Herbed Boule

Natural Cooking Club has a whole month of bread baking event. That just gives me an excuse to explore and bake more bread. Though the reason I make this bread is not just for that event. I had a mother-daughter time with mom yesterday. Since I knew already that I’d come over to her place, I had already prepared the dough in advance. I guess I got my love for bread from her. We know the best of flavors will only be achieved by a simple act of patience.

Her husband, my dearest step dad, recently got a heart attack. So it’s an all oatmeal health food diet for him. Since I already decided to bring them some bread, not the buttery, egg laden kind of bread, I concocted my 5 Minutes No Knead Bread. But with a twist. I just threw in different kinds of dried herbs available in my kitchen, cut the salt, all to make a loaf that is safe for him to eat, yet will satisfy my mother’s taste buds.

Now let’s get rolling with the recipe. I do not use my favorite Ballastra flour for this one, because I’m still unsure whether the different seeds and grains are already okay to be consumed by him. A simple whole wheat flour will do.

Makes four 1 pound loafs.

Ingredients

480gr all purpose flour

300gr whole wheat flour

1½ tbs instant yeast

3 ¼ cup water

1 tbs salt

¼ tsp rosemary, oregano, marjoram, basil, thyme (all dried)

To view the step by step photos on how to make it, please click here. 

Here are some more pics of my Herbed Boule.

I once saw a program in TLC. it was about Moroccan food. 

The local presenter said, "Cooking is the only art that makes sure you always have food on your table."

Indeed it is. 

And what good is art when you have no appreciation from the audience? 

In my case, my audience need not be the the world. But they are surely more important than the world itself to me. Seeing their happy faces when they take a bite of my bread and savor it is truly what makes these tired bones feel young eternally. 

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Irish Soda Bread

Going back to college seems like a lot of fun. I mean, it is fun. I love the adrenaline rush of having mid and final tests. Is that weird? Nah.. That is completely normal if you were brought up in my family. Some people climb mountains, some go diving, some love travelling, and I simply love to be with lots of books. Yes. I love library. I love the smell of books and I love to have anything to do with reading.

The thing is; I feel like I've been hitting the wall for the last two weeks. This particular subject, Indonesian Morpho-Syntax, was taking up too much of my precious time. Evil, evil subject. If I was single, perhaps I’d go out, party with my friends, and just forget about it. I notice that the older you get, the more you fuss with silly-nilly, unimportant things. So before I fall to the well of desperation, I just promise myself that even if I flunked at that that subject, I just have to do better next semester.

Case closed. Need a romantic getaway.

I decided to read a Susanna Kearsley book. Yes, that is my romantic getaway; reading. I am not big a fan of romance genre, I have always preferred fantasy and thriller. But Susanna Kearsley writes a heck of historical fiction with a gothic flair and modest romance. Yes, modest is the word for her works and I love modesty, not a sappy, weepy, vulgar, cheap romance novel with shirtless Fabio on the cover. Though I hate to admit seeing those pictures of him rather gave me a funny bashful feeling when I was in junior high.

What I enjoy from reading her books, is that mostly the settings are in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Three countries that I hold very, very dear in my heart. It is imprinted in my soul. Susanna Kearsley carefully weaves a certain important event in history with shreds of stories about ordinary people who happened to be around the time of the event or somehow strangely connected with those people.

I decided to read Shadowy Horses. I was immersed in the book. Gorgeous story. After the relief sigh, came the hunger. Since it has been raining almost every day for the past two weeks, pray tell; what suits the rain and empty stomach better than a hearthy hot stew?

A pot of Irish Stout Stew with a big chunk of Irish Soda Bread.

Here is the recipe for the Irish Soda Bread adapted from www.allrecipes.com

Makes 2 big loafs, half the recipe for your convenience.

Ingredients

For the bread:

440gr all-purpose flour

40gr wheat bran

4 tablespoons white sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup salted butter, softened

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg

For the glaze:

1/4 cup salted butter, melted

1/4 cup buttermilk

Directions

-Preheat oven to 190 C. Lightly grease a large baking sheet.

-In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, wheat bran, and butter.

-Stir in 1 cup of buttermilk and egg. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly.

-Form dough into a round and place on prepared baking sheet.

-In a small bowl, combine melted butter with 1/4 cup buttermilk; brush loaf with this glaze mixture. Use a sharp knife to cut an 'X' into the top of the loaf.

-Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

-Take the loaf out every 10-15 minutes to brush it with the glaze.

Scrumptious.

I love the biscuit like crust of this bread. With the stew, Irish Soda Bread complete the meal without overpowering the flavor of the stew. Without the stew, it simply is a great snack.

There are many possibilities to modify this recipe according to whatever mood you are in. You can throw in some raisins, herbs, or like Amiko; she prefers to have some shredded old cheddar in it. It's quite a versatile bread. But what we all love about this bread most of all is that we don't have to wait hours and hours to have warm bread on our table. It doesn't need too much preparations. Throw everything in, mix, form a ball, slash, and pop it in hot oven. Genius.

Alright, time for me to get back to my books. I am not talking about the Indonesian Morpho-Syntax, more like my Susanna Kearsley's books. A girl's got to read what a girl's got to read, right J

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