Category Archives: Breads

Sourdough 101: Bourke Street Bakery Sourdough Class

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Many years ago  when I lived in Japan I had one of those Tamagotchis. In case you are unfamiliar, it was an electronic toy that you had to keep alive by “feeding” it and “changing” it, all with the press of a button. It was said to give you a vague idea of what having children would be like although at I must say, it was a rather accelerated version. If you didn’t feed your Tamagotchi then it died rather dramatically and suddenly.

It was my three week old Tamagotchi that I think of whenever someone asks me if I have a sourdough starter. My first response is “I kill things!” like plants or electronic surrogate children and the idea of having to constantly feed a starter alarmed me, particularly since I travel a lot and we have enough trouble remembering to water the plants. Nevertheless, I still remained curious about sourdough baking. My friends Celia and Brydie are fabulous sourdough bakers and I have always admired their efforts from a cautious distance.

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Master Baker Paul Giddings

So when I was asked if I wanted to try out Bourke Street Bakery’s new sourdough class my curiosity was peaked. Not only would we get to shape and make our own bread, they’d teach us how to create our own starter and we’d leave with dough, baked loaves and some of their starter. The classes are held on a Sunday afternoon and starts at 1pm and goes for two hours. My friend Girl Next Door and I are lined up in front of the counter, breathing in the heady aroma of their sausage rolls. Class participants are offered a drink and then we make our way into the baking area where Bourke Street Bakery’s Master Baker Paul Giddings will show us how to create those blistered, golden loaves so prized and munched on by Sydneysiders.

On each bench is a recipe sheet and a set up for each of us and there are eight of us in today’s class. You need to bring an apron because none are provided and there is plenty of flour involved. We are also asked to come without hand jewellery as we will be kneading dough by hand. On the handouts are the weights and quantities needed to create a 450g “personal” sized loaf.  Measurements are down to grams and the starting point is organic flour. Paul explains that organic flours, because they are often a mixture of flours and wheat from all over the world and are therefore subjected to different weather conditions and rainfall, can often act differently whereas non organic flour reacts more consistently. Their organic flour is a blend of four grains from Wholegrain in Gunnedah with 12.2-12.5% protein.

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Measuring the sourdough starter

Paul tells us that temperature control is the key to baking and when yeast is stored at 4C/39.2F it is inactive. As the temperature rises to the teens, the yeast is still sluggish but once it hits the high 20s and 30s it becomes very active.  It is the process of retarding the dough (and then rising the dough) that determines the waxy crumb, brittle crust and caramel finish so desired in sourdough baking. You can bake a dough directly from the fridge but bring out your starter from the fridge an hour before.

Making a Starter (requires 3-4 weeks)

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Inactive starter (but still very much alive)

A starter or leaven is a spongy mixture that you use in place of dried or fresh yeast. Starters can be active or sluggish, they can also be sour or not sour. To create a starter, it is simple. You mix 100mls/3.5fl.ozs of filtered water with 100mls/3.5ozs of flour and allow the yeast spores in the air to come in contact with the mixture and colonise. You can also add some yogurt for active culture or hot water that has has raisins soaking in it and cooled for sugar. The starter needs to be left out at room temperature and refreshed once a day for 3-4 weeks. This involves discarding half of the mix and then feeding with 50gms/1.7 fl. oz. water and 50 grams/1.7 oz. flour. Once it’s active, leave it out for two hours after feeding each day and then refrigerate.

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Active starter

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Dark Molasses Oatmeal Bread

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So there I was, doing my mandatory “chill” time gently suggested by Mr NQN. I was sitting on the lounge in front of the television and watching one of my favourite shows, “American Horror Story: Asylum” and thinking about food. Of course. I was thinking “I wonder if they serve ghoulish food at the Craft Service table on the set and how cool would it be if they did?”

Then one of the characters on television walked onto the screen and announced that she was visiting the asylum to do a story on molasses bread. It was actually a ruse for the writer to catch a glimpse of a serial killer called Bloody Face but I was gone already. The molasses bread got my mind wandering…molasses bread? It must be good if it had to even feature in someone’s memory, even if it were the script writer who was remembering their own molasses bread experience. So I snuck out my phone and googled molasses bread quietly. Suddenly the Brian de Palma-esque scenes of whipping and nymphomaniacs offering sex accompanied by the tune “Dominique” by The Singing Nun on television disappeared and I was lost in the world of food again.

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Spiced Honey Buttered Hot Cross Buns

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Do you ever have Freudian slips when you type? There are certain words that I get stuck on. For example whenever I type the word good I accidentally write food and then there was the time I kept calling a guy called Doug in his email as Dough. My sister Blythe had a flat mate who used to always mix up the words kitchen and chicken. It was a charming habit and always produced a good natured giggle, especially when she would say that she would “put the kitchen in the chicken.”

