Another day in the bakery, another batch of delicious breads!

Today we tackled the pre-ferments we laid down on Monday; a 100% rye bread, a fruited loaf & a potato, rosemary & sage focaccia! =D

First up, the rye.  The rye sourdough we used to create our pre-ferment contains wild yeast, which is much slower moving than normal bakers yeast, so it needs a very long prove.

We added the final ingredients to the starter, mixed it all in by hand, then weighed out the dough; ideally we should have had 1kg of dough to make two 500g loaves, & as you can see we did!  Rye dough is like no other bread dough I've ever come across; it's just like cake batter, wet & impossible to handle with your hands!

We filled a tray with dark rye flour & chopped rye flakes, then weighed the dough out of the bowl & onto the flour mix.  The flour coats the underside of the wet dough, meaning you can handle it enough to fold the sides in, then roll the dough over & shape it into a rough batard shape, ready to be placed into the tins.

Like so!  We then placed all the tins in the prover, & left them to it.

4 1/2 hours later the dough was ready for a last dusting of rye flour & a sprinkling of caraway seeds.  After a final 1 1/2 hours in the prover, the loaves were baked.

It's not the most attractive loaf, & it's really rather hefty!  But it smells great & it was very tasty; we sampled one of the loaves & it's very flavoursome.  Apparently it's best eaten a day after baking, so I'll have to give it a go at the weekend.

The second dough we tackled was the focaccia.  We used the spiral mixer to make up this dough, due to the size of the batch.  We made up enough dough to make seven focaccia breads in total, so there was quite a lot!

The dough was left to prove in a huge tub, then folded after an hour.  Quite an epic task, involving copious amounts of olive oil!

We divided out our portions of dough, then set about pressing the dough out into the tins, using a finger docking method (basically pressing our fingertips into the dough & outwards).  This gives focaccia it's distinctive dimpled appearance.

Focaccia dough is so very tactile; it's soft & smooth & silky, it's just gorgeous =D

We allowed the dough to rest, then pressed out a second time.  We gave the dough a final pressing, then decorated with thinly sliced potato, rosemary & a drizzle of olive oil.

The focaccia's were baked in the deck oven, until just golden, then removed.  We scattered sage & thyme over the top, drizzled again with olive oil, & set aside to cool.  I'm so pleased with the bread!  It's crispy, soft, & so very tasty =D

The final bread we baked was the fruited loaf.  We used the spiral mixer again on this dough, which was enriched with eggs & butter, & full of spices, & raspberry tea soaked fruits =D

The dough was allowed to prove for an hour, before being divided & shaped to fit the tins.  We put the tins in the prover to rise until they were doubled in size, & rise they did!  They were huge!

Once the loaves were out of the oven, we glazed them with a reduction of the leftover tea & fresh orange juice, then sprinkled them with orange zest.  They smell so fragrant!  I'm very much looking forward to having some toasted & buttered for my breakfast! =D

Oh, & we picked up our cheeses from Lee-Anna today =D

Despite appearances, they're quite tasty.  They've turned out firmer than we'd expected, & there's a taste to them that reminds me of a Wensleydale, a little bitter, a little salty, but lovely =)

I'm now looking forward to getting back in the Dairy next week, to try out some more recipes & create more cheese! =D