Dough Circle

[Northern Lass]

Anyone up for this

not money
but bread dough

we post a recipe and bake it and see what we think

I love home baked bread not done it for years

[Rob]

I love to bake bread!! Theraputic!!

ingredients
• 1kg/just over 2lb strong bread flour
• 625ml/just over 1 pint tepid water
• 30g/1oz fresh yeast or 3 x 7g/¼oz sachets dried yeast
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 level tablespoon fine sea salt
extra flour for dusting

Pile the flour on to a clean surface and make a large well in the centre. Pour half your water into the well, then add your yeast, sugar and salt and stir with a fork.

Slowly, bring in the flour from the inside of the well. (You don't want to break the walls of the well, or the water will go everywhere.) Continue to bring the flour in to the centre until you get a stodgy, porridgey consistency - then add the remaining water. Continue to mix until it's stodgy again, then you can be more aggressive, bringing in all the flour, making the mix less sticky. Flour your hands and pat and push the dough together with all the remaining flour. (Certain flours need a little more or less water, so feel free to adjust.)
Then you knead!!! With a bit of elbow grease, simply push, fold, slap and roll the dough around, over and over, for 4 or 5 minutes until you have a silky and elastic dough.
Flour the top of your dough. Put it in a bowl, cover with clingfilm, and allow it to prove for about half an hour until doubled in size - ideally in a warm, moist, draught-free place. This will improve the flavour and texture of your dough and it's always exciting to know that the old yeast has kicked into action.

Once the dough has doubled in size, knock the air out for 30 seconds by bashing it and squashing it. You can now shape it or flavour it as required - folded, filled, tray-baked, whatever - and leave it to prove for a second time for 30 minutes to an hour until it has doubled in size once more. This is the most important part, as the second prove will give it the air that finally ends up being cooked into your bread, giving you the really light, soft texture that we all love in fresh bread. So remember - don't fiddle with it, just let it do its thing.
Very gently place your bread dough on to a flour-dusted baking tray and into a preheated oven. Don't slam the door or you'll lose the air that you need. Bake according to the time and temperature given with your chosen recipe. You can tell if it's cooked by tapping its bottom -( i like to tap the odd bottom) if it sounds hollow it's done, if it doesn't then pop it back in for a little longer. Once cooked, place on a rack and allow it to cool for at least 30 minutes .

Hmmm Lekkerrrr!!!!

[Northern Lass]

I am going to have a go at baking some in the summer

or a Pizza dough
saw it on River cottage the other day

any nice bread recipes put them on here

[Rob]

This is another one of your popular threads NL!!!

[snoopysue]

This is another one of your popular threads NL!!!

Now Now Rob!!!

[Northern Lass]

This is another one of your popular threads NL!!!

I know!
it seemed a good idea
and look Robert we don't all need it to be a popular thread
I am very happy to lurk in the background
mind that is something you are very good at
lurking

[snoopysue]

It did strike me as a bit funny that the one person who posted a recipe was Rob!
Sounds as though it's your kind of thread Rob.

[Annie]

It did strike me as a bit funny that the one person who posted a recipe was Rob!
Sounds as though it's your kind of thread Rob.

I agree Snoopy , wish I lived near Rob then he could bake me some bread I am useless at baking.

Annie

[snoopysue]

I agree Snoopy , wish I lived near Rob then he could bake me some bread I am useless at baking.

Annie

Me too!
My husband's pretty good, only thing is he can't seem to manage it on his own, if I'm at home he'll ask me where everything is (where it was last time he asked!), and needs help getting something out, cause he forgot to get it out before he stuck his hands in the dough!

Needless to say, baking days are not kitchen free days for me!!

(Last year we had invited family round for some bread, cakes etc - having so much to do, we cheated on the bread and bourght frozen raw bread rolls, that just need to be baked. My sister in law asked if we'd weighed them to get them all the same size! We didn't tell the truth I'm afraid)

[Annie]

Your a girl after my own heart Snoopy I would have done the same .

Annie

[SRD]

Isn't a dough circle more properly known as a dough nut?

[Northern Lass]

Isn't a dough circle more properly known as a dough nut?

There could be a ring of truth about that statement SRD
It got a rise out of me anyway!

[Rob]

It did strike me as a bit funny that the one person who posted a recipe was Rob!
Sounds as though it's your kind of thread Rob.

Why is it funny Loopy Lou?
All the best Bakers are men.In fact the word itself Baker has to be masculine. I reckon it's the kneading that makes it attractive to men,the energy that comes out of your finger tips!!! Exhillarating and strangely sensual or should that be sexual ! Sexual kneading!! Didn't Marvin Gaye record that?

[Northern Lass]

It did strike me as a bit funny that the one person who posted a recipe was Rob!
Sounds as though it's your kind of thread Rob.

Why is it funny Loopy Lou?
All the best Bakers are men.In fact the word itself Baker has to be masculine. I reckon it's the kneading that makes it attractive to men,the energy that comes out of your finger tips!!! Exhillarating and strangely sensual or should that be sexual ! Sexual kneading!! Didn't Marvin Gaye record that?

Sure it wasn't Bread................

[snoopysue]

Why is it funny Loopy Lou?
All the best Bakers are men.In fact the word itself Baker has to be masculine. I reckon it's the kneading that makes it attractive to men,the energy that comes out of your finger tips!!! Exhillarating and strangely sensual or should that be sexual ! Sexual kneading!! Didn't Marvin Gaye record that?

Cos it was you who said it Rob!

How did you know I was Loopy???
(some might say that to be interested in genealogy you have to be loopy)