Smoked bacon and red onion rye bread

Well, I may not be gluten intolerant but clearly cake is my enemy, because I feel awful today and I think I know what to blame. I paid a visit to a Clandestine Cake Club on Tuesday; so fun, met some great people and tried some amazing cakes, but my body isn’t going to forgive me for the fat and sugar consumption on the night.

I’m feeling a little rough now and pretty tired. But there’s one thing guaranteed wake any non-veggie up; the smell of bacon. Combine it with bread and what do you get? Smoked bacon and red onion rye bread. And yes, it’s a Richard Bertinet recipe... I’ll start to deviate again soon.

So, on a chilly and blustery day, I headed down to the village and bought one whopper of a red onion and some streaky bacon, the produce of a local smokehouse. Once back home (wondering why the 2 cups of coffee hadn’t kicked in yet), I finely sliced the onion and cut the bacon into thin strips using a pair of scissors (it’s one of those cheats that works so well). I started the bacon off in a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil... then decided that the pan wasn’t big enough, so moved it to a bigger one and carried on frying until the bacon began to brown, then added the onion and it until softened. I added a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and used this liquid to help get the flavoursome scrapings off the bottom of the pan. The whole lot went into a bowl to cool (which I covered with my copy of Dough) and I weighed out most of the rest of the ingredients, which included 10g fresh yeast, 400g strong white bread flour, 100g rye flour (it was meant to be “dark” rye flour, but I had what I had, and it wasn’t “dark”. That proportion of rye flour also made it seem a bit like a cheat rye bread but would guarantee a fairly light, soft bread) and 10g salt. All this prepared and... I headed off to work experience.

I got back a few hours later (still not completely awake, and a little cold from being in our rather peculiar bakery) and got on to actually bringing the ingredients together. The yeast got mixed with 350g water; normally I’d rub the yeast into the dry ingredients, but it’d come out of the freezer and defrosted into slop, so that wasn’t really going to work... not that it really matters... The water/yeast got mixed into the flours/salt and the usual process of bringing the dough together, turning it out onto a work surface and kneading until smooth and elastic commenced. Close to the end of kneading, I did my best to incorporate the bacon and onion mixture by kneading it through... always fun with something coated in fat, which tends to want to slide off the dough and catapult across the work surface rather than actually get moulded into the dough. It went in... sort of... and went back into a mixing bowl, covered with a tea towel, to double in size.

Where I left it was possibly a little too warm because it looked a tad on the shiny/greasy side when I lifted the tea towel off, but it had still risen and was still pretty firm. I gently teased it out onto a floured worktop and divided it into 4, then shaped each piece into a ball. They went onto my trusty baking tray (which, despite being non-stick, I greased quite liberally with oil) and got covered with a tea towel to rest for 10 minutes, which I assume was done to let the dough relax slightly before they were rolled into yet tighter balls. These balls went back on the baking tray, were covered again and this time went to prove for about 1 ¼ hours, again until doubled in size.

I’ve still not got the hang of transferring my proved bread to a baking tray that’s been preheating in the oven and I wasn’t feeling very daring... I still have visions of flipping the dough onto the flour rather than into the oven, so I chickened out and went into the blisteringly hot even on the tray that they’d proved on. I need to invest in a baking peel and stone... when I actually have some money. I did, however, use the trick of putting some water in a preheated baking tray at the bottom of the oven; this helps to prevent a crust forming on the bread too early and so allows it to rise further. Next came a little bit of oven temperature juggling (for the finer points of this, see recipe below), which probably wasn’t anywhere near as accurate as the oven claimed. And, 20-30 minutes of cooking later, lots of loaf tapping and several occasions where I questioned my ability to judge a hollow sound, my loaves were cooked... and looking a little rude because I’d slashed them the wrong way.

I’d been worried when I’d tapped my loaves because they were pretty heavy and I was expecting to cut them open and discover something dense and brackish, but I was pleasantly surprised. Ok, none of the bubbles were huge, but there was still a fluffy if tightly-baked bit of crumbage going on. So they were still soft to chew on, and the flavour... yum! The balsamic vinegar added at the end of frying seemed to have heightened both the onion and bacon flavours and so, combined with the flavour form the rye flour, the whole thing came together as a thoroughly substantial and satisfying bread.

So much so, in fact, that I almost over-faced myself when chowing down on a whole one for lunch.

Almost... Oh, the cake is so quickly forgotten.

Simplified recipe

Ingredients

8 rashers smoked bacon, cut into thin strips

1 large red onion, finely sliced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

400g strong white bread flour

100g rye flour

10g fresh yeast

10g salt

350g water

Method

1.       Heat the olive in oil a large frying pan and, once hot, fry the bacon until it begins to colour

2.       Add the onion to the pan and fry until softened

3.       Add the balsamic vinegar to the pan and fry for another minute, scraping any pieces from the bottom of the pan as you do so. Transfer the mix to a clean bowl and allow to cool

4.       Put the flours, salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl and rub the yeast in using your finger tips (but don’t let it get too close to the salt when you first put it in)

5.       Pour in the water and bring everything together as a dough, then turn out onto a work surface and work the dough until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Near the end of the kneading process, spread the dough out and sprinkle the onion and bacon mix on top. Cover with the dough and then continue to knead to incorporate the mix. Return to the mixing bowl, cover and leave in a warm place to double in size (about 1 hour)

6.       Carefully turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and divide into 4 even pieces. Pull the edges of each dough piece into the centre, then turn the piece over and roll it with your hands (or hand, if you’re feeling flash) to form it into a tight bowl (this sort of involves an action that tucks the dough towards the seam and pulls the whole thing tight). Cover and leave the pieces to rest for 10 minutes, then repeat the rolling process. Cover and leave to double in size again (about 1 ¼ hours)

7.       Preheat the oven to 250°C (or as hot as your oven will go) and place a baking tray in to take the dough, and one at the bottom of the oven

8.       When the dough is ready, use a sharp knife to slash a circular line around the top of the dough (and no, they won’t look like mine, because I can’t follow instructions...), transfer to the preheated baking tray and place a mug full of water on the lower preheated baking tray. Turn the oven down to 220°C (425°F or gas mark 7) and bake for 5 minutes, then turn the oven down to 190°C (375°F or gas mark 5) and bake for a further 15 minutes until a tap on the bottom of the loaf results in a hollow sound. Allow to cool before slicing, but prepare for some massive and very satisfying flavours

References

Dough, Richard Bertinet, Kyle Books, 2005