Tuesday 29 November 2011

Fig and walnut spelt bread

Spelt bread can't be hard, right?
I mean they sell the flour in ordinary shops and Dove's farm stuff is always nice.
I'll bet it works just like normal flour.
Well, it all depends whether you read the instructions before or after starting.  I'm a bloke so I have a little difficulty reading ahead.
I got all the way down to putting the dough on to prove the first time, cutting up walnuts and dried figs and soaking them in orange juice and was just about to go and do something else when I actually read the next instruction.
Apparently spelt proves faster that wheat four.  Yeah, whatever.  Maybe I'll take a look.  Oh.  The bowl is almost full.  I guess what they mean is that spelt proves a lot faster than wheat flour....
No worries.  I just took it out of the bowl, mixed in the figs and nuts and as much of the orange juice as I possibly could and then put it in a loaf tin.  Now what was I about to do....?
No, I never learn.  If the dough proves fast the first time then there's a good chance it's going to prove quite fast the second time.  Which is how it came to overflow the tin.
Note to self: when that happens, make sure you trim the excess before baking.  Or you'll have a really hard time getting it out of the tin!
Anyway, one of the reasons I like bread is that most mistakes turn out edible and apart from a slightly rustic appearance and a disappointing crust this was really jolly nice.
I'm putting the crust down to baking it along with the brioche.  I started out with a higher temperature than it said on the packet and think I paid the price.  That's what I'll do differently next time, anyway.  That and keep an eye on it.


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