This is the bread of the moment. It is soft but resilient, with a saffron flavour that isn't too overpowering but can stand up to stronger flavours (cheese, jam, home made chocolate spread etc.). It's also beautifully easy to make (come on you reluctant home bakers), and a good excuse to cook too much rice.
It came about after a 'cuurrey noight' for which I made a load of saffron basmati rice (important to soak the saffron for a good 20 minutes before adding to the rice cooking water). The next day, we needed some bread for a last-minute soup, bread and cheese supper, and I stuck with the theme, using the great saffron I got for Christmas (thanks, Mum).
This recipe is adapted from Dan Lepard's rice bread in The Handmade Loaf:
WET:
10 strands saffron, soaked for 20 mins in 25g hot water
125g milk (from the fridge)
40g honey
1 tsp fresh yeast
150g left over saffron rice
DRY:
250g strong white flour
1 tsp fine sea salt
Whisk the wet ingredients together in a big bowl, making sure the yeast dissolves.
Add the flour and salt, and mix well. Leave it resting, covered with a cloth, for 10 mins.
Lightly oil the table and your hands, and knead briefly (about 10 thrusts). Return to the bowl and cover. Leave for 10 mins.
Knead briefly again, return to the bowl, then leave to rise in a warm place (simply on the kitchen table is the kitchen isn't cold) for 1 hour.
Grease a loaf tin. Lightly flour the tabletop, put the dough on it and knock a bit of gas out with your fist. Shape into a batard (follow link and watch video 4) and drop, seam side down, into the tin. Cover and leave for another hour to prove.
Make a perdendicular cut (about 2cm deep) down the middle of the loaf, bake for 15 mins at 220°C, then for 25 mins at 190°C, and watch it bloom.
How do you avoid toxins forming in the re-cooked rice? I heard that this could be a problem.
ReplyDeleteJamie
No problem if you chill it quickly after cooking and use within 24 hours (I keep telling you that Jamie!)
ReplyDeleteClare
No ill effects yet observed in the six people who devoured this bread. Just make sure the spoon used to serve the rice doesn't go anywhere near the curry, eh, Dad? Or I guess you could spend an hour picking out every last rice grain before putting the left overs in the fridge...
ReplyDeleteI made another batch of saffron rice bread just over a week ago and sent one monster loaf with Anouk and Anna on the train to Rome, winning it more fans on the way.