Hello Homebaker!
From soft baps to crusty baguettes…
This month I’ve got two stone baked beauties for ya, and I hope you’ll absolutely love them!
Be patient, take your time, and enjoy making these next wonderful breads with me, in your kitchen at home
Jack
Baguettes
One of the top most wanted, the one we all want to make and make well. My recipe is easily repeatable so you’ll get the practice you need to really understand what it is that makes the baguette so special.
Not only are the classic crusty characteristics of the baguette so deliciously desirable but it just so happens that the process of making them is one that is so enjoyable and satisfying too. You’ll be cracking them out in no time I promise.
Spelt Bread
Spelt flour is one of the “ancient grains” so called will the idea that it is one that hasn’t been evolved over time to produce the kind of strong-in-gluten doughs required to make bouncy ciabatta doughs and the like. The result is a wholemeal flour with plenty of character and a bread packed with flavour, naturally, from the grain itself.
Spelt bread creates a rustic, earthquake cracked crust loaf. It’s very lack of modern-day bread characteristics are what makes it such a special loaf, as treasured as the flour itself. You’ll learn just how to tame the structure of this unique dough to get the best results.
Balsamic Roasted Grapes with Goat’s Cheese and Pine Nuts
Baking cheese should be a standard for any bread lover, but how about roasting the grapes that go with them? Heat transforms flavour and if you’ve never roasted grapes before you are in for a real treat as it turns their crisp freshness into deep complex flavour. These sweet, burst in your mouth morsels are just made for warm and bubbly goats cheese, served alongside crisp baguette croutes.
Aubergine Caponata
The Italian sweet and sour or the Italian ratatouille? You decide. This aubergine and pepper ragu is a powerhouse of flavour, slow cooked mediterranean vegetables in rich tomato sauce with olives and capers to finish. It’s a dish you’ll often see as an “accompaniment” but one that stands it’s ground firmly as a dish in itself if given the opportunity. So let’s do that.
A warming bowl of caponata is celebrated perfectly with the addition of a thick slice of cold buttered spelt bread.
I hope you enjoy making this months recipes with me, they are so filled with love and I hope they become standards in your repertoire.
These recipes are available for you in the HomeBaker’s Club now.
See you in class.