I got a new bread book!

We went to the Friends of the Guelph Public Library Annual Book Sale on Friday and came home with a whole bunch of new books. I got mostly cookbooks -- including my very own copy of Pleyn Delit and this gigantic and excellent-looking bread tome by Bernard Clayton. It looks like it came out around the same time as the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book, but has a much broader focus. While Laurel's Kitchen focuses exclusively on whole grains, Clayton's book seems to have a bit of everything in it: white, whole wheat, barley, rye, corn, buckwheat, oat, potato... there's even a whole chapter just on croissants and brioche! And another (quite substantial) chapter dedicated exclusively to French and Italian breads.

The recipes are fairly Eurocentric (and American), with lots of focus in the British Isles, France, Italy, Germany, etc. and only a handful of recipes from the Middle East and India and none whatsoever from Africa or Oceania. (I was very hopeful that I might have lucked into a clear r&emacron;wena bug care guide when I saw there were instructions for two different potato starters in the book, but neither of them look quite right to be r&emacron;wena.) Still, I've been enjoying leafing through the book a great deal and I appreicate the variety of different breads included -- even if it isn't a comprehensive tour of the world of bread.

I ended up making this unusual batter bread almost immediately after bringing the book home. It is a yeasted batter, made with 100% whole wheat flour, that only needs to rise for 30 minutes before baking. Which makes this an incredibly quick recipe to throw together (by bread standards) and allowed me to have bread on the table for dinner, despite not starting it until ~90 minutes before we were sitting down to eat!

This makes a fairly soft, moist bread with a moderately thick crust. The flavour is not outstanding, but it's a perfectly good, uncomplicated whole wheat loaf that makes a pleasant backdrop or accompaniment for soups and stews and holds up well enough to sop up broth and tasty morsels. And the Kidlet reports that it holds up well in sandwiches too!

Batter Whole Wheat Bread

Slightly adapted Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

• 750g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 50g sugar
• 1 Tbsp. (~17g) coarse sea salt
• 4 tsp. active dry yeast (or 3 tsp. instant yeast)
• 3 1/2 c. water @ 50°C (~125°F)

Directions

1. Grease two loaf pans¹.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast and mix well.
3. Pour in the water and mix well, stirring ~50 strokes to combine into a soft batter.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared pans, press it into the corners, and smooth it out. (Wet your fingers and use them to direct the batter if necessary.)
5. Cover and ferment at room temperature for ~30 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
7. Once the batter has risen (it should double in size), uncover and bake at 200°C (400°F) for 15 minutes.
8. Reduce heat to 180°C (350°F), rotate the pans, and continue baking for another 35-45 minutes.
9. Remove from pans and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

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¹ The original recipe called for two 8x4" (20x10cm) loaf pans. I used 1 8x4" pan and one 8.5x4.5" pan. The smaller of the two overflowed and the larger one nearly did. I think I'll use one 8.5x4.5" and one 9x5" next time. ^Back