homemade bread – My Whisk and I

Chimichurri Focaccia

August 14, 2023August 5, 2023by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

340ml lukewarm water
10g instant yeast
10ml sugar
10ml salt
20ml olive oil
500g flour
Chimichurri Sauce:
60ml olive oil
15ml red wine vinegar
60ml finely chopped parsley
2 cloves of garlic, minced
5ml thyme leaves
2,5ml salt

1 onion, sliced into 1,5cm rings

Pour the water into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with its dough hook.
Sprinkle over the yeast and stir to dissolve. Set aside for 5 minutes.
Add the sugar, salt and olive oil to the bowl with the yeast and stir to dissolve.
Turn the mixer on a low speed and gradually add the flour.
Mix/knead on medium speed for 6 minutes.
Lightly oil a clean mixing bowl, place the dough in it and cover with a damp tea towel.
Set aside to rise for 90 minutes.

For the chimichurri sauce:
Blitz the olive oil, vinegar, parsley, garlic, thyme and salt together.

Preheat your oven to 180℃ and spray a 38cm x 23cm roasting tin with cooking spray.
Place the dough in the tin and evenly spread it out by poking your fingers down into the dough.
Randomly press the onion rings into the focaccia dough, cover with a tea towel and rest for another 15 minutes.
Drizzle the chimichurri over the dough and bake in the oven for 35 minutes.

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Wholewheat Quickbread

March 2, 2023March 1, 2023by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

250g wholewheat flour
250g cake flour
5ml bicarbonate of soda
5ml salt
420ml cultured buttermilk
edible food colourant paste if you want to decorate the bread

Preheat your oven to 200℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Add the two flours, bicarbonate of soda and salt to a mixing bowl.
Pour in the buttermilk and stir the ingredients until it comes together as a dough.
Flour a work surface and tip the dough on it.
Gently roll and fold the dough to form a ball shape – do not knead!!
Place the shaped bread on the prepared baking sheet and dust off the excess flour with a pastry brush.
If you would like to paint on the bread, now is the time. I used a paste colourant that I normally use to colour cake icing. Simply paint directly on the bread and voila!!
Now make two cross cuts in the bread – be careful not to cut straight through.
Cover with a tea towel and allow to rest for 15 minutes – If you are not painting and fiddling, allow the bread 30 minutes.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
Cool the quick bread completely before slicing.

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No-Knead Olive Bread

May 10, 2021May 3, 2021by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

This bread involves absolutely no kneading or fussing and I guarantee you that it will be one of THE best olive breads you have ever tasted.

360g bread flour
1,2ml instant yeast
10ml salt
310ml tepid water
250ml olives, stoned and sliced in half

Add the flour, yeast and salt to a large mixing bowl.
Pour the water into the bowl and mix.
Add the olives to the dough mixture and make sure they are evenly distribute – squish them with your hands.
Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave at room temperature to rest for about 18 hours.

Flour a working surface and scrape the dough onto it.
Form the dough into a ball shape and place it onto a square of baking paper. Cover with a tea towel and allow to rest for another hour.

Preheat your oven as well as a dutch oven to 230℃. (A dutch oven is simply a cast iron pot with a tight-fitting lid)
Once the oven temperature is reached, remove the dutch oven and lift the bread in the paper, into the dutch oven. Replace the lid of the dutch oven and immediately place the bread into the oven.
Bake for 30 minutes, remove the lid of the dutch oven and bake for another 25 minutes.
Take the bread from the oven an cool for about ten minutes before removing it from the dutch oven.
Cool the bread completely before slicing.

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Beetroot Bread

April 21, 2021April 21, 2021by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

This bread has a moist texture and is absolutely perfect for a topping of tomato, salad, cucumber and avocado. Easy to make and it will prettify your table!

10ml instant yeast
350ml water, lukewarm
500g bread flour
10ml salt
250g beetroot, grated
30ml oil

Sprinkle the yeast onto the water and give it a good stir.
Add the flour, salt, beetroot and oil to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook and mix on low speed for one minute.
Add the yeast mixture and mix/knead for another 3 minutes.
At this stage you want a dough that comes loose from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is too soft to come together in a ball, add a handful of flour and allow your machine to incorporate it. Keep adding small amounts of bread flour until the dough just comes together in a kneadable dough.
Add a few drops of vegetable oil to a clean mixing bowl and cover the sides and bottom with a thin layer. Now add the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap/a bag and put aside to rest for an hour.
Preheat your oven to 210℃.
Take the dough from the bowl, gently knock it back and shape it into a round. Place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Cover the bread with a clean tea towel and rest for another 20 minutes.
Bake the bread for 30 minutes.
Cool completely before cutting.

If you would like to “decorate” your bread as in the image below, follow the following guidelines:
Once you have knocked back the dough, cut about a third of the dough from the rest.
Shape the larger quantity dough into a ball and place it in a small, deep cake tin. Brush the surface with a small amount of water.
Roll the rest of the dough to a 1cm thickness and cut into strips about three centimetres wide.
Roll each strip into a coil and place onto the dough ball.
Stand for 20 minutes before baking.