Like panettone, this is another bread that I should have
done at Christmas. I came across the recipe when delving into my “Random
recipes” folder, on a quest for something that used spelt flour. The flavours
in this bread may be rather Christmasy but I like them, so what the heck!
This one starts with a sponge. And I really wish my memory,
or attention span, or ability to read, or... whatever issue it is at the moment that means I can’t follow
instructions, would just fix itself. I’d got it into my head that this sponge
only needed overnight. So, on an evening when I thought “yeah, I’ve got time to
do this one tomorrow morning”, I started the sponge off; flour, water and
yeast, kneaded for “6 mins” (a very exact but slightly random number...), the
bunged in a bowl, covered and put in the fridge. I checked the recipe again.
Pants. The sponge wanted 24 hours. Ok, it probably could have had less, I imagine
the step was part of developing flavours, but I didn’t want to chance it. I
mentally shifted about my plans. It could probably be done the following
evening... probably...
I did what preparation I could in the morning. This involved
finely chopping a red onion, roughly chopping 200g chestnuts and 6 sage leaves
(I felt a bit mean taking these from mum’s new sage plant... I know it’s for
using but it felt a tad like I was stripping the poor thing). This went in a
tupperware in the fridge. The lid didn’t stop the onion stinking out the
fridge.
Later in the day, I managed to hop out of where I was early,
in time enough to finish this bread before bedtime. More flour, some salt, more
yeast and more water went in with the sponge and the whole lot worked together,
then turned out and worked for 5 minutes. I then spread this out on the
worktop, sprinkled on a third of the chestnuts, onion and sage, folded the
dough over to encase the mix and worked it in, then repeated twice more. Dough
ready!
Now, the recipe said put this into a circular, spring-form
cake tin. I didn’t think my biggest tin was going to be quite big enough so it
went into the tin that I usually use for focaccia. It got spread out in the very
well-greased tin, dimpled and then decorated with sage leaves... fewer than the
recipe suggested, but I was still fearing for the welfare of the sage plant. Covered,
it went to prove for about an hour until doubled in size. The oven got
preheated to 230°C and the dough bunged in for 20 minutes, before being turned
and getting another 15 minutes.
Now, to get it out of the tin. And this was when I discovered
why the recipe suggested a springform cake tin. I gave it a bit of
encouragement around the edge, turned it over... whacked the bottom... had a
little peak to see if there was movement... hit it some more... did a bit more waggling
around with the knife... more hitting... You get the idea. It decided to come
out eventually, but it did leave a bit of the base stuck to the tin, which I
peeled off and stuck back in place... it was on the bottom... no one would ever
know. The top got glazed with a bit of olive. And it was done.
Time to sample. Because it’s made of spelt flour, it had the
crumpety texture that the Roman style loaf that I did a while ago had. The
recipe didn’t feature much salt which was noticeable in the taste, but the
flavours from the sage, onions and chestnuts more than made up for this, especially
the sweet chestnuts.
I’ve been snacking on this one since but I’m now looking
forward to it dunked in some soup.
Simplified recipe
For the sponge
Ingredients
300g wholegrain spelt flour
10g fresh yeast
200ml water
Method
1.
Put the flour in a large mixing bowl and rub in
the yeast
2.
Add the water and bring together into a dough.
Turn out onto a work surface and work for “6 min until you have a nice smooth
dough”
3.
Place back in the bowl, cover and leave in the
fridge for 24 hours
For the final dough
Ingredients
600g wholegrain spelt flour
5g salt
10g yeast
400ml water
1 finely chopped red onion
200g roughly chopped cooked chestnuts
6 chopped sage leaves, plus extra to decorate
Olive oil, to grease and to glaze
Method
1.
In another large mixing bowl, rub the yeast into
the flour, then add the salt
2.
Add the flour to the sponge mixture, then add
the water. Combine until everything comes back together as a dough, then turn
out onto a work surface and work for 5 minutes until smooth
3.
Spread the dough out and cover with the onion,
chestnuts and sage leaves. Fold the dough over the top, then knead gently to
until fully incorporated (you may need to split the mix up and do this step in
a few stages)
4.
Grease a large baking tin (the original recipe
suggests a 10 inch round tin; if you don’t have one, use a baking tray with
high sides. But you’ll be doing yourself a favour if you make it a springform
one because this bread is a pain to get out of the tin)
5.
Put the dough in the tin and push it with your
fingers to reach the corners, then dimple the top with your fingers. Decorate
the top with whole sage leaves. Cover and leave in a warm place to double in
size (about an hour)
6.
Preheat your oven to 230°C (450°F or gas mark 8)
7.
Bake your loaf in the oven for 20 minutes, then
turn it round and bake for a further 15 minutes
8.
Once out of the oven, glaze with olive oil and
leave to cool before slicing
References
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