Food, glorious food... done my way. Pretence of perfection

Monday, November 26, 2007

Sausage and Mash

It's Daring Baker time again!

This month the amount of sugar (in tonnes) used was... oh. Savoury? Cooool!

Now I make bread all the time... *waits for applause to die down* ...please... ...no, you're too kind! Anyway, I was happy to have a go at this new challenge in flour and yeast meddling, though I wouldn't have much time. I knew I could only do it on the last weekend of the month, since I only try each DB recipe once anyway I wasn't too concerned ( I just can't afford the professional cleaners and laundry bills!) so I dived into the shops after work on a Friday to grab everything I needed for the Saturday. 30 minutes later I had everything I needed and was... cr*p, I forgot to get potatoes. I hoped the smaller store nearby would have roasting potatoes. They didn't, they had floury normal ones. Do I buy them and save hassle now or go back and get roasting potatoes and save the recipe...

Sticky moment I think you'll agree, hey? WELL THAT'S NOTHING! NOTHING! ...compared to what this recipe doles out! I've never seen "dough" that sticky in my life. Of course, I'd bitten off more than I could "chew" (chew in quotes to highlight how unchewable 16oz of mashed potato, several cups of cooking water and some flour is). The recipe says need for 10 minutes. Knead? How do you knead superglue? I'm going out and buying a dough scraper first thing Monday! The adrenaline was pumping; I think at this point all DBers smile if not on the outside then on the inside. Cooking is fun after all, and new recipes are even funner.

I wasn't counting the cups of flour I added to make it pliable, I just kept going til it wasn't a complete joke. Still, after 30 minutes I reckon I had a cross between wallpaper paste and a normal bread dough.

Ahh time to relax, it's in the bowl proving. Then Marce starts giving me helpful hints about what to use at flavourings to make it more palatable. I hadn't thought that far ahead. I was still in survival mode. She told me what she was using and said I could use that too. So I did. -n't. In fact I was told in no uncertain terms that she'd hunt me down and batter me with her rolling pin if I did. What ever happened to All For One DBer and One For All DBers, that's what I want to know?!

Anyway, after it had been allowed to prove a little it was far more manageable. Thanks be to goddess Nigella. So a quick need and some of it was off into the slightly too small loaf tin and the rest into a flat tray.

As you might be able to tell the loaf kinda over-flowed a little. It was still quite sticky pre-baking. Still with a little pepperonata, a few cherry tomatoes and a couple of venison sausages all was well with the world.

Sausage and mash, get it?! Honestly, I should get awards for this material. The bread goes well with Marmite too. In case you wondered :-)

Very late lunch on Sunday:
Last time I made focaccia I pre-fried all the toppings and lovingly applied the toppings to the lovely doughy top. But this time I was busy watching a DVD so I just whacked it all on there. Fresh rosemary (from the back gar... shop) and thinly sliced onions. And a dredging of olive oil and a little sea salt.

Came out pretty darn good.


Dinner on Saturday: Thanks to Tanna for choosing the bread. I generally find the stickier the dough the better the bread, and this was no exception. It's wonderfully fluffy and soft, there's no focaccia left, I just packed the last of it as lunch tomorrow. I'll make them watch me eat it all!

Don't forget to check out my, probably less sticky, buddies here.

27 comments:

glamah16 said...

Lookin very good. I love the variations you made for your meals.

Gigi said...

Your focaccia looks delicious! I love the herbs on top.

Unknown said...

looks wonderful, like all the meals you got out of the bread, good idea

ostwestwind said...

Superglue :-), I know what you mean... But at least you ended up with a great looking bread!

breadchick said...

As usual, I'm ROTFL at your post! I love the way you just let the "blob" rise and made a darn fine loaf out of it. And I'll bet anyone sitting near you will be jealous of the sandwich ;-)

eatme_delicious said...

Haha great post about the bread. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who was aggravated by the sticky dough! I guess I was doing it right.

Bev and Ollie "O" said...

everything just looks so tasty! mmmmm

Anonymous said...

hahahaha this is what I get for helping :P But the bread does look good, even if it did seem superglue at first.

Julius said...

Sausage and mash - what an inspired combo for this bread. :)

Julius from Occasional Baker

Megan said...

Bet it didnt taste like superglue. It looks heavenly!

Peabody said...

Yum...dinner on Saturday night looks good.

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

That looks great! I love your focaccia sandwich...

Cheers,

Rosa

Karen Baking Soda said...

A bite of that last one anytime! Ok, hand me the plate with venison as well! Don't you just love what comes out of the gar..eh shop?
Well done!

Cat said...

it's so nice to see you ate vegetables and lived to tell the tale :) mmm venison sausages! i might miss meat sometimes ;) mMMM!!!

April said...

Your focaccia looks yummy!!!

Deborah said...

Your foccacia looks perfect! Wonderful job!

... said...

Oh my.. that sausage makes the bread look even better. What a great job on the variations.

Jen Yu said...

Ooooh, I am hungry now. The breads look great, but all of those yummy toppings... mmmmmmm. Great post and awesome job on the challenge!

-jen at use real butter

Julie said...

Your breads and how you ate them are all lovely, but your one-liners are just brilliant! "I just kept going til it wasn't a complete joke." You're very funny, and I totally appreciate that.

Helene said...

Sausage, mash, potatoes, dang you know how to make a woman happy!!! I so want to come to your next sticky dough making session! Great read as always! The breads turned out awesome!

Christine said...

I love what you did with your bread and focaccia the next day! And I like the rosemary addition. Great job!

I completely understand, my first attempt produced super glue, both while kneading and while eating!

Christina ~ She Runs, She Eats

creampuff said...

I think I would actually pay to watch you "lovingly" apply toppings to bread. Really.

You did very well Mr. Expert Breadmaker!

Julie said...

Also, I selected you to fill out a meme for food bloggers off my blog--please feel free to participate if you like, or not if you don't. =)

Gabi said...

Lovely bread- Everything looks delish!
I was definitely not less sticky!
xoxo
Gabi

Jenny said...

Good thing the dough smells nothing like real superglue, so you can't get them confused. :-)
Nice work Daring Baker! (oh and I've have shared my toppings with you.)

Dolores said...

I hear you... I've never been more grateful to my dough scraper than when I was using it to scrape the sticky globs off of my fingers with this one. "Whacked on" indeeed -- your focaccia looks fabulous!

Lis said...

HAR! fantastic post.. am still giggling. =)

Both your loaf and the focaccia look heavenly! Another job well done, sir!

xoxo