Pan de aceitunas y hierbas

Nuestro último pan es una creación a cuatro manos basada en dos recetas diferentes, o sea, un pan muy completo con el que nos hemos divertido mucho en una de estas ocasiones especiales en las que podemos coincidir algunas de las personas que hacemos este blog conjuntamente. Atendiendo a los ingredientes que teníamos a mano y al espíritu mediterráneo con el que compensamos las tendencias anglosajonas que nos llegan desde Dublín, hemos preparado un pan de aceitunas y hierbas locales. 

Nuestra idea inicial era preparar un eliopsomi (pan chipriota que nos enseñó a hacer un su día, Juan Carlos), pero en una versión con masa madre y utilizando el hermoso romero que tenemos aquí en el huerto. Para la adaptación de la levadura comercial a la masa madre, hemos utilizado una receta de pan con tomillo, sacada del libro de Dan Lepard. A dicha receta le hemos cambiado el tomillo por romero y le hemos añadido aceitunas negras, ajo, aceite de oliva y menta. Hubo que ajustar la cantidad de masa madre de la receta, para compensar ese poquito de levadura fresca que indicaba el maestro Dan en la suya.

El resultado... suave, aromático, sustancioso .... ¡Estamos supercontentas! Estábamos pensando en filmar un vídeo promocional, pero lo vamos a posponer.

En fin, ahí van los ingredientes que hemos utilizado:

• 450 g de harina de trigo.
• 193 g de agua.
• 210 g de masa madre.
• 32 g de aceite de oliva de cultivo propio.
• 9 g de sal.
• 100 de olivas negras.
• Una ramita de romero y unas hojas de menta, del jardín.
• 2 dientes de ajo finamente picados.

Datos de interés:

• El primer reposo fue de 3 horas.
• El segundo reposo fue de 5 horas.
• Horno a 240 grados durante 20 minutos con bandeja de agua, más otros 35 minutos a 190 grados y con la bandeja retirada.

νόστιμο ψωμί !

sourdough: day 1

new batches of sourdough: wholemeal, white and spelt...grow, grow, grow...can't wait to use them!

left to right: wholemeal, white and spelt

Dublin bread...and cheese

So a little bit more chatting and not baking before I start making some breads, hopefully very soon...

Almost 2 months living in Dublin already (well, more come back to live here after almost 7 years) and starting to settle down, so what better than check out bakeries and breads in Dublin. Little bit of research and decided to go to 3 of them, artesian bakeries.

Fist one was The Bretzel Bakery in Portobello, nice Dublin area along one of the canals. This bakery is open since 1870 although has changed owners.The Bakery is well known to generations of the Dublin Jewish community and still known as the Jewish Bakery with it's Kosher status re-established since William Despard and Cormac Keenan took over in 2000.

The Bretzel Bakery in Lennox Street, Dublin 8

They have a good selections of breads, whites, browns, rye, some specialities and confectionary and breakfast, with 4 sourdough: 100% rye, 30%rye, pizza base and small sourdough. This last one, the small sourdough is the one I bought and tried with one of the 3 cheese I got in Sheridans Cheesemonger off Grafton st. I have to thanks staff of this shop for their recommendations and being so professional and kind. You can see in this picture this bread with an irish cheese that I really like: Coolea Mature, from West Cork.

Sourdough from Bretzel Bakery with Coolea cheese

Next bakery was Il Valentino, an italian artisan bakery in Gran Canal, another very nice Dublin area. They only use the 4 ingredients and nothing else (flour, yeast, water and salt) and have as well a good range of breads, patries and cakes, including a sourdough bread. They also have a cafe where you can sit and try their range of products.

Il Valentino Bakery and Cafe

When I was there they didn't have the sourdough bread so I chose the stoneground flour load. Very crusty bread, nice crumbs. This time I used a spanish manchego mature cheese (yeah, couldn't avoid tomato and olive oil)

Stoneground from Il Valentino with Mature Manchego cheese

Last but not least, Paris Bakery, a french bakery in the busy Jervis area. This bakery is quite new (opened in november 2010) and founded by french baker Yannick G. Forel. They also have a nice coffee area where you can taste they breads and pastries.

Paris Bakery in Moore Str.

Loads of bread that you can check from the window and of course I went for a sourdough french baguette. but they have a few more sourdough breads, including a 1kg and another than seemed to be a 6kg sourdough! bread for a few days. So french bread, french cheese. This time a pure recommendation from Sheridans Cheesemonger, Ardi Gasna, a Basque-French from the Pyrenees area cheese meaning literally in basque "sheep cheese". I have to say that the combination of this bread and this cheese was my favourite

Sourdough baguette from Paris bakery with Ardi Gasna cheese

back to blog! back to bake!

Long time no see, after a few lazy-bread months including moving to another city/country I m honestly willing to back to bake some bread...just need some warm up. And nothing better to do it than with books...and bread books
I expend an amazing long weekend in London, Olympics included, and of course I did some bread tourism.

First, I was in the beautiful Borough Market around the corner of London Bridge, and luckily for me it was opened everyday during the Olympic games, so I visited it a couple of times. Borough market has been in the same location since 1755 and before that there was a market in the Borough since the XI century. So a bit of a tradition here. You can find loads of different food, great food from meats to vegetables, juices and wines, cooked and ready to eat and of course pastries, sweets and all kind of baked food. so breads. I think I counted at least 3 different stands with breads, sourdough, rye, Italians bread, loafs, soda breads, etc. Some of the big names of London sells their breads here, like Saint John.

And that's the second place where I visited, Saint John Bread and Wine. I was literally 5 minutes from where I was staying, in Whitechapel (yeah, that place where Jack the Ripper used to be active) so decided to go to this one and not to Saint John Restaurant. As you probably know, Saint John is not famous only for their food but also for their breads. Very close to Tower Bridge they have the bakery but unfortunately it was close when I went to see it. Not a big thing, as I could try their bread in that restaurant. Because everything I ordered in Saint John came with bread, toasted, white and brown. My friend Victor and I shared 3 dishes: beetroot and egg salad, cheese plate and smoked mackerel and pickle red cabbage. Breads were the perfect combination. Some of the customers bought some bread and jams after paying the bill, and that's the philosophy of this place: dinning rood, wine and bakery shop.

Finally, apparently I am not able to go anywhere and buy some books. I don't know if it's more a tradition, a obsession or an urge, but anyway I bought a few books in London, 2 of them bread related books.

First one, The bread Revolution, by Duncan Glendinning and Patrick Ryan, founder of The Thoughtful Bread Co in Bristol (and Bath) the first one and from The Firehouse Bakery-Bread School in Skibereen (West Cork).

And the second one, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Tom Herbert and Henry Herbert. Tom is a master baker who runs the famous Hobbs House Bakery that has been the family business for five generations. His brother Henry is the acclaimed chef who runs the Hobbs House Butchery right next door.

So as I said, lets warm up with this two good books and...let's bake!

coming soon...