A Wholemeal Loaf And Pea Soup

I choose wholemeal bread over white bread when I want less starch in my diet. Wholemeal or wholegrain bread contains the nutrient-rich bran and germ of the wheat berry as well as the endosperm (the starchy component) and is therefore healthier than white bread than only includes the endosperm. Great to know. The problem, as with many healthier options, is that whole wheat bread TASTES healthier. Now I am not one who believes that food that is good for you has to taste bad. But let's be frank: wholewheat bread is almost never tastier than its starchier counterpart. (Those pre-packed industrial breads from the supermarket don't count because chemicals can make anything taste good).

So, imagine my surprise when this wholemeal loaf I baked tasted .. absolutely delicious. Admittedly, I mixed in white flour with wholemeal flour. I do this with all my wholemeal loaves because using 100% wholemeal gives me a loaf that is just too dense and too chewy -- not something I like, really. Having said that, I read an article by New York Times columnist Mark Bittman just three days ago about three reasons why his 100% wholewheat breads are "delicious". First, he says, is because he uses the food processor; Second: he allows his dough an overnight rise, allowing the bread to develop flavours slowly (at least 12 hours); Finally: he uses a sourdough starter.

Since I've only recently begun my sourdough starter (mine is just three days old - I have to wait at least another four days before I can use it in my breads), I will have to wait a little to follow Bittman's theories out.

For now, I settled on making wholemeal bread with my new favourite bread making method. Yes, I used the tangzhong method.  

I wanted to see if the tangzhong method would work with wholemeal loaves as well as it does with white bread. I pretty much followed the original recipe: the roux is the same but I adjusted the measurements for flour (divided it to 50% white flour and 50% whole wheat) and liquid (added 30% more water) for the dough.

As I've posted recipes using the tangzhong method a couple of times already (you can check them out here and here and here -- can you tell I am obsessed?), I've added a second recipe in this post: one for a Pea Soup, which goes perfectly with the bread once it has "aged" (i.e. after a day or two). Yeah, I was feeling a little guilty about repeating the basic recipe so many times and posting just variations of basically the same recipe on this blog!

So first, let me share my modified tangzhong recipe.

Rosemary and Chilli Wholemeal Bread, Tangzhong style
Roux (same as the original)
4 tbsp (30g) bread flour
60g milk
60g water

Combine ingredients until incorporated, with no lumps. Hear over a low fire, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens to resemble that of mayonnaise. Cool to room temperature.

Dough
175g whole wheat flour }
175g bread flour             } The original calls for 350g bread flour
4 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast
2 tbsp chopped rosemary (fresh) {optional, not in the original}
1 tsp chilli flakes (depending on the heat of your chillies. Mine are potent)  {optional}
80g milk       }
70g water     } The original recipe requires 120g liquid (milk + water)
1 egg
30g butter, softened

Whisk the flours, sugar and salt together. Add the yeast and mix. Add the roux and the egg and, suing your fingers, mix them into the flour mixture. Add the water gradually until a rough dough forms. Cover and let sit for 10 mins.

Add the butter, rosemary and chilli and using your hand, knead the ingredients into the dough until well distributed, about 3 mins. Cover and let the dough rest for another 10 mins. Repeat the kneading (3 mins) and resting (10 mins) process a further 3 times. After the last knead, cover the dough and let it rise until double its size, about an hour.

After an hour, gently knead the dough a couple of times, shape it, place it in the loaf pan and bake in a preheated oven (180C) for about 30 mins.

The bread is gorgeous. So tasty and soft, with  a slight crust. The rosemary and chilli are subtly present but the main flavour is unmistakably the wholemeal. And, it tastes great. I love it. Not just like it because I know it's healthier. No, I really love it.

Next, the Pea Soup. Why Pea Soup? Well, as a self-confessed TV addict, let me admit that I saw this made on TV on the latest season of Top Chef. I'd never thought of making Pea Soup before but when contestant Sheldon Simeon made it, I earmarked it and immediately wanted to make my own version of Pea Soup.

Why haven't I tried this before? It's absolutely lip-smackingly good.

I used frozen peas,  which are the next best thing to fresh peas. Canned peas are great but they lack the inherent sweetness of green peas somewhere along the canning process and are therefore not the best choice for this soup.

I like my soup nice and thick but, if you prefer a thinner consistency, add more water than what I suggest in the recipe. The soup is best eaten cool or cold. With a nice slice of day-old bread bread, toasted and cubed if you like, this soup is a keeper.

Easy Peasy Green Pea Soup

2 cup frozen peas, defrosted

2 stalks of leek, sliced thin

30g butter

2 cups stock + 1/2 cup water (or 1/4 cup milk)

2 sprigs rosemary, chopped fine

salt and pepper to taste

2 slices old bread, toasted and cubed

Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add the leeks and cook till soft. Add the peas and stir to coat them in the butter. Let the peas cook for about 5 mins. Add the stock and water and leave to boil, on low heat. 

