Have you tried making bread at home? Here are five recipes for you to learn how to cook it in an artisanal way.
Making bread at home is a great way to enjoy quality breads and has the advantage that it allows us to select the ingredients to our liking and even make sourdough bread. Experimentation and the natural waiting that the process invites us to can also be a great source of relaxation and satisfaction.
MAKING HOMEMADE BREAD
Our country has historically had a varied and attractive offer of breads, especially white and wheat, more or less traditional but generally of quality. However, the industry changed a lot with the advent of frozen dough and frozen pre-baked bread.
The result was a clear standardization of the offer: a wide variety of breads, but all of very similar quality. There was a point when bread became so bad that it gained a well-deserved reputation as an unbalanced, fattening food.
Luckily, now the big players have got their act together and there is an offer of industrial breads of an acceptable average quality, good in some cases, at the same time that artisan production has made a strong resurgence.
Even the big supermarkets show breads with organic flour and sourdough. But if you want to enjoy high-quality bread, you will usually have to look for one of those small neighborhood bakers who still enjoy their profession, look at the offer of the herbalists or start making it at home.
HOMEMADE BREAD RECIPES
If you want to try making your own homemade bread, dare to try these six easy, healthy and delicious bread recipes!
ASSORTED SEED ROLLS
Ingredients for 20 rolls
- 325 g medium-strength flour
- 50 g wholemeal rye flour
- 75 g whole wheat flour
- 50 g toasted medium-strength flour
- 10 g salt
- 350 ml water
- 10 g fresh yeast
- 125 g assorted seeds
Preparation (3h 15′ + 75′ cooking)
- Toast the flour on medium strength in the pan over low heat.
- Let it cool and knead in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients except the yeast, a little water to dissolve it and half of the seeds.
- Knead for five minutes and let stand for another ten.
- Finish kneading and mix with the dissolved yeast.
- Cover with a damp cloth and let it ferment for about 30 minutes.
- Cut the dough into 50-gram pieces and stretch each piece into a circle.
- Roll them up, brush the ends, spray with warm water and coat them in seeds.
- Divide the dough on baking paper, covered with the cloth and let it ferment for another 75 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 250ºC with a tray of water inside. It has a slit, clean and deep slit. Spray again and cook in batches of 25 minutes at 200 ºC.
SALAILLAS
Salala’s are typical of the Albaicin of Granada and the whole province. They combine with intensely flavored tapas.
It’s an easy bread recipe that you can make in just a few hours.
Ingredients for 4 salaillas
- 530 g medium-strength flour
- 350 ml water
- 10 g salt
- 100 g white sourdough
- 10 g fresh yeast
- extra virgin olive oil
- coarse salt and sesame seeds for garnish
Preparation (2h 25 min + 30 min cooking)
- Knead everything together until you get a soft and elastic dough. Form four balls and place them on a cloth of thread sprinkled with plenty of flour or baking paper, well separated so that you can crush them later.
- Cover the balls with a cloth and let them ferment for 45 minutes in a warm place until they double in volume.
- Flatten the dough with your fingers, pierce them and stretch them flat. Then let them ferment for another 60 minutes in a warm place (it can be the oven, at 30 ºC).
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC with a tray of water inside.
- Brush the breads with the olive oil and season them with coarse salt and sesame.
- Cook them for half an hour on the middle level of the oven until golden brown.
RYE BREAD WITH SEEDS AND WALNUTS
This rye bread recipe is enriched with rolled oats, sunflower seeds, and walnuts.
Ingredients for 2 pieces
- 100g wheat flour or wholemeal spelt
- 150 g wholemeal rye flour
- 5 g salt
- 40 g malted flour (optional)
- 250 ml hot water (40 ºC)
- 10 g fresh yeast
- rolled oats, sunflower seeds and walnuts
- nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger
- zest of an orange
- olive oil to grease the pan
Preparation (2h 20′ + 90′ cooking)
- Soak the flakes.
- Mix everything in a bowl except the yeast, flakes, seeds and walnuts. Knead this mixture and, when the dough still sticks, let it rest for 10 minutes.
- After those 10 minutes, knead it again, even if it doesn’t bind well. Add the softened yeast with a tablespoon of water and finish kneading.
- Let it sit for 45 minutes covered with a damp cloth in a warm place.
- Grease a mold with olive oil and fill with batter up to three-quarters full. In another bowl pour the other half of the batter and walnuts. Leave these covered doughs to ferment for half an hour.
- In the oven preheated to 250ºC, with a saucepan of water inside, bake the mold, dusted with flour, for 45 minutes at 190ºC.
- Then brush the loaf with water, on baking paper, and decorate with flakes and seeds.
- Bake it anyway and let it cool on the rack.
ARTISAN WHEAT BREAD
A simple artisan wheat bread recipe to enjoy a classic quality bread.
Ingredients for 4 pcs
- 500 g strong flour
- 8 g salt
- 320 ml water
- 5 g fresh yeast
- 10 g wheat germ
Preparation (3h 45′ + 45′ cooking)
- Toast the wheat germ in the oven until golden brown. When it is cold, mix with the other ingredients in a bowl and form the dough.
- Let it sit covered with a damp cloth for at least an hour in a warm place.
- Divide the dough into four portions, roll them into balls and let them rest for 15 minutes.
- Roll out the dough to a rectangular sheet 1 cm thick. Fold the sides towards the centre and place on a tray on a flour-dusted thread cloth, or baking paper, fold down.
- Cover with the cloth and leave to ferment for another two hours or until doubled in volume.
- Preheat the oven to 240ºC with a bowl filled with water inside.
- Give the loaves a clean cut around the perimeter about a centimeter from the tray, sprinkle with flour and put in twos.
- Lower the temperature to 190 ºC and cook for about 45 minutes on the second level of the oven counting from the bottom.
ARTISAN WHEAT BREAD
A simple artisan wheat bread recipe to enjoy a classic quality bread.
Ingredients for 4 pcs
- 500 g strong flour
- 8 g salt
- 320 ml water
- 5 g fresh yeast
- 10 g wheat germ
Preparation (3h 45′ + 45′ cooking)
- Toast the wheat germ in the oven until golden brown. When it is cold, mix with the other ingredients in a bowl and form the dough.
- Let it sit covered with a damp cloth for at least an hour in a warm place.
- Divide the dough into four portions, roll them into balls and let them rest for 15 minutes.
- Roll out the dough to a rectangular sheet 1 cm thick. Fold the sides towards the centre and place on a tray on a flour-dusted thread cloth, or baking paper, fold down.
- Cover with the cloth and leave to ferment for another two hours or until doubled in volume.
- Preheat the oven to 240ºC with a bowl filled with water inside.
- Give the loaves a clean cut around the perimeter about a centimeter from the tray, sprinkle with flour and put in twos.
- Lower the temperature to 190 ºC and cook for about 45 minutes on the second level of the oven counting from the bottom.
