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Pizza Bread – Tear n Share

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pizza-bread

Pizza Bread and why you should be baking it.

After finishing a post the other day about home-made pizza bases and it doing terrifically well throughout social media, I thought hey why the hell not combine the entire pizza as a bread? I hear you, crazy, right? how could it possibly work. Combining a simple bread dough with dried basil, oregano and parmesan cheese created a soft tasty and above all pizzalecious base. Throwing in sundried tomato and grated mozzarella before its final rest resulted in one of the tastiest and yet most random breads I have ever baked. Once cooled the bread took on every beautiful element of a classic pizza, delivering a springy cheesy bread that oozed with flavour.

Move over takeaway Fridays we have a new player. I tried the bread with a garlic and parmesan dipping oil, the flavour was immense. Every bite was an experience, dripping with cheesy goodness cradled by the aroma of the basil and oregano. Once cooled this bread was the centerpiece of the table, plum and smelling divine everyone grabbed and tore their share.The whole thing was gone in a a matter of minutes. If you don’t try to bake any other bread in your life make sure this is the one that you do. You will not regret it and your friends will thank you for years to come.

Enjoy 🙂

www.thatgingerbreadman.com

Bread – What’s in it? Time to use your loaf

adminBread 2666 views

Bread is a staple in many diets. It is so readily available and incredibly cheap to buy. What you might not know is what ingredients make up your daily slice. Most shop bought breads contain ingredients and in some cases chemicals that are only present to increase shelf life, presentation and texture.

A Leading supermarket brand contained the following:

Wheat Flour (with added Calcium, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Water, Yeast, Soya Flour, Salt, Wheat Protein, Vegetable Fat (Palm, Rapeseed), Preservative: E282, Emulsifiers: E471, E472e, E481, Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid

Another loaf, this time a value brand contained this:

Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Water, Yeast, Salt, Rapeseed Oil, Soya Flour, Spirit Vinegar, Preservative (Calcium Propionate), Emulsifier (Mono- and Di-Acetyltartaric Esters of Mono- and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids), Palm Oil, Flour Treatment Agent (Ascorbic Acid)

Now that’s a lot, especially when you consider what goes into a simple home-made white loaf:

Flour, Yeast, Water and Flour.

How has something, created for hundreds of years with four simple ingredients become so complex?

With very little effort we can make simple white bread at home without the extras.

And I want to help you do it.

bread inforgraphic

Skolebrød – a classic Norwegian treat

adminBread / Recipes 6807 views

Skolebrød, a classic Norwegian treat

Skolebrød

Skolebrød, a classic Norwegian treat. When visiting Tromsø I was blown away with how magical the place is. I can genuinely use the word magical, it was somehow mystical, beautiful and unreal all at the same time. Visiting in the winter months means there is very little sunlight, what you do get it a stunning pink haze of light and then darkness, not a UK darkness when everything is coming to a close for the day, just an absence of sunlight that doesn’t stop anyone from going about their daily tasks. I was lucky enough to experience the northern lights whilst I was there which was simply breath taking. Another experience I am glad to have had whilst in this exceptional place was Skolebrød, a bizarre sweet bread dough, filled with vanilla custard, topped with icing sugar and coconut. At first glance this custard bread available in every café we came across seemed a little strange. It didn’t seem like the type of thing you have with your morning green tea or in other cases your Coffee. I decided to give it a go to find out why everyone in Norway was so obsessed with them. I am so glad I did, the taste was something else. Not being a massive fan of sweet treats I would normally reach for savoury when possible but this beauty covered everything; sweet, savoury and bread! What more could a boy ask for.

