Perfect Fluffy and Light Bread Cakes
2017-03-04 08:16:24
Fluffy, light bread cakes, or baps or rolls or whatever the hell you want to call them. They have been my breadmaking nightmare for some time. I have tried numerous recipes from the internet and my ever-growing bread book collection, each one a more impressive failure than the last. So why did I agree to baking 42 of the bloody things for my sister’s birthday party a few weeks ago, for that answer you will have to ask someone else, I genuinely haven’t the foggiest but I did and therefore the challenge began again. After three failures of which I am accustom, I decided to stop recreating other people’s work and wing it with some of my own. With a bit of tinkering and some important lessons learnt, I finally came up with this, That Ginger Bread Mans answer to perfect fluffy white bread cakes, just as good if not better than shop bought and most certainly not full of all the extra crap. They will keep for a couple of days but you can freeze them if needs be. This recipe is just the basics, however I always recommend mixing it up a bit, try adding parmesan cheese, black pepper or anything that tickles your fancy and let me know how they turn out.
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Ingredients
- 650g Strong White Flour (I swear by Alinson Strong White Bread Flour)
- 1 sachet active dry yeast (I always use Alinson Fast Active Dry Yeast)
- 2tsp Salt
- 2 tblsp Sugar
- 2 tblsp olive oil
- 1/2 Cup Milk
- 1 Large Egg
- A little cold water
- 125ml boiling water
Making the Dough
- First off let’s get the dry ingredients together. Get your large mixing bowl and add the flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Give the whole thing a quick mix with whatever kitchen utensil you feel comfortable with. Add the oil and give it another mix. Put the bowl to one side while you figure out the wet ingredients.
- For the wet ingredients pour the milk into a measuring jug and then add the egg. Give them a quick whisk. Now, add cold water until the mixture is level with the 300ml mark. Give it another whisk, and then ass it is whisking pour in the 125ml of boiling water. Make sure the mixing bowl you used for the dry is nearby as you are going to continue whisking the mixture as you quickly pour it into the mixing bowl.
- As soon as the liquids are in, start to mix them with the dry immediately.
- Stir the mixture together until the dough starts to form. Use your hand (flour your hand first as it makes it easier) to claw and mix at the dough until you are cleaning the edges of the bowl easily. If it feels too sticky add more flour until you get the desired result.
Time to Knead
- Place the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead for 10 mins. The dough will eventually become smooth in your hands and you will notice it spring back when you touch it.
Let it Rise
- Place the dough inside an oiled bowl and cover with cling film. You can use the same one you mixed it in if you wish, nobody likes unnecessary pots to clean, unless you have staff or something in which case who cares. Leave the dough for 1.5 hours until it has risen and doubled in size.
- Using a well-floured surface tip, the risen dough out of the bowl. Pushdown with your hands knocking out excess gas. Divide the dough into 8 pieces.
- Taking one of the dough pieces, fold the edges underneath, turning the dough and folding under as you go. Once you have formed a dough ball, cup the dough in your palm with your fingers clawed around the base and with a circular motion rub the dough ball against the surface. Once you get going you will feel the dough tighten and form a neat little ball. It may take some time getting used to this technique, but keep going, you will get there.
- Place the calls on a well-floured baking tray equally set apart. Leave the dough to rise again for 40 minutes. The dough balls will grow and begin touching at the edges.
Bake that Bread
- Place a tin of boiling water at the bottom of the oven and Pre-heat to 175°, pop your baking tray in and leave to bake for 20 minutes. I would recommend placing the tray in the middle of the oven ensuring the bread cakes brown nicely without burning. Once baked, leave on a cooling rack until you are ready to gorge yourself on delicious, fluffy bread cakes.
That Ginger Bread Man http://thatgingerbreadman.com/breadblog/
