Rustic bread

Rustic bread

Back to the Basic Cook Book! I decided I wanted to make a soup for lunch today, so I though I should make some bread to go with it. I picked the rustic bread from the Basic Cook Book.

The recipe requires wheat grains, which I did happen to have in the cupboard. I had bought them a while ago when I first got my thermomix, to make the basic bread recipe. However since making that, I discovered Lailah's bread recipe and have made that almost exclusively since. So it was high time I tried something different!

The first few steps in the recipe requires you to mill the wheat grains into flour. This has got to be one of the most deafening things to do in the thermomix. You need to warn everybody beforehand, and a set of ear muffs would be handy! After the first 10 seconds it is bearable, but then you have to do it another couple of times, since you only mill 200g at a time.

Wheat grains after milling and before milling

The recipe also requires buttermilk - which I just happened to have left in the fridge from when I made butter the other day! If you don't have buttermilk, and don't want to go to the shops to buy any, you can just add about a tablespoon on lemon juice to some regular milk and leave it for 5 minutes to thicken up.

Dough after first knead

The first kneading of the dough resulted in a slightly sticky dough, which was then left to rise in the TM bowl to double in size (which is almost to the top of the bowl. I left mine for about 45 minutes before doing the next knead. The dough then gets turned out onto a mat, and moulded into a loaf shape.  It then rises again while the oven is heating up. I dusted with a little bakers flour and cut a criss-cross pattern into it.

Dough after 45 minute prove

The end result was lovely, with a nice thick, slightly chewy crust, and a flavour similar to rye bread. It is quite a dense bread and was great with the chunky minestrone soup I made to go with it.

Shaped dough before baking

Happy thermomixing!