Mushroom Cheese Pesto Bread

This one is completely inspired by Mrs.Jambu's "mushroom bread" from her 7th workshop series that I attended at Singapore's Ulu Pandan CC last Friday 22 Feb 2013.

It was modified to include some homemade pista pesto from garden basil I had sitting in the freezer, some Coon cheese I wanted to put to use and yes a healthier amount of mushroom and onion than was in the original recipe while avoiding the Campbell soup (which I figured was essentially for flavour). Also I decided to use plain old wheat germ for graininess and texture and not resort to buying a whole packet of special 5 grain hot cereal (Bob's Mill from Cold Storage Jelita).

The bread flour I use is local Prima (this time) or BakeKing and most of my baking supplies come straight from Phoon Huat, Holland Village.

So here goes

Starter:
50 g bread flour
1/4 tsp instant dry yeast
4 tbsp water

Mix and keep at room temperature (covered and in sunshine) for 1-2hr. The starter should be bubbly if your yeast is active and the temperature near optimal.

Bread mix
500 g bread flour
20 g wheat germ
6 g instant dry yeast
15 g sugar
5 g salt (optional especially if cheese is processed and salty)
175 g mushroom-onion-cheese-pesto mix.
(Stirfried finely chopped button mushrooms with red onions and when cooked/semidry folded in crumbled cheese and a few spoons of pesto).
100 ml water (guideline)
40 g melted butter, unsalted

Mix the starter into the bread mix without including the mushroom-onion-cheese-pesto mix.
Add more or less water than the 100m as needed and machine (Kitchen Aid) or hand knead the dough to get a slightly loose and easy texture.
Finally fold in the mushroom mix.
Cover the finished dough in the bowl and allow it to rise for at least 30 min till increase in size is evident (short of double the original volume).
Then shape (2 loaves or buns of 60-80g) and allow to proof on a greased baking tray/pan for anther 30-45 min.
Bake centrally positioned in a pre-heated oven at 180 C for 30-45 min untill golden brown.
Switch of oven, remove and cool untill you pry out the bread from it's tray/pan
Enjoy as is or as an accompaniment with soup, buttered preferably

Beastly Breads

In October 2011 I embarked on a journey to learn how to bake bread. The calling had been loud and clear for a few months preceding. I was starved of access to 'artisan' breads in Singapore and just didn't have an alternative to rice as main course for weekend night meals with friends at home. When guest numbers were few,  Ro Ro our angelic helper would muster up chappatis on the go but if numbers went beyond 4-6 we were literally stuck. Sometimes we'd buy baguettes from the speciality bakeries and build continental meal plans around them...but the honest truth was I just wanted some good old, healthy, country loafs to go along with Indian curries as well as soups and have the assurance that it was homebaked, fresh, whole grain as far as possible and preservative free (to the extent one can avoid chemicals in these times).

True to the Gandhian saying "Find purpose and the means shall follow",  Mrs.Manomani Jambu arrived on the scene. I walked into Buona Vista Community Centre (CC) quite by chance and signed up for a bread making workshop (4 sessions) that happened to be starting the following week. My first lesson and I was clearly sold. What also helped was that the classes began at 7:30pm so I could slip away like a mouse post an early dinner even while Mr. Spouse was busy on a conference call. If I hadn't gobbled up the samples I'd arrive back with tasty warm bites for all at home...yes hungry Kona included.

Mrs.Jambu was soon re-baptized to Ms.Moneypenny (M for short)  by me and by the time my mother arrived into Singapore in January 2012, she had another moniker assigned to her lovingly so viz: Mary Poppins...yes that one came from Mom.  The bond between M and me has developed much like bread and butter...she now refers to me as "sayang" and since my mother passed away in July 2012 has been a foster Singaporean mother of types.

More on M & M later, for now lets get to some basics with bread. Am not an expert just a budding amateur so would recommend a few reads before you get started with a recipe off the internet or then any of mine for the latter are experiments of the "luck by chance" types so if they work out for you that's great...if you however fail just don't blame it on Big Green Dot!

(1) First and foremost get to know your flours
http://allrecipes.com/howto/all-about-flour/

(2) Then a pulse of the spectrum of whole grains, especially the anatomy of wheat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_grain

(3) Finally just get going hands-on...incorporating locally available brands of flour. Here's a website that's inspiring me to replicate and innovate, viz: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/

Am also of the humble opinion that if you're not a natural baker and haven't exactly watched or helped make bread, you opt for a few virtual video lessons or better still real life ones for starters, textures and the feel for gluten is not something that can come by reading my blog!:)