I think that new voyaging cooks ask me about bread more than they ask about any other subject. For westerners, bread is basic and most people miss it badly, once they leave the shops behind them. Most cookery books make much more of an issue of bread baking than the matter justifies, I’ve discovered why it is that many loaves don’t rise and I’ve also produced a simple recipe for a (more or less) foolproof dough. I’ve also realised that you don’t need to add sugar, or any other sweetener for that matter, although, if you like the yeast to froth up first, it does so faster with some. I find 1/2 tsp of honey is ample. That being so, I make it optional in the ingredients. Making bread, in fact, is very straightforward and in recent years has been made even more so by the advent of ‘instant’ yeast. This is a form of dried yeast that can be mixed directly into the flour without first dissolving it in water. (Indeed, I accidentally found that you can do the same with ‛active dried yeast’: I thought it was ‛instant’ and chucked it in as usual. It worked just fine. But I still go with ‛instant’ yeast when I can: just in case!)
The other thing that puts people off making bread is the time it takes. If you believe the recipe writers, you need to let it rise at least twice and knead the dough for about 20 minutes. For most of us, life is too short and even if it isn’t we’re not generally that well organised: I usually make my bread about mid-morning when I suddenly realise that I don’t have any for lunch. I’ve discovered that all these extra risings, knocking downs, etc are, if not a waste of time, at least totally irrelevant to those of us who want bread to eat rather than for winning prizes at the local county fair. The good news is that, certainly if you use wholewheat flour, not only is it unnecessary to let the dough rise more than once, you don’t even need to knead it for any longer than it takes to incorporate all the ingredients. and, regardless of what type of flour you use, you don’t even have to have an oven – but more about that later. Incidentally, I gather there is some ambiguity in USA – and possibly Canada – about how whole the whole flour is. I am reliably informed that in North America wholewheat flour is all-purpose flour (possibly bleached, but hopefully not) with the proper amount of wheat bran added. Wholegrain is ground in one operation and includes everything the grain came with, including the wheat germ which wholewheat flour does not have. Only in America, eh? Anyway, what we want is wholegrain flour: unadulterated, ground wheat.
Another thing I’d like to introduce here is the oddly-called Vital Wheat Gluten (vwg). This works as a bread improver, particularly with wholemeal flour. Apparently the insistence on kneading one’s bread for a long time is to ‛activate’ the gluten, which takes longer in whole flour than in white. If you add 1 tbsp vwg to 1 cup flour, it makes the dough more ‛stretchy’. I have vwg on board for making seitan, which we’ll explore a lot more thoroughly on another page, so have started adding it. It does make a difference, but it is far from necessary. Thus in the following recipes it will be shown as optional.
If you don’t have an oven, or can’t afford to use it, try my recipe for The Perfect Ovenless Loaf. Otherwise, mix the dough and cook it in a covered frying pan over a moderate heat (or higher heat and flame tamer). Be careful not to use too fierce a heat if your frying pan has a laminated base, or it might delaminate. If you have a good quality, two-litre saucepan, you can use this instead. Grease it heavily first. You might have to use slightly less dough depending on how nominal the two-litres is!
Basic bread
The following is a very basic bread recipe. If you take a moderate amount of care, you will produce perfect bread every time. The whole process, from getting out the ingredients to cutting the first slice off the loaf should take less than a couple of hours. The actual time spent making the bread is about ten minutes.
For years, I tried to create perfect frying pan bread. It had to be easy to make, not too fuel-hungry, with a proper crust and of a shape that can be cut into suitable slices for toast or sandwiches. Finally, after more than a quarter of a century of experimenting, I discovered how to make the perfect, ovenless loaf.
To make this paragon of loaves, you need the following:
- a frying pan
- a ‘1 lb’ loaf tin
- a stainless steel bowl that will fit over the loaf tin
- a trivet
The frying pan has to be heavy or else it will warp, and a simple cast-iron or alloy frying pan is the best for this. If your frying pan has a laminated base, experiment carefully to ensure that ‘dry frying’ won’t damage it.
If you don’t have a deep stainless steel bowl, buy one. You’ll find it endlessly useful – for making the bread dough, if nothing else.
The trivet can be the one that came with your pressure cooker. If you don’t have one, use half a dozen large nuts (as in nuts and bolts!) to keep the loaf tin away from the frying pan.
