Orange and Mint Loaf

This is a delicious loaf from a recipe by Richard Bertinet. The crumb is very soft and moist, enriched, and has a hint of refreshing orange and mint flavor. Before making the bread I was afraid the mint flavor would be too strong for my taste. In fact the mint has merged with the orange nicely. You’ll not taste a distinctive flavor of it. I like this slight additional refreshing flavor. Suitable for summer.

Yea, summer has come. I will make more soft bread or breads with fruits in the coming days. Something more citrus, appetizing and colorful. : )

Love these little cuts on the crust.

Tender!

Recipe adapted the book “Dough” by Richard Bertinet. For steps please follow Gourmet.com .

Makes 1 loaf

Basic Sweet dough

125g full fat milk

7g commercial yeast

250g strong bread flour

30g unsalted butter at room temperature

20g caster sugar

5g salt

1 large egg

Addition

1/2 brunch of fresh mint (I used 3 sprigs)

Zest of 1 large orange

1/2 tablespoon Cointreau

1/2 egg beaten with a pinch of salt for an egg wash

Flour for dusting

A little butter for greasing

Walnut & Red Wine Bread

This is a direct dough, using few ingredients, easy to make, but has a great flavor. It is actually Dan Lepard’s “Simple Walnut Tin Loaf”, but I bake it on hearth instead (200C for 20mins, each dough weighs 160g). The crust is cripsy, and the crumb is very tender and moist. There are many walnuts in this bread, and the walnut flavor dominates (wheat flavor is weak). There is 42% red wine in the dough, but it doesn’t taste strong after baking, the taste is subtle instead. I like this combination of red wine, wheat & walnut. Inspiring & good.

Liquid mixture: walnut, red wine, oil & water. Looks purple.

Recipe: from Dan Lepard’s Forum or The Guardian

Coffee Coconut Swirl Bread

Finally I have time to make bread, and this bread came up to my mind immediately. Um, it must be one of my favourites.

Besides Bo Lo Bao and Cocktail Bun, which are still the two most popular buns in Hong Kong, this bread is also a specialty here. However, it is not easy to find now. The market of coffee flavored bakery items here is small.

Even so, some people still miss this bread, including me, thinking coffee, sugar and coconut are great match.

This bread is very easy to make. It is basically a white bread dough, plus a filling made of coffee, coconut, butter and sugar.

The white bread recipe is from Peter Reinhart’s “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice”. It is a soft and tasty dough which I use as the basic dough for many other breads. The filling is created by myself.

As you can see, the bread is highlighted with a moist filling. So do use your fingers to tear the bread and enjoy! You’ll feel how great it is to have a juicy filling inside a white bread. Especially if you like coffee, you’ll enjoy the aroma, moistness and chewiness together in one bread … *devil*

White Bread (Adapted from Page43 of Peter Reinhart’s “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice”

Bread Flour 350g

Salt 7g

Sugar 28g

Powdered Milk 21g

Instant Yeast 3g

Egg 14g

Shortening 28g

Water 203g

Mix, knead & ferment the dough as other common straight doughs. To make the swirl, after 1st fermentation, roll the dough to 8inches x 5inches. Sprinkle & slightly press the filling to the dough. Roll tight & seam. Bake at 180C for 40mins (rotate half way) after 2nd fermentation (I think the bread is a bit dry this time with my oven, I’ll try to bake 5mins less next time).

Filling (mix together)

Unsalted Butter 24g

Egg 24g

Shredded Coconut 48g

Sugar 40g

Instant Coffee Powder 1 1/4 tps (dissolve with few drops of hot water)

Soya and Linseed Loaf

This recipe is from Dan Lepard. The bread doesn’t contain any egg, butter or milk products, but stays soft & moist for days because of the soya milk in it. It is because of the soya protein, you may see Dan’s reply here.

I used King Arthur All Purpose Flour and rye flour from a local shop to prepare the dough. The dough was quite sticky at the beginning, but after using Dan’s first fermentation method, gluten was formed like usual easily. The resulted crumb of the bread was soft but a bit chewy.

I could not taste the soy milk flavor in the bread, and the taste was similar to light wheat bread. There was also linseed in every bite. Crust was a bit thicker than usual. Overall, I like this healthy loaf and will make again.

Recipe: In Dan Lepard’s Forum or the Guardian