When it comes to a boil, turn the heat off and puree the contents with a blender.  

Once pureed, the soup becomes nice and creamy and thick (and a beautiful, vibrant, green) put it back on the heat. Add the rosemary and seasoning and cook till it begins to boil.

Turn off the heat and let the soup cool. 

Serve only when the soup has cooled. Or, chilled(for at least 30 mins once it has cooled). Dunk the pieces of bread in and soak it in the thick soup. Amazing!

Milk Loaf Full of Corn

I've been in search of the perfect loaf of corn-flavoured bread for a long, long time. When I was a child, my parents used to buy loaves of fluffy corn bread from a bakery quite close to where we lived in Penang. It was the only thing I'd willingly eat for breakfast - I used to detest eating breakfast, particularly in the wee hours of the morning before leaving for school slightly before 7 in the morning. But for all the fuss I'd make over swallowing the half-boiled eggs my mum prepared,  I gladly ate a slice or even two of this deliciously soft bread. Selective eating, even back then I guess.

Since we moved away from Penang many, many years ago, I haven't sampled anything close to the bread I remembered, and not for the want of trying either. I even tried my hand at making the classic American cornbread hoping that it would be similar --  it turned out well but it wasn't the bread I loved from my younger days. I was beginning to think it was a figment of my wild imagination. You know, when you're a kid who makes up stories, the lines between what's real and what's not becomes very blur.

But when I discovered the Tangzhong method of baking bread a month or so ago, I saw a glimmer of hope. The light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. The Tangzhong bread is soft and fluffy and ever-so-slightly sweet, much like the texture and flavour of the corn bread I longed for. And, with the addition of custard powder in the water-roux (the roux is the hallmark of the method), it even has the same shade of yellow as the original corn bread. All I had to do, perhaps, was to add some corn into the dough. I had some frozen corn kernels in the freezer so I thought I'd give it a shot. 

Prior to this, I'd only made buns using the tangzhong method, simply because soft rolls were nice and easy to binge on. This time, I decided to make a loaf. 

Start by making the roux. I used custard powder in the rough as I wanted the corn flavour (a main element in custard powder is corn flour): 2 tbsp bread flour, 2 tbsp custard powder and 120 ml liquid (half milk, half water). Mix the ingredients and heat over a low fire until it thickens (to the consistency of mayonnaise, almost). Leave the roux to cool.

Next, mix the dry ingredients together: 350g bread flour, 2 tbsp milk powder, 4 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp instant yeast. 

Once the roux has cooled to about room temperature, add about 120g or 80% of it to the dry ingredients, along with an egg. Using your fingers,  gently mix the ingredients together.

Next, add the liquid: 80ml warm milk + 40ml warm water and mix until you get  a rough dough. Cover the dough with a tea towel and let it rest for ten minutes.

Have the corn, defrosted and cooled to room temperature, standing by, along with about 30gm butter, softened. 

After allowing the dough to sit for 10 mins, add the butter and the corn and gently knead both ingredients into the rough dough until you get a soft, smooth dough, about 2-3 mins. Leave the buttery dough to sit for yet another ten minutes, covered with the tea towel.

When the ten minutes is up, I knead the dough again for a couple of minutes before resting it a further 10 minutes. Repeat this another two more times before finally allowing the dough, now nice and pliable, to rest and rise till it doubles in size: about an hour. (See the rise in the pics above).

Once the dough has risen and doubled in bulk, gently knead it for a minute and then transfer it onto a lightly floured surface. 

Divide the dough into three equal portions. One by one, gently stretched the dough into a rectangle, with the longer side facing you. Mentally divide the rectangle into thirds and then fold the left side towards the centre followed by the right. (See pic above). Repeat with the other two portions. Arrange the three "rolls" close together in a loaf pan/dish and let it rise yet again, about 30-40 mins. 

Preheat the oven to 180C. Once the rolls have risen to almost the rim of the tin/dish, bake for about 30 mins. 

I was really excited to taste the corn loaf. I kept peeping in as the loaf baked just because I couldn't wait for it to be ready. 

Once out of the oven, I had to let it cool before I could cut into it. This was pure torture. I wanted to know if I'd finally gotten it right. It smelt nice and corny. It looked nice and corny? Did it taste nice and corny too?

The verdict: Delicious! It was nice and corny. But, it wasn't exactly the loaf I ate as a child. Hrmmph. The corn kernels that dotted the loaf were a nice addition and they definitely added to the corn flavour of the bread. But they weren't infused into the dough. But, I was a step closer and perhaps next time I will use creamed corn instead and adjust the liquid in the recipe. 

Until then, this delicious loaf will have to do! It's not bad, really. My hubby loved it and he doesn't even really like eating corn.