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BASIC SOURDOUGH BREAD





    Final Shaping of bread:


    1. Lightly flour the counter top and transfer the dough by flipping it over using the bench scraper. Pull the right side up and over to the center. Repeat with the left, top and bottom sides. Flip the seam side down, cup your hands around the dough and gently pull it towards your self. Turn the dough in a circular motion on the work surface and repeat these steps until the dough has a "tight skin". Dust the top of the dough with flour and transfer to a heavily floured banneton or a bowl keeping the seem side up. If using bowl, line it with tea towel heavily dusted with flour. Let it rest on the counter for 30 minutes, cover with plastic and place in the refrigerator for 12-16 hours to ferment.

    2. Preheat the oven with the Dutch oven or bread pan for 30 minutes. Remove the sourdough from the refrigerator, let it stand on the counter for about 45 minutes to an hour. Place a piece of parchment paper on top and invert dough onto the paper. Dust it with flour and score it with the scorer or a sharp knife. Use the paper to pick up the dough and place it into the Dutch over. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the cover reduce oven to 200°C and bake for 15-20 minutes.

    3. Carefully transfer the bread to cooling rack and let cool for 2 hours before slicing. Slicing the warm bread will make it rubbery.




    The classic combo of fresh burrata, baby Roma tomatoes and basil pesto was one heck of a perfect Italian breaky served with some fresh watermelon juice...its a little twist from the usual breakfast ideas...give it a try and I’m sure your family will thank you for the new addition. Don't forget to check the recipe of onion seed(nigella seed) sourdough bread. Please do write the feedback and post comments in the comments section below the recipe. It means the whole world to me to know someone out there is trying out my recipes. You can tag me on my Instagram page: instagram.com/simranskitchenoman/


    PREP TIME: 20 minutes COOKING TIME: 5 minutes SERVES: 4




    INGREDIENTS


    For levain:

    • 20g active starter

    • 20g plain flour/ bread flour

    • 20g wholemeal four/ atta flour

    • 40g filter water


    For Bread:

    • 340g plain flour/ bread flour

    • 110g wholemeal flour/ atta flour

    • 375g filter water

    • 12g sea salt



    METHOD


    To make Levain:

    1. In a mason jar, mix the active starter, plain flour, wholemeal four and water, mix with the spatula and leave to activate for about 4.5 hours. If the weather is hot and your kitchen temperature is high it might activate earlier, so keep an eye. Once it doubles in size, it’s ready to use.

    To make bread:

    1. Once the levain is ready, in a large bowl add plain flour, wholemeal flour, prepared levain and water. Mix together until well combined and no dry bits of flour is left, about 5 minutes.THe dough will be sticky and shaggy. Cover with plastic wrap or kitchen towel to prevent from drying and let it rest for an hour.

    2. After resting for an hour, uncover and add salt. With wet hands, mix the salt in flour to incorporate well by pinching and squeezing the dough, about 5 minutes. Cover and let it rest for an hour.

    3. Uncover, stretch and fold the dough with wet your hand. Take the wet hand underneath the dough, then pull the dough up and fold over. Turn the bowl a quarter-turn and repeat this process 3 times until you have completed 4 stretch and folds. Cover and rest for 45 minutes.

    4. Repeat step no. 3 for three more times after every 45 minutes.


    Final Shaping of bread:


    1. Lightly flour the counter top and transfer the dough by flipping it over using the bench scraper. Pull the right side up and over to the center. Repeat with the left, top and bottom sides. Flip the seam side down, cup your hands around the dough and gently pull it towards yourself. Turn the dough in a circular motion on the work surface and repeat these steps until the dough has a "tight skin". Dust the top of the dough with flour and transfer to a heavily floured banneton or a bowl keeping the seem side up. If using bowl, line it with tea towel heavily dusted with flour. Let it rest on the counter for 30 minutes, cover with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for 12-16 hours to ferment.

    2. Preheat the oven with the Dutch oven or bread pan for 30 minutes. Remove the sourdough from the refrigerator, let it stand on the counter for about 45 minutes to an hour. Place a piece of parchment paper on top and invert dough onto the paper. Dust it with flour and score it with the scorer or a sharp knife. Use the paper to pick up the dough and place it into the Dutch over. Cover with lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the cover, reduce oven temperature to 200°C and bake further for 15-20 minutes.

    3. Carefully transfer the bread to cooling rack and let cool for 2 hours before slicing. Slicing the warm bread will make it rubbery.

    COOK'S NOTES:



    BASIL PESTO HUMMUS



      Living in Middle East for number of years, I have learned a lot about the rich Arabian heritage and food culture. I learnt how to make a classic hummus from a Lebanese friend of mine who is a great neighbour – we exchange a lot about history and cultures of our homelands. I added a different spin with homegrown basil, to make it different from the usual creamy hummus. This version works so well as dips and in wraps! Trust me, hummus is a staple dish that everyone who lives in the Middle East must know how to make – a mezze platter is never complete without a beautiful and rich homemade hummus!


      Recently hummus has gained a lot of popularity for being vegan-friendly and rich source of protein, and the best part is that it's easy to change it up and experiment with delicious new flavours! Check out the recipe for my Classic Hummus here, and my Sun-dried Tomato Hummus here.



      PREP TIME: 10 minutes

      MAKING TIME: 5 minutes

      YIELDS: 500g approx./ one medium serving bowl



      INGREDIENTS

      • 1x400g can chickpeas

      • 2 cloves garlic

      • 2-3 tbsp tahini paste

      • 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

      • 1/4 tsp salt or to taste

      • 1/4 tsp paprika

      • 2 tsp lemon juice

      • 1 tbsp brine water in which chickpeas are preserved/ fresh water

      • 7-8 sun-dried tomato halves

      • 2-3 sprigs of thyme leaves

      For garnish:

      • 3 sun-dried tomatoes, cut into strips

      • 1 tbsp chickpeas for garnish

      • 2-3 sprigs of thyme leaves

      • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil



      METHOD

      1. Drain the chickpeas from the can and reserve the water and a tablespoon of chickpeas.

      2. In a food processor bowl, add chickpeas, garlic, tahini, sun-dried tomatoes, thyme leaves, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, paprika and reserved water. Blend them together until slightly textured and not silky smooth. Add an extra tablespoon of reserved or fresh water if you find it too thick to blend.

      3. Take out in a serving bowl, swirl with the back of spoon to make a well in center. Drizzle the olive oil, and garnish with sun-dried tomato strips, thyme leaves and chickpeas. Serve


      COOK'S NOTES

      • Classically hummus is made by boiling the overnight soaked chickpeas with water and a bit of salt. Let them cool and using the rest of the recipe’s ingredients to make the classical hummus.

      • Reserve the water from the boiled chickpeas to adjust the consistency of the hummus or the brine water from the canned chickpeas. Add a tablespoon extra if you find chickpeas are clogging to loosen up the consistency to blend better.

      • Boiled chickpeas can be puréed and preserved by keeping it in airtight ziplock bags for later use.

      • Defrost or thaw the chickpea purée before blending with other ingredients to make hummus.

      BURRATA CHEESE PLATTER WITH ROASTED ROMA TOMATOES AND PESTO



        Burrata cheese with fresh basil pesto and grilled Roma tomatoes was served with sourdough breads for breakfast yesterday.


        Burrata is basically a ball of Mozzarella cheese stuffed with soft Stracciatella cheese which is typically a discard while making mozzarella cheese. It is originated in the region of Puglia in Italy.


        It has become a routine for me to make a sourdough bread every week. I made my first sourdough couple of months back and since then I have just been maintaining the starter to have a regular weekly dose of our sourdough breads. I try my hands on different flavours...this time I made nigella seeds (onion seeds) and flax seeds sourdough bread along with sun-dried tomato and oregano baguette. Loved the pairing of these delicious crusty breads with soft and creamy burrata cheese.

        Luscious creaminess of burrata was elevated with roasted baby Roma tomatoes and the pesto made from homegrown basil...still some more leaves are blooming in my basil plants, I’m gonna quickly make more pesto and freeze it before it all dies.


        The classic combo of fresh burrata, baby Roma tomatoes and basil pesto was one heck of a perfect Italian breaky served with some fresh watermelon juice...its a little twist from the usual breakfast ideas...give it a try and I’m sure your family will thank you for the new addition. Don't forget to check the recipe of onion seed(nigella seed) sourdough bread. Please do write the feedback and post comments in the comments section below the recipe. It means the whole world to me to know someone out there is trying out my recipes. You can tag me on my Instagram page: instagram.com/simranskitchenoman/

        PREP TIME: 20 minutes COOKING TIME: 5 minutes SERVES: 4




        INGREDIENTS


        • 350g fresh burrata cheese

        • 8-10 baby Roma tomatoes

        • Few sun-dried tomatoes

        • 1 tbsp olive oil

        • Pinch of kosher salt

        • Black pepper


        For pesto sauce:

        • 2 cups basil leaves, loosely packed

        • 100g parmigiano reggiano cheese, chopped

        • 3 fat cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

        • 2 tbsp toasted pine nuts

        • 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

        • 1/4 tsp salt

        For garnish:

        • Few fresh basil leaves

        • 2 tsp pine nuts



        METHOD


        For pesto sauce:

        1. In an electric blender, put basil leaves, garlic, cheese, pine nuts, olive oil and a pinch of salt. Blitz to a coarse or slightly smoother paste. Put pesto aside until used.

        For burrata cheese platter:

        1. In a medium shallow frying pan, heat oil. Add baby Roma tomatoes and let them roast on medium low fire until bit soft. Season with salt and pepper.

        2. Place burrata in a serving plate. Scatter roasted tomatoes along with juices from the tomatoes.

        3. Sprinkle a tablespoon or two of pesto over the burrata and tomatoes. Garnish with fresh basil leaves and pine nuts. Serve the burrata cheese platter with crusty sourdough onion seed (nigella seed) bread or sun-dried tomato and oregano sourdough baguette.


        COOK'S NOTES:


        • You can serve burrata cheese with sweet sides as well, such as mangoes, figs, berries and other nuts instead of savory additions of pesto and roasted tomatoes.

        • Burrata can also be used for topping up the pastas and pizzas. Its a great addition to the caprice or carpaccio salad. This gorgeous creamy deliciousness can be pretty much added to anything that fancies your taste buds.


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