Bring-a-Board: Bread!
Happy New Year!
Fair warning, this post is going to be a long one!
New Year's Eves in our group are usually pretty low-key. Rather than head out to a club we prefer to spend the night in at one of our houses, have a few drinks and play a few games. After overindulging for the majority of the Christmas period I could think of nothing better than a chilled night in (this year we didn't even bother to dress up we just wore PJs!). However, when one of my best friends suggested we do a bring-a-board night, which seemed to be popular on TikTok, I saw the perfect opportunity to squeeze in some New Year baking and overindulge one last time this season!
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| The Completed Bread Board (Chaussons aux Pommes, Doughnuts, Almond Croissants, Cheesy Garlic Ciabatta, Feta, Grape, and Fennel Focaccia, Triple Chocolate Panettone, and Orange and Lemon Sweet Bread)! |
Starting with my favourite bread on this board, the Chaussons aux Pommes (in the bottom left corner) comprise a Danish pastry filled with homemade apple puree and a chocolate and brandy crème patissiere! The method for this pastry is very similar to the method you'd follow for croissants. Butter is placed on top of the rolled out dough, before several folds and turns provide the lamination in the finished bake! The method is quite technical and time consuming, but it was worth it for the finished result!
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| The pastry began to unfold whilst in the oven, but this only drew more attention to the lamination! |
The fillings for the Chaussons aux Pommes were relatively easy to make. For the apple puree, I just had to cook dessert apples with water and a little sugar until they were very soft, and then mash them into a puree. Meanwhile, for the crème patissiere, I combined hot milk and double cream with whisked egg yolks, flour, cocoa powder, and sugar, before returning to the pan and cooking until thickened. To finish the crème patissiere, I added some melted dark chocolate and brandy! This was easily one of the best examples of a crème patissiere I've made, although there isn't a great deal of competition to be honest!
Next up, on the middle left of the board, are doughnuts! These doughnuts were probably the easiest of the breads to bake on this board!
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| The doughnuts stacked alongside the Chaussons aux Pommes! |
On my previous attempts at making doughnuts I had to use a thermometer and pan of oil to fry them. Maintaining the temperature of the oil was quite difficult, leading to burnt exteriors and a doughy centre. However, my parents recently bought a deep fat fryer, which I borrowed in order to make the perfect doughnuts! By simply combining flour, yeast, sugar, butter, milk and salt, kneading, and leaving to proof, you create the perfect dough to fry up! A little bit of red and white icing for a splash of colour and they were done! These doughnuts were a big success, and were probably the most popular bread on the board!
Now, to the right of these doughnuts is an absolute monster of an Almond Croissant. I've attempted croissants before, and it's safe to say we just don't get on! I understand the method but for some reason I always struggle with the shaping. The method to laminate the dough is very similar to the Danish pastry I made for the Chaussons aux Pommes, except that they ended up being absolute beasts! The flavours and textures were brilliant, but the shape was way off!
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| Cheesy Garlic Ciabatta squares! |
I absolutely had to include some cheesy garlic bread on this board! A combination of mature cheddar and mozzarella on top of garlic and parsley butter results in the perfect garlic ciabatta. The ciabatta itself was much easier to handle and shape than I would have thought, even though the dough is very wet when you handle it!
Above the Cheesy Garlic Ciabatta sits the Feta, Grape and Fennel Focaccia! Without sounding lazy or impatient, the thing I love about focaccia is how easy the loaf is to bake. By combining flour, salt. yeast, oil, and water, and proofing in my brownie tin, the perfect focaccia loaf takes shape! Another great thing about focaccia is that you can get really creative with the toppings! Alongside the feta, grapes, and fennel, I drizzled the bread with thyme and garlic infused oil, and honey!
The end is in sight now folks, we're down to the final two breads! In the top right of the picture is the Orange and Lemon Sweet Bread! Another dough enriched with butter and milk, with added lemon and orange zest, cranberries, and almonds. For ease, this loaf is proofed and baked in a large cake tin. Before baking, this loaf is glazed with a mixture of caster sugar, ground almonds, and egg whites, and is topped with plenty of flaked almonds for extra flavour and texture. If I had one criticism for this bread, it's that I think I overbaked it slightly so the loaf was a little dry...
Finally, in the bottom right corner of the board sits the Triple Chocolate Panettone! Panettone is another of those bakes that I neglect at Christmas time, as the usual combination of candied peel, raisins and sultanas doesn't really make this an appealing bake for anyone in our house. A triple chocolate version is much more to my liking! By adding a combination of milk and white chocolate chips to the enriched chocolate flavoured dough, and using a muffin tray to proof the dough into individual panettones, I produced the perfect not-so-mini panettones to finish off the bread board!
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that I spent the best part of two days working on all the breads for this board! I'm willing to say that it was worth it, and I'm very happy with how all of the breads turned out, even if the croissants were colossal! We ended up eating so much food on New Year's Eve that I was falling asleep well before midnight...
I can't wait to share some new bakes through the coming year!
Gibby x
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