mixture is frothy.

2. Combine flour, salt, the yeast mixture, half of the clarified butter, and yogurt in a large bowl. Mix into a soft dough then knead on floured surface for about 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a large greased bowl, cover and let stand in a warm place until the dough's volume has doubled (about 1 1/2 – 2 hours).

3. Meanwhile, peel and mince the garlic. Once the dough has doubled in volume, punch it down. Knead in the minced garlic and continue to knead for 5 minutes. Divide the dough into 8 balls. Let them stand for another 30 minutes.

4. To cook the Naan bread. Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet (I used a cast-iron skillet) over medium heat. Roll out dough until it is thin and brush it (I used a silicone brush) with some melted clarified butter. Then put it directly into the hot skillet. Cover and cook for 1-2 minutes at medium heat. Check to see that it is not burning. Once nicely browned, flip it over and cook the other side. The bread will puff a little and try not to overcook it as to let the centre of the bread remain soft. Once done, flip it out and start with another dough.

5. Serve hot.

Spotted soda bread

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spotted soda bread, originally uploaded by yongtze.

This is a quick bread recipe from Dan Brown’s ‘The handmade loaf but I changed the portions slightly.

As suggested by the author, this bread is best eaten in slices when freshly baked with some butter and good fruit preserve. Creamy and slightly sweet, good for afternoon tea.

- 300g flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 60 butter
- 250g milk
- 60g golden syrup
- 60g currants or sultanas or both.

1. Oil and flour the inside of a 12-18cm oblong tin. Preheat the oven to 210 degree Celsius.

2. In a bowl, whisk the milk and golden syrup until combined. Drop the currants or sultanas into the liquid to wet them.

3. In another bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder, rub in the butter with your fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

4. Pour the liquid mixture into to the dry ingredients and mix. Scrape the batter into the prepared tin.

5. Bake for 20 minutes with a foil loosely covering the top of the tin. And remove the foil and bake for a further 20 minutes, or until the top of the bread is a good golden-brown. Remove from oven, leave for a few minutes to cool and firm. Then remove the bread from the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Ciabatta bread

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ciabatta bread, originally uploaded by yongtze.

If you like sourdough and crusty bread, you’ve got to try baking your own Ciabatta bread. Literally meaning "slipper" because of its shape – elongated, broad and flattish, it is very flavourful and has a very tasty and crisp crust.

I got this very simple recipe from this site. The dough is rather wet compared to normal bread so I would suggest machine-kneading unless you want a pretty intensive arm-and-shoulder work out, like I did.

Preparation and cooking only require about 20 minutes each. However, you do need to wait for 24 hours for the starter (or called sponge) for the flavour to develop. But it is definitely worth the patience because the bread tastes wonderful!

Tip: During the first 10 minutes, spray about 1 cup of water on the hot oven floor, do it twice. It will help making a nice crust on the bread.

Pane all'olio – olive oil bread

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Pane all’olio – olive oil bread, originally uploaded by yongtze.

Italians make some great, rustic bread, unlike the more sophisticated and delicate French bread. And therefore it’s easier and it takes less time to make Italian bread.

Basic white breads are best eaten the day they are made. However they freeze very well. Those made with olive oil or butter will keep a bit longer. That’s why I am making this olive oil bread because I can’t possibly finish a whole loaf in 1 or 2 days.

This is a recipe from "The big book of Italian cooking". It makes about 1 kg of bread. And this particular olive oil bread doesn’t require kneading as instructed in the book. However I still kneaded it, just to make sure that the gluten develops. The result: Good, tasty rustic bread.

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 packages active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- about 300ml lukewarm water
- 5 cup unbleached white flour
- 2-4 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Prepare the yeast as for the pizza. Combine the flour in a large bowl with the yeast mixture, salt, and remaining water. And add the oil to the mixture. Instead of kneading, mix the soft, sticky dough in the bowl with a wooden spoon. When the rising time has elapsed (about 1 1/2 hours), mix the dough again for a few minutes. Use a spatula to transfer it to an oiled large baking pan. Cover with a cloth and set aside to rise for 30 minutes. Bake in a preheated oven at 230 degree Celcius for about 35 minutes.

Creating my sourdough starter!

Why not try making my own sourdough bread if I should try baking bread? That’s my first thought. After some research on internet (I always wonder what life will be without internet now), I realised it’s not something you can do it right away. You need to create something called ‘sourdough starter’ as sourdough bread does not require any store-bought yeast, as do other rising breads – you need to sort of ‘grow’ your own living yeast and bacteria that live in a batter of flour and water.It’s kind of like an interesting science project. It sounds complicated but all you need are just some flour and warm water because fresh flour naturally contains a wide variety of yeast and bacteria spores. By mixing flour and warm water you provide them the right conditions to “wake” them up and start the stable symbiotic culture of yeast and lactobacteria which is the mechanism to leaven the sourdough bread.

Here are some websites with useful information about sourdough:
Sourdough bread – how to begin
Sourdough – wikipedia
How can I make sourdough bread

So I mixed a cup of warm water and a cup of unbleached flour in a glass jar with a rubber and wire-frame seal. Hopefully it will start producing some bubbles (a sign that the yeast and bacteria have come alive) in a few days.