Savoury Brioche Coronne

I love it when a recipe works. Last week (or there abouts) I watched Paul Hollywood’s final programme in his BBC baking series. The savoury brioche couronne (that’s a crown to you and me), looked really great. My children umm’d and ah’d as he brought out the bread from his TV oven stuffed with mozzarella and parma ham. So, yesterday I felt that I must rise to the challenge and see if I could add this recipe to my repertoire. It was a total success and is definitely worth baking for teatime or for the children’s lunchboxes.

Ingredients

30 mins to put together

2 hours to make

500g/1lb 2oz strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting

10g salt

10g instant yeast

170ml/6fl oz warm full-fat milk

4 free-range eggs

250g/9oz unsalted butter, in small pieces, at room temperature

4 x 125g/4óoz balls buffalo mozzarella

8-10 slices prosciutto

6 handful fresh chopped basil

1 free-range egg, beaten

pinch salt

handful grated parmesan

Preparation method

1. If you have a food mixer with a paddle fitting, make the dough as

follows: into the bowl put the flour, salt, yeast, milk and eggs and mix

until the dough becomes smooth and shiny. Add the butter piece by

piece as you mix well for a further five minutes, until all the butter has

been incorporated into the dough. It’s important to add the butter

very gradually.

2. If you do not have a machine, make the base dough by bringing the

flour, salt, yeast, milk and eggs together in a bowl. Tip the dough

onto a floured surface and knead for about ten minutes, or until the

dough becomes smooth and shiny. Gradually incorporate the butter

piece by piece into the dough, kneading as you go.

3. Tip the dough into an oiled 1 litre/1 ¾ pint plastic container with a lid as it 

it needs plenty of room to rise. Leave the dough to rise until at least

doubled in (at least an hour, or overnight in the fridge).

4. Line a baking tray with baking parchment. Tip the dough out onto a

lightly floured surface, without knocking the air out of it. Roll it out to

a thickness of just under 1½ cm/ ¾ in, in a rectangle that’s about 

40-50cm/16-20in long. Have the long side facing you.

5. Cover the dough with a loose layer of ham. Break off large pieces of

mozzarella and distribute them all over the ham. Scatter the basil

over the top.

6. Roll up the dough from the long side furthest from you, into a long

sausage shape. Cut the roll of dough in half down the length to

expose the filling, leaving you with two long strips side by side.

7. Twist the two strips together, holding both ends of the dough and

twisting your hands in opposite directions, to make a long rope that’s

quite tightly twisted. Form the rope into a circle and join the ends

together so that the dough becomes a ring – a ‘couronne’ or crown.

8. Put the crown onto the lined baking tray, and put the tray in a large

plastic bag, big enough so that the risen dough won’t touch the

sides. Leave the crown to rise for 1-1ó hours, or until it has at least

doubled in size.

9. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. For this recipe you ideally

don’t want a fan oven.

10. Whisk an egg with a pinch of salt and brush the egg over the crown.

Finally top the couronne with grated parmesan.

11. Bake the couronne in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until

golden-brown. Leave to cool slightly. Serve warm or cold.

Walnut and honey soda bread

This bread is deliciously sweet and savoury at the same time, with an incredible depth of flavour. It is wonderful to eat with cheese and some pickles (especially pickled beetroot!!).

INGREDIENTS

Serves six

200g walnuts

200g honey

500g wholemeal flour

4 tsp baking powder

10g salt

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/ gas mark 6 and lightly oil a baking sheet. Divide the walnuts into two roughly equal piles. Put one half into a food processor or a mortar, then crush to a coarse powder. Using your hands, break the other pile of walnuts into large, rough chunks. Put the honey in a pan with 300ml water and heat gently until the honey dissolves.

Put the flour, baking powder, salt and all the walnuts in a large bowl and combine. Pour in the honey water and mix to a soft dough.

Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface, shape it into a rough, round loaf and place on the oiled baking tray. Slice a deep cross into the top, going almost right the way through to the baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, until well risen and golden brown. Remove, set aside to cool and serve immediately - at the very latest, eat within 24 hours.

Focaccia - Italian Bread

I love Focaccia. It is a quick bread to make and perfect served with salads on hot sunny days. Try the black olive version with a mozzarella and tomato salad drizzled with an extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing.

Alternatively you can adapt the bread recipe by adding a selection of your own flavours.  Goats cheese and caramalised red onions are a very good combination, or for a simple flavour just add some sage, or some rosemary with coarse sea salt.

INGREDIENTS

30g/10z fresh yeast or I sachet dried yeast

225ml/8fl oz warm water

450g/1lb strong plain flour

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons olive oil.

METHOD

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.

2. Sift the flour with the salt into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour in the dissolved yeast and the oil. Gradually draw in the flour and when the ingredients are all well mixed, knead the dough for 8-10 minutes.

3. Put the dough into a greased bowl. Cover with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place (for about 1 hour).

4. Knock back the dough and shape as required. For Focaccia make into oval and place on an oiled baking tray. Add olives and rosemary and cover with clingfilm again. Leave to prove (rise again) until it is 1½ times its original size.

5. Preheat the oven to 230 C/450 F/gas mark 8.

6. If using course sea salt in the Focaccia add to the bread before baking. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil on top of the bread and bake the bread for 10 minutes ad the turn the oven down to 190 C/375 F/gas mark 5 and bake for a further 15-20 minutes until it is cooked. Transfer to a wire rack until cool.

Handmade beetroot bread

Making bread is incredibly therapeutic. The lovely soft texture of the dough is great to pummel and you get a 10-minute work out in the kitchen - perfect. The bread making process is not laborious (I promise!) and you can choose to add seeds, herbs, grated vegetables or a whole host of other flavours to your dough.

Beetroot is roughly in season from May to October in the UK.  Some beetroot breads can be made with a starter dough (dough that has been mixed 24 hours in advance and allowed to ferment). As this recipe is made without a starter dough, it is quick and easy to make. It is great to eat with a hunk of cheese or a bowl of soup.

INGREDIENTS

Makes two loaves

750g strong white flour

350mls tepid water

250g cooked beetroot, grated

20g fresh yeast, or one sachet of dried yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 egg, beaten to glaze

caraway seeds

METHOD

1. Dissolve the yeast with sugar in a little of the water. Allow the mixture to become frothy. Add the yeast mix to the rest if the water.

2. Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl.  Pour in the water and yeast mixture and mix the dough together by hand.

3. Sprinkle a work surface with some flour and knead the dough. This process is important as it is stretching the gluten. After 7-10 minutes the dough will stop feeling sticky and will be all stretchy. The dough is ready when you it can stretch to a very thin skin without breaking.

4. Oil a bowl and put the dough into it. Cover it with oiled cling film or a cloth and put it somewhere warm to rise for one to two hours.

5. When the dough has doubled in size, return it to the work surface and knead once more making sure that you knock all of the puffiness out of the dough.

6. Shape the bread into loaves. You can make round loaves or bloomer shaped loaves (oval). Put the shaped bread onto a greased baking sheet, cover and leave to prove for 45 minutes, again in a warm place.

7.  Preheat your oven to 230 C/450 F/Gas mark 8.

8. When the loaves have risen, brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle with caraway seeds. Then make a series of knife cuts across each loaf, on a diagonal about 1cm deep.

9. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes. To check if the bread is cooked, turn the loaf upside down and tap the bottom. When it is cooked it should sound hollow.

10. When cooked allow the bread to cool on a rack to allow the crust to form properly and the structure to hold inside before slicing.