Recently I have wanted to try more sweet breads, or pudding breads as my partner insist on calling them. He reminded me of our experiences in Norway and those amazing Skolebrøds that we loved so much and asked if I would make some. Thinking hey, how hard can it be I searched the internet for a recipe. After finding one I got my ingredients together and set to work. I prepared and mixed everything as instructed, as I kneaded the dough I knew that something was wrong. It was incredibly dry, almost flakey, I was certain it was going to fail. Throwing caution to the wind and doing something I rarely do, I tried to figure it out myself with… well to be honest with complete guess work. The result I am amazed to say was perfect, the resulting Skolebrød was like a memory lightning bolt to the head. I had by chance recreated the perfect Skolebrød recipe and am now lumbered with requests from my partner, friends and work colleagues to make them on a regular basis.

Give them a go yourself!

Recipe

Greek FlatBreads – Great for Gyros

adminBread 2756 views

Greek flatbreads

Greek Flatbreads, ahh the memories. During my first visit to Greece, the amazing island of Naxos, I fell in love with the beautiful scenery, culture and of course the food. Apart from now being a complete convert to the Greek way of life I became a lover of the Greek fast food Gyros.Fortunately for me I couldpurchase them on almost any street at any time. After indulging myself (probably far too much) I returned too wet, cold England, leaving behind my new found love for rotisserie cooked meat in a flatbread.

My journey began to replicate this tasty yet simple dish. I trawled the net finding many people like myself longing to eat them again after a visit to Greece that had opened their eyes. Many of the recipes I tried were ok, but none made the sweet memories of Naxos flood back into my life. After a little trial and error, I came up with a recipe that hit the spot.

I have cooked these flat breads so many times I fear my friends may get bored of them, but I won’t so who cares. Initially created for Gyros but these flatbreads are so versatile you can use them to accompany many meals.

Try them yourself and see what you come up with. – Recipe Here

Olive Bread

adminBread / Classic Breads / Flavoured Breads 2728 views

Ginger Bread Mans Olive Bread

olive bread

Olive bread, easily one of my favourite shop bought loafs. Tesco do a mighty fine one which I believe is made with Rye Flour. For this recipe I have stuck with the good old Strong white, After all that’s what my website is about, simple breads that taste great and look amazing. I have to place a small hope that if you’re reading this and interested in bread making you have the basics in your cupboard. If not it’s time to go shopping. The Olive bread turned out perfectly, the crust is strong and the loaf soft. The olives hiding throughout ready to jump on your taste buds at any moment easily shot this loaf up into one of my favourites, and since it is so easy to make, get baking!

Give it a try yourself and impress everyone at your next get together.

RECIPE HERE

WATCH HOW

 

Walnut and Date Loaf – Fruit and Nut at its best

adminBread 2634 views

Walnut and Date Bread

Home made Walnut and Date Bread

Fruit and nut, how could it be wrong? A light loaf that is amazing with a light buttering but even better toasted.

Today’s creation, fruit and nut have always been the best of pals, together in this bread they do not disappoint. The loaf was very moist, possibly gaining some moisture from the dates themselves, the walnuts really finish it off. The only down side I have found so far, it is a little tricky getting the walnut pieces into the dough and the dates are very sticky to chop. After tasting the bread on its own which to be honest was excellent I tried adding a little butter, the result was divine. This loaf was a perfect meal accompaniment, going well with soups or part of a salad, I tried both. I had it toasted for breakfast the next day with a good spreading of butter. The dates become warm and slightly crisped, almost like a posh man’s tea-cake.

Three Cheese Chilli Bread

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Three Cheese and Chilli Bread

A moist and light bread with a massive kick, a simple flavoured bread that never dissapoints

BAKE IT YOURSELF

Today I created one of my all-time favourites, the three cheese and chilli loaf. With a mix of parmesan and chilli powder incorporated with the dry ingredients, it gains a buttery taste followed by a kick. It’s very soft and with the added chunks of both Cheddar and Gouda cheese it’s perfect to eat on its own, no need to drown out the flavours with butter. I have tried toasted slices and it is divine, the heat starts to re-melt the cheese giving you the perfect early morning snack. Everybody that tries this will love it, you can’t get bored eating it and people will keep going back for another slice.