I came to realise that my vision of perfection might be difficult for others, as well as myself, to achieve. Indeed, unless you want square slices of bread (and there are many good reasons for this preference), assembling the necessary hardware might seem more trouble than it's worth. I've written this post to offer a couple of different options for those of us who want to make bread regularly and don't have an oven, one using a frying pan and one using a saucepan. Oddly, they produce very different results.
Cheese bread
The following is a lovely, crusty bread recipe, which tastes delicious and goes very well with soup or salad. I suggest making a smaller loaf than usual – ‘1 lb’ – because you will probably eat most of it at one sitting, although the fat from the cheese means that the loaf should keep well.
Cheese bread
Herb bread
The
following is a simple bread recipe, which tastes delicious and goes
very well with soups such as mushroom or leek. I suggest making a
smaller loaf than usual – ‘1 lb’ – because you will probably
eat most of it at one sitting.
Longevity bread
I call this ‘Longevity Bread’, because it has so many good things in it that you should live forever! I reckon that all whole grain bread is good bread, but this has extra goodies, which the pundits would have you believe are health enhancing. There’s every chance, of course, that none of the ingredients actually do make any difference to your health, or risk of cancer, or whatever, but as they won’t do you any harm and because the end result tastes very good, this is a recipe that I use a lot. As you must have access to the Internet to be reading this, I’ll let you look up all the health benefits of the ingredients yourself.
The extras are: pumpkin seeds sunflower seeds, flax seeds (linseed), black and white sesame seeds and hemp seeds. I make up a large batch at a time in the proportion of 2:2:1:1:1:1.
Longevity bread
Olive bread
This is a full-flavoured bread, good with soups and salads. The following recipe makes a ‘1 lb’ loaf.
Olive bread
Sun-dried tomato bread
The following makes attractive-looking bread, which is wonderful with Italian-style soups, or salad. I suggest making a smaller loaf than usual – ‘1 lb’ – because you will probably eat most of it at one sitting.
Sun-dried tomato bread
This is the bread to make if you’ve forgotten all about it and want bread in a hurry. I call it Zebedee bread, because my friend, Alan, always makes it for his guests. It’s chewy and delicious, especially made with wholewheat flour, and is absolutely foolproof so long as you have fresh baking powder and let the frying pan get hot enough.
These are a lazy way of making dosas, which require a particular type of split lentil (urad dal) and fermenting overnight, in a warm place, which often isn’t practical when voyaging. Unfortunately, they do need a blender. In due course, I’ll have a recipe for chickpea flour flatbreads that don’t need one. I have tried making these by grinding the lentils to make flour, but they weren't as successful as using the soaked lentils in this recipe.
These ‛flatbreads’ are halfway between a roti and a thick pancake, but are great hot or cold and excellent to serve with any sort of spread, pâté or dip, including some of the chutneys you will find on this blog. This recipe has minimal seasoning, so as not to compete with whatever you are serving them with, but fenugreek seeds are often used in traditional recipes, so I have included them.
I find the 150 mm/6 inch frying pan I use for tempering spices is perfect for cooking this flatbreads. Any pan that you trust for pancakes will be correct for these.
Roti and chapati are much the same thing, and have a variety of spellings and names. They consist of a disc of soft, unleavened, wheaten bread. In the areas of India where rice doesn’t grow and wheat flourishes, chapati are the traditional accompaniment to curries. I once read a delightful story about an elephant who was fed several of these every day. They were the size of cart wheels and when his keeper brought them to him, at the start of the day’s work, the elephant would weigh each one in his trunk before eating it. Any considered under weight would be thrown to one side and the elephant would refuse to work until they were replaced with some of the correct size.
This recipe makes about half a dozen rather smaller ones: 180mm/7in chapati, that will roll out to fit in your frying pan. I have found that the addition of the vital wheat gluten seems to make it easier to keep the soft. Overcooked and they become brittle.
Chapati
can also be used as ‘wraps’ round any sort of sandwich filling
and although on the small side, will provide a suitable case for
roti, that delectable Trinidadian dish. Put hot curry in the
centre of the chapatti and fold it into a parcel so that it can be
eaten out of the hand. I will warn you that they tend to be messy
and you might prefer to use a plate! However, you probably need an extra large frying pan to make these, something rarely available on a boat.
Chapati/roti
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