Migas Manchegas (En)

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Keeping up with the “comfort food” series, today I bring you a recipe typical of La Mancha’s cuisine: Migas (crumbs). This dish is so delicious, but you have to admit that it is one of the champions in the league of high-calorie meals (does it have those grapes to compensate for the excess fat?). I don’t recommend them as a weekly dish but, hey, from time to time, why not?

Another positive point is that migas are perfect as a zero-waste economic dish, as you use the leftover bread crumbs as the main ingredient and side it with chorizo ​​and bacon.

Ingredients

• 400 g. of stale ​​bread (if it’s cake, better).

• 3 chorizos.

• 250 g. of bacon.

• 1 tablespoon ​​choricero pepper.

• 3 cloves of crushed garlic.

• 100 ml. water.

• 6 grapes.

Steps to follow

• Cut the bread into squares and moisten with 100 ml. of water. Stir and place in a cloth to drain excess water (1 hour).

• Cut the bacon and chorizos into small chunks and sauté in a frying pan or wok. As soon as they have a golden colour, set aside on a plate.

• Sauté the bread over medium heat, using the fat of the chorizos and bacon. As soon as the bread is well browned, add the chorizos and bacon again, along with the crushed garlic and a tablespoon of choricero ​​pepper.

• Sauté for another 3 minutes and serve with the grapes cut in half.

Focaccia Genovese (En)

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You know that everything that has to do with bread has already won me over from the very beginning. I don’t care if it’s wholemeal, spicy, square, tall, flat, or if it has horns, if it’s bakeable, it has to be a treat!

One of those bread derivatives that has me completely in love, is Italian focaccia. This flatbread is great as a snack or as a side to dinners, for example. As for the ingredients to top it with, the list is endless. Like pizza, focaccia accepts almost anything that comes to mind. In this case, I share with you the most basic recipe, focaccia Genovese, with just salt.

Ingredients:

• 350 g. strong flour.

• 200 m. lukewarm water.

• 7 g. dry yeast.

• salt.

• EVO.

Steps to follow:

• Mix the flour with the dry yeast and 30 ml. of EVO. Dissolve 8 g. of salt in the water and add it to the flour.

• Knead until you get an elastic and soft dough. If you use a food processor, it will be ready in 5 minutes. If you do it by hand, it will be necessary to knead for at least 15 minutes.

• Let prove 45 minutes by covering the dough with a cloth or in a bowl covered with a shower cap.

• Once the dough is fermented, it is necessary to stretch it on an oven tray, making sure that the dough does not lose all the air.

• Let prove for another additional 45 minutes.

• After that, you will have to wet the focaccia with a splash of EVO and integrate it with your fingers all over the dough, making small holes.

• Sprinkle flaked salt over the entire surface of the focaccia.

• Bake at 220 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes.

• Let cool on a rack for about 30 minutes before serving.

Galician Flour Batard

Ingredients

• 290 g. Lukewarm water.

• 80 g. Active rye sourdough.

• 45 g. Rye flour.

• 375 g. Galician flour.

• 8 g. Salt.

Steps to follow

• Mix the flours with the water until there is no dry flour left.

• Let stand 2 hours.

• Add the sourdough.

• Let stand 40 minutes.

• Add salt.

• Let stand 40 minutes.

• Do 4 sets of folds every 40 minutes for 2 hours.

• Shape the bread and let it prove for 16 more hours (or overnight) in a banneton or a floured container.

• In addition, it is necessary to cover the bread with a floured cloth and then cover the banneton with a shower cap.

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees Celsius with a Dutch Oven inside.

• Place the bread on baking paper and score the batard with the pattern you like.

• Bake for 20 minutes with the lid on and 10 minutes with the lid off.

• Let cool on a rack for 1 hour.

Miche Bread

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Today I bring you a new bread recipe. Miche bread dis one the most famous rustics breads in France. The recipe I share today is a version of the one Sarah Owens shows in her book “Toast & Jam” (2017). My boule is a gazillion light-years away from looking like hers but a girl has to start somewhere!