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Speaking of kitchen, I know I’ve been remiss but it’s that time again-time for In My Kitchen where I show you a few things that are lurking about in my autumnal kitchen. This is the brainchild of Celia and it is a monthly event roundup.

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Have a look at this beauty! I have read all about spaghetti squash on American blogs and was excited to find some on my travels. This was bought at the Sunraysia farmers markets in Mildura. I can’t wait to try it out-the texture of the squash inside is apparently just like spaghetti!

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Sweet Honey Bread Bears!

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When I was a child, I was in a television advertisement. My mother’s friend had whispered to her that they needed Chinese children to film an ad for Kan Tong and that each child got paid $100. Back then, $100 was pretty good for a couple of hour’s work and all we had to do was turn up wearing white t shirts.

They took a quick look at us and our China Doll haircuts and gestured for us to go through. Along with hundreds of other children, we sat down at long tables and were given bowls of Kan Tong sauce with spoons. All around us were other Chinese children with similar haircuts (a version of a bowl haircut really, except my mother never used a bowl).

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“Look as though you’re having fun eating this!” the director said and we picked up our spoons and dug in. “Yuck” I said and my sister followed suit. The sauce was absolutely dreadful and not a patch on my mother’s home made sauces. My mother came over and I told her that I didn’t like the sauce but she implored me to behave as there was the fee at stake and future stardom. There would be the food item of my choice if I behaved.

So I did what I thought was the next best thing. That was not to fake it entirely but hide behind the larger child sitting next to me. Whenever the camera would pan towards us, I would take a spoonful of the bright orange sauce (I think it was sweet and sour) and pretend to put it in my mouth but instead of eating it, I’d duck behind the boy next to me.

That was of course, my first and last commercial.

My reward was a sweet bun from Chinatown. Those strange little coconut dusted buns with mock cream that seemed awfully fancy at the time. Had there been honey bread bears instead, I would have gone for those (and doesn’t the range of food for kids seem so much broader nowadays?).

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These bread bears were first seen on the Japanese site Happy Rainbow and since then they’ve popped up all over Pinterest which is where I found them. They are actually no harder than making actual bread from scratch, instead all you do is shape them into a ball and add ears and pop them into a cup. The buns themselves are really quite good, I promise you it’s not just a novelty and Mr NQN happily enjoyed bear shaped buns for lunch for a whole week. If I had children or had to feed children, I’d pop them in a cup filled with some tasty dip or spread and they could dip the bread into that. Just don’t make it that lurid orange sweet and sour sauce ;)

So tell me Dear Reader, what was your reward food when young? And what do you think of Pinterest? Have you found anything interesting on it?

Honey Bread Bears

  • 2.5 cups bread or plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon yeast
  • 200ml lukewarm water
  • 5-6 tablespoons runny honey
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg, beaten to glaze
  • Black food colouring and a touch of water or black food colouring pen

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the flour, yeast and water together. It will be quite shaggy and look like a bit of a mess but allow to sit for 10 minutes.

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2. Then add the honey and oil and knead for about 4-5 minutes if using a mixer, or 8-9 minutes by hand until the dough becomes elastic.

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3. Shape into a ball and cover with cling wrap and sit in a draught free place for 30-45 minutes until risen and double in size. Punch down and knead for a minute. Line a baking tray with parchment and preheat oven to 180C/350F.

4. Shape the dough into small balls-be careful to not use too much flour or the ears will not stick onto the heads. I made them in a variety of sizes. Pinch small pieces of dough for ears and affix to the side of each head. Allow to rise for about 20 minutes or so.

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Pre rising-they will look better after rising

5. For brown bears, glaze with a beaten egg-be sure to try and glaze quite evenly as they will be patchy in colour otherwise (a couple of mine were-be sure to get under the “chin” of the bear). If you want the pale bears, leave them unglazed. Bake for 10-15 minutes.

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Adding the eyes

6. To decorate, I added some black food colouring to a small amount of water and used the end of a wooden skewer for the eyes and nose. You can also use an black pen with edible ink to draw these on.

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Rainbow Foccacia Bread

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“What on earth is she doing” I overheard another mum say to my mother one day.

I had my head buried in an book on animals and I turned the page and a picture of a snake appeared. Repulsed, I shut the book quickly and threw it down. I picked up another book on animals and after reading through that for a while, came across a picture of an earth worm. I gagged involuntarily and refused to touch the page using a pencil to turn the page instead of my hand.

“She refuses to touch pictures of animals that she doesn’t like. She thinks that they’ll come alive if she does” my mother explained. What my mother also didn’t know if that I refused to get changed in front of photos because I thought that the people in the photo could see me.

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