I just looked back over my curry thread and thought I'd start another one, including the potato and rye bread recipe I was asked, for and some soups and preserves.
POTATO AND RYE BREAD
500g mashed potato along with 500ml of potato cooking water.
100g Rye flakes
300g of wholemeal rye flour, you an use white but you might need to add a bit more to stop the dough being too wet
2 and a quarter tsps of fast action yeast
500g strong white bread four
100ml of golden or maple syrup
1tsps salt
quarter tsps of ground cumin (opt)
Mix mashed potato with it cooking liquid and then str in the rye flakes and rye flour.
Rest for 3 hours
Mix the yeast with a handful of the white bread flour and stir into the dough along with 50ml of warm water,
