Moving beyond the plain loaf

Once you’ve mastered a good everyday loaf of bread, it’s time to branch out and push your own boundaries. You could do that by either experimenting with new recipes or making the bread look great. Either way you'll probably get around to both at some point, the aim here is to add to your basic skills and be creative.

Let me first say that you aren’t at this stage yet if you haven’t mastered basic bread baking. You can read about baking here and here in some previous posts I’ve written. Both these recipes are easy, but you need time when baking, it’s slow food. Don’t try this when you’re ready to rush out the door to pick up the kids, or 15 minutes before your guests arrive. Put these things on your lists for alone time, slow yourself down, concentrate and think about what it is you’re doing. Hopefully what you will be doing it to develop a simple skill that will stand you in good stead for years to come, hopefully you will give it the time and attention it deserves, and hopefully this skill will be passed down to your children and grandchildren. It needs time but it will stand the test of time.

So let’s assume you’ve got your bread to something you really enjoy eating. It’s a good healthy basic loaf that your family loves and lines up for when they smell that distinctive aroma of fresh bread. But it looks a bit boring, or it looks the same every day. What is the next step in expanding your repertoire before moving on to more advanced recipes? It’s shaping and decorating the loaf.

The reason bakers get those wonderfully crusty loaves is that they often have wood fired or steam ovens. A little bit of moisture in the oven will work its charm by making a good crust. While you can’t really duplicate the baker's crustiness in a domestic oven, you can get almost as good as a baker’s crust by brushing the loaf with cold water just before it goes in the oven.

Once you have moistened the loaf, you have also created a kind of glue on which to stick all manner of seeds and grains. The traditional seeds for white bread are poppy seeds and sesame seeds. Caraway seeds are used on rye bread (see loaf below). Adding seeds will add extra nutrition to the bread; here is some nutritional info about various seeds. But you can also add things like rolled oats, polenta, crushed wheat (burghal), pumpkin and sunflower seeds. When you add anything to your loaf, sprinkle it on for a light covering and then press it in lightly. For a heavy coating, like the loaf above, place your seeds/oats on the bench and roll the loaf over the seeds.

If you want a soft crust, brush the top of the bread with melted butter or olive oil just before it goes into the oven for baking. You can also do this after baking to give the loaf a very shiny appearance.

I have also seen bread with a sprinkling of rock salt on the top, as well as a floured top. If you decide to go for the old fashioned floured top, pat off the excess flour. You can also get a good effect for the kids by having a floured top and then painting their name or a smiley face on the bread with a wet brush. As the bread bakes, the face or name will show up in the space where the flour has been brushed off.

Decorate your loaf after the first rise and punch down. Reform the dough into the shape you want, add your seeds/decoration, then slash it if you want to and leave it to rise for the second time. Slashing will allow the dough to rise to it's full potential.

Don't forget that most bread doughs can be formed into plaits/braids, bread rolls, or rounds if you don't want a traditional loaf. Experiment with the dough and see what happens. You may go back to your traditional loaf, but you may discover something you really like that will make the bread you bake distinctive.

One thing is certain, once you know how to make good bread, it's wise to try new recipes, add things to your favourites and play with the shape. As with all things in this simple life, you push your boundaries and see where it will take you.

Never stand still.

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