Ingredients

• 110 g. of active rye sourdough leaven.

• 430 g. lukewarm water.

• 400 g. baker flour.

• 110 g. 000 type flour.

• 40 g. rye flour.

• 10 g. salt.

Steps to follow

• Mix the water with the flours until there are no traces of dry flour left.

• Let stand (autolysis) for 2 hours in a container covered with a cloth or a shower cap.

• After 2 hours, add the sourdough. Let stand 30 minutes and add the salt.

• From here, the block fermentation will take place for the next 4 hours, doing the stretch and fold technique every 40 minutes.

• After block fermentation, let the dough rest on a floured surface for 30 minutes.

• Next, form the boule and place it in a well-floured banneton.

• Cover the banneton with a cloth and a shower cap, then leave it to prove slowly in the fridge for 14/16 hours or over night.

• Remove the banneton from the fridge when preheating the oven. Score the way you like.

• Preheat the oven to 250 degrees with a Dutch oven inside for 20 minutes.

• Place the boule in the Dutch oven with a piece of baking paper on the base so that it does not stick.

• Bake for 20 minutes with the lid on and 10 with the lid off.

• Let cool for 1 hour before eating.

Galician Flour and Hazelnuts Batard

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Ingredients

• 290 g. Lukewarm water.

• 80 g. Active sourdough.

• 45 g. Galician flour.

• 375 g. 000 flour.

• 8 g. Salt.

• 25 g. Ground hazelnuts.

Steps to follow

• Mix the flours with the water until there is no dry flour left.

• Let stand 30 minutes.

• Add the sourdough.

• Let stand 20 minutes.

• Add salt.

• Let stand 30 minutes.

• Do 4 sets of folds every half hour for 2 hours.

• Shape the bread and let it prove for 16 more hours (or overnight) in a banneton or a floured container.

• In addition, it is necessary to cover the bread with a floured cloth and then cover the banneton with a shower cap.

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees Celsius with a Dutch Oven inside.

• Place the bread on baking paper and score the batard with the pattern you like.

• Bake for 20 minutes with the lid on and 10 minutes with the lid off.

• Let cool on a rack for 1 hour.

Burger Buns

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Today I bring you a very simple recipe: Burger Buns. This method is very quick as I prepare it with yeast instead of sourdough. You can have your buns in less than 24h.

Ingredients for 6 large buns

• 250 ml. of water.

• 400 g. 000 flour.

• 45 g. of wholemeal flour.

• 45 ml. of milk.

• 1 sachet of baking yeast.

• 1 egg.

• Salt.

• 2 tablespoons of sugar.

• 45 g. of cold butter.

• Poppy or sesame seeds.

Steps to follow:

• Mix the flours and yeast with the water in a food processor (you can do it by hand too).

• Incorporate salt and sugar when there is no dry flour left.

• Add the milk and let it knead for 5 minutes (if you do it by hand it will take you longer), or until the dough no longer smears the sides of the stand mixer.

• Add the diced butter and let it knead for another 10 minutes.

• Once the dough is ready, let prove for 1 hour.

• After this time has passed, divide the dough into 6 parts and form the buns.

• Let the buns prove for another hour (covered with a cloth).

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

• Cover the surface of the buns with egg.

• Decorate the top of each bun with poppy seeds or sesame seeds.

• Bake the buns for 12 to 15 minutes.

Sourdough Bread with Spelt & Chlorella

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Today I bring you a different approach to sourdough bread by adding Chlorella powder in the final dusting.

Chlorella is a single-celled freshwater algae full health befenits. Some people even call it a super food. Withing the many nutrients it has, you can find: Omega 3, fiber, antioxidants, Vitamin C and B12 (among others) and loads of proteins.

Ingredients:

• 80% Bread flour.
• 20% Spelt flour.
• 75% Hydration.
• 20% Sourdough.
• 2% Salt.

Optional: Dust with chlorella right before scoring.

