Cheesey bacon spelt bread

We have been invited over to a friends house for a lasagna dinner tonight, and I hate rocking up anywhere empty handed especially this couple who are always so generous and often invite us around and supply a huge yummy feast and drinks ;) 

I finished up in the salon early for a Saturday so I had some time to prepare some bread , not so healthy though but hey you only live once and can have a naughty day every now and then right? Plus you can't have lasagna with out a delicious fresh bread to compliment. 

I was really nervous baking this as I sort of just added everything to the Thermomix bowl measuring as I went along with fingers crossed it would be ok. Baking has never been my forte so I was pleasantly surprised when all came together quite nicely ;) 

First up I had some bacon in the freezer that I'd defrosted and 220g of it did seem like quite a lot but I needed to use it all up, so if wanting you could probably halve the amount if bacon used , but who doesn't love bacon? I quickly diced it up once it had defrosted. 

To the bowl add : 

3 cloves of garlic 

Mince on speed 8 for 10 seconds. Scrape down sides. 

Then add 220g diced bacon rashes 

40 g butter 

Cook on varoma temperature for 2 minutes reverse speed 2 with mc lid off. 

Remove from bowl and set aside to cool 

Grate in bowl 

80 g tasty cheese

20 g Parmesan cheese 

Remove and set aside 

Grate in bowl 

1 cup fresh basil 

Remove and set aside with the cheese 

Make sure you have scraped the bowl as best as possible of any cheese and basil. 

Then measure and add to bowl in this order : 

300 g Luke warm water 

2 teaspoons dried yeast 

1 teaspoon sea salt 

Mix together in bowl on 39 degrees speed 2 for 40 seconds. 

Add to bowl 

320 g white spelt flour 

200 g wholemeal spelt flour 

10 g extra virgin olive oil 

1 teaspoon wallabies bread improver 

About half the diced bacon 

About half cheese and basil mixture 

Mix all ingredients together on speed 6 for 10 seconds 

Set dial to closed lid position and knead for 1 minute. 

Spray oil on thermo mat and remove dough onto the mat and roll into a ball, wrap dough lightly in mat and set aside to rise in a warm spot ( dash board of car always a winner for me )  for about half a hour.

After the dough has doubled. Punch down and quickly and gently separate into 3 even pieces and roll into logs like this , the dough should be very sticky and tacky. 

Careful not to over knead or roll the dough too much. As I've mentioned before spelt flour does not like over kneading and will make the bread more dense. 

Then remove logs onto a oven tray lined with baking paper and gently plait the dough

Sprinkle remaining cheese and bacon mixtures on top 

And set aside to rest for another 10 minutes. 

Then pop into a cold oven for 30 minutes on 200 degrees. 

Check the bread after 30 minutes, I struggle to know when bread is ready and I sometimes seem to over bake then I get the accused " rock bread " thrown around. I put a skewer in the middle and it came out clean so that was my sign it was baked ;) and it turned out perfect. Still lovely and soft and moist. We had lashings of butter and my friend had hers with coconut oil spread onto it. 

Will definitely make this bread again ! 

Thermomix mixed grains bread.

It's taken me a while and countless amounts of research and "dud bread" that I've had to use for breadcrumbs , but I've finally created a mixed grain bread that works and is edible ;) 

It makes about 20 slices of thinly sliced bread and I recommend for it all to be eaten with in 2 days , as the lack if preservatives makes it go stale quickly. Or as I do slice it up and store 2 slices in zip lock bags in the freezer and toast as needed. 

I get all my grains and flours from a great wholesaler that public can purchase from called suntrails foods south of adelaide ,they also sell a huge range of nuts , organic foods and snacks. http://mobile.yellow.com.au/sa/lonsdale/suntralis-foods-12348003-listing.html?ref=onlineRedirect

So first up I mill the buckwheat groats in the thermo bowl on speed 9 for 1 minute, put aside and rinse bowl 

Then add 300g water 

3 teaspoons of instant yeast 

1 tablespoon of honey 

1 teaspoon sea salt 

Heat in bowl on 37 degrees speed 2 for 1 minute 

Then measure and add into bowl 

100 g milled buckwheat 

50 g dark rye flour 

150 g white spelt flour 

200 g wholemeal spelt flour 

20g chia seeds 

1 tablespoon extra Virgin olive oil 

Mix on speed 6 for 10 seconds, then set dial to closed lid position and knead for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Dont over knead as spelt flour does not cope well at all with over kneading and it will make the bread too dense. 

The dough will be very sticky and will feel that it's hard to manage but it is better to be sticky texture as it will make a softer loaf ;) 

Spray a Thermomix mat with spray oil and tip the bowl upside down and twist the blades from underneath to release the dough , pick out any left overs with your fingers and roll into a ball and gently wrap up in mat. 

I then go pop it in the car on the dash board if its a nice warm day to let it rise. Usually about 30 minutes. 

After the dough has risen , unwrap the Mat and the dough will be all sticky and bubbly on the mat , but that's ok just roll around the dough using your hands till all the bits of dough have been picked up off the mat and you have a ball again. 

Shape into a loaf and place into a bread tin

Then using a sharp knife score the top and sprinkle with water and olive oil. 

Pop it In a cold oven then set to 200 degrees for 30 minutes. 

The dough will get its second rise in the cold oven as it heats up. 

Once time Is up and the bread has risen and baked. Remove from tin and place on wire rack to cool.

It's best to leave the bread to cool as much as possible before slicing as I learnt today from quirky cooking! That's if you can resist the warm yummy bread! 

Om nom nom!