The Gift of Bread

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"I open the parachute and find a small loaf of bread. It’s not the fine white of the Capitol stuff. It’s made of dark ration grain and shaped in a crescent. Sprinkled with seeds. I flashback to Peeta’s lesson on the various district breads in the Training Center. This bread came from District 11. I cautiously lift the still warm loaf. What must it have cost the people of District 11 who can’t even feed themselves? How many would’ve had to do without to scrape up a coin to put in the collection for this one loaf? It had been meant for Rue, surely. But instead of pulling the gift when she died, they’d authorized Haymitch to give it to me. As a thank-you? Or because, like me, they don’t like to let debts go unpaid? For whatever reason, this is a first. A district gift to a tribute who’s not your own." (Suzanne Collins "The Hunger Games")

"Bread is a gift from nature, a living entity that nourishes and sustains us." ( Peter Reinhart "The Bread Baker's Apprentice")

In many societies, bread is given as a gift, commonly as a housewarming gift. It represents nourishment, sustenance and hope for a plentiful and prosperous life in a new home. The gift of bread wishes you good health and happiness. May your house never know hunger.

In both German and Slavic cultures, both bread and salt are offered as gifts for a future prosperity in a new home. Migration has ensured that this tradition has been shared wit the World

In this post, we're offering you the opportunity to give the gift of bread.

I'm baking three loaves....we will eat one of them, but two will be given as gifts. Not a big ask, I dare say..except the intention is to make and bake three loaves that look as similar to each other as possible. Three 'identical' loaves.

This is where the skills of measuring ingredients, weighing out dough and shaping carefully will all come into play.

Of course, you are free to make and bake any kind of bread you wish...and the list of potential bakes is long and interesting.

So, we're going to bake three loaves. We'll enjoy one ourselves and enjoy giving two away. Probably not as housewarming gifts...I don't know that many people that are in the process of moving home but certainly, I'll be sharing the gift of bread.

Of course, I'm gifting my favourite bakes. My family enjoy these, so I'm confident that so will others.

Here are some ideas:

A wholemeal/strong white blended sandwich loaf using baker's yeast and sourdough excess
BreadClub20 Simply Sourdough
BreadClub20 Loaded Fruit Loaf
Baguette Tradition - made in the Parisian style
Wholemeal seeded cobs
Brown Flour 85% extraction Farmshouse loaves

N.B. The formula within the recipes below will produce a certain quantity of dough. This may need adjusting and scaling if you are to produce enough dough for your own requirements.

Wholemeal blend sourdough

excess sandwich loaf.

I'm using the BreadClub 20 formula for a sandwich loaf using a proportion of unfed sourdough starter as well as a little baker's yeast.

https://breadclub20.blogspot.com/2021/05/sourdough-using-discard-for-sandwich.html

I'm slightly amending the formula by increasing the water content to 260gms and using a blend of white and wholemeal flours (400 gms strong white bread flour and 100 gms strong wholemeal flour). I'm also adding 12 grams of chia seeds.

I'm making a double mix (so twice the formula in the link above) and then dividing the total dough into three loaves which will be baked in 2lb loaf tins. (each tin is 20 cms x13 cms x 9 cms).

The top is painted with a milk / egg wash and sprinkled with poppy seeds. Then the dough is slashed down the length in the Farmhouse loaf style

It's baked at 190⁰C

BreadClub20 Simply Sourdough

https://breadclub20.blogspot.com/2022/10/simply-sourdough-bc20-style.html

I'm using the following formula for three loaves:

and the process is as follows (ignore the formula below and simply use the process with the formula above)

Oh look.....four loaves! Well, I have four baking pots...seems churlish not to bake an extra one.

Fruit Loaf - BreadClub20 Back to Basics

A lovely fruity loaf that we enjoy toasted for breakfast and sliced, buttered and served with a strong cheese or lunches or when you have the 'nibbles' during the evening.

https://breadclub20.blogspot.com/2022/10/fruited-bun-loaf-bc20-style.html

In this bake, I'm using an infusion of Earl Grey tea and omitting the seeds.

Baguette Tradition Française

https://breadclub20.blogspot.com/2022/12/baguette-tradition.html

Made in the authentic French way using T55 flour and allowing the dough to prove overnight in the refrigerator. This is one of two BC20 approaches to the Traditional French baguette and one of several baguette recipes.

Again, weighing and portioning your dough accurately will help you with producing even-sized and even-shaped baguettes. The rolling is not easy, and neither is the scoring, but practising these skills is the best policy.

Wholemeal Seeded Cobs

For these wholemeal seeded cobs, I'm starting with a BreadClub20 Back to Basics Lighter Wholemeal formula:

https://breadclub20.blogspot.com/2023/01/classic-wholemeal-bc20-back-to-basics.html

However, I've extracted 8% of the total flour and 40% of the water and made a tangzhong roux from these, heating the flour/water mixture to 65⁰C and gelatinising it. Then, I allowed it to cool before proceeding. I also remembered to deduct the flour/water from the total.

The tangzhong process is described here:

https://breadclub20.blogspot.com/2021/01/baking-bread-using-tangzhong-and-or.html

Once these have been formed and had a second proof, I egg wash them and sprinkle white sesame seeds over the whole surface. Then, cut them for expansion and bake at 190⁰C for 30 minutes.

A 'lighter' wholemeal cob with a seeded outer.