Steps to follow:

Follow the block fermentation steps described in the previous recipe Sourdough Bread with Galician Flour

https://recendo.wordpress.com/2020/05/19/sourdough-bread-with-galician-flour/

Rye Molete

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The top bun of the molete is the distinctive sign of this Galician bread (and also the most difficult part to create). After much trying, I came to the conclusion that there are two techniques that help us get a good bun without damaging our bread and without having to do pizzaiolo moves.

Technique 1: Pinch the centre of the dough firmly from the bottom. Then turn the dough several times until the bun is tight.   Technique 2: Pinch the centre of the dough firmly from the bottom. Pull up on the pinched piece of dough (careful not to break it) and make a knot.

Ingredients:

• 390 ml. lukewarm water.

• 375 g. strength flour.

• 45 g. rye flour.

• 10 g. of salt.

• 80 g. sourdough.

Steps to follow:

• Put the flours in a large bowl that allows you to work the dough.

• Incorporate the water and mix well until there is no dry flour left.

• Autolysis period for 30 minutes.

• Add the sourdough. Let prove for 20 minutes.

• Add salt and incorporate well into the dough.

• Let prove for 30 minutes.

• Bulk fermentation for 4 hours. Stretch and fold every 30 minutes.

• As soon as bulk fermentation ends, flour the work table and place the dough on top.

• Let stand 30 minutes.

• Preform the loaf and leave it in a floured banetton.

• Refrigerate from 12 to 16 hours or overnight.

• Heat the oven to 250 degrees Celsius with a Dutch oven inside.

• Shape the bun following the knot or twist technique.

• Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on and another 10 minutes with the lid off.

• Let cool on a rack 1 hour before devouring it!

Broa (Galician Corn Bread)

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Broa is one of the most deeply rooted breads in the Galician culinary tradition. Initially, this corn bread was key to poor people’s diet. A literary example of this reality was Balbino, the main character in Memorias dun neno labrego (1961). In this narrative, Neira Vilas reveals rural Galicia through the eyes of this young boy. Balbino, of humble origins, gradually discovers the injustices generated by social classes. While children like Balbino subsisted on Galician soup and broa bread, the more fortunate ones ate wheat bread, drank milk with coffee, and did not have to get up early to take the cattle to graze.

Today, broa has overcome social barriers turning into an essential part of all Galician tables, especially on key dates such as San Xoán. On this magical night, Galicia celebrates the arrival of the summer solstice by bringing Galicians together around a bonfire. The sayings, always full of wisdom, make it very clear: “In San Xoán the sardine soaks the bread”, and if that bread is broa, all the better.

Ingredients:

• 500 g. corn flour.

• 250 g. rye flour.

• 125 g. wheat flour.

• 425 g. boiling water.

• 300 g. warm water.

• 250 g. sourdough.

• 5 g. fresh yeast.

• 20 g. salt.

Steps to follow:

• Scald the corn with boiling water and let stand 1 hour.

• Add the rest of the water and mix well with the corn.

• Incorporate the rest of the flours and stir to obtain a homogeneous dough without dry lumps.

• Add the sourdough and the yeast to the flour mixture.

• Let stand for 4 hours so the dough ferments.

• Flour the work table abundantly.

• Place the dough on the work table and flour again on top.

• Shape the dough, being careful not to break it.

• Place the shaped dough on a piece of floured baking paper and let it rest again until the dough crumbles.

• Heat the oven to 240 degrees.

• Place a bowl with water on the bottom of the oven to generate steam.

• Bake the dough for 15 minutes at 240 degrees.

• After the initial 15 minutes, remove the bowl with water and lower the heat to 180 degrees.

• Bake the bread for 1 hour.

NOTE 1: Another way to shaping the dough would be flouring a round bowl, put the dough inside. Toss and shake the dough around to shape it.   NOTE 2: If you make the bread in a mould, the baking time will increase about 20 minutes. This will depend on the power of your oven and the thickness of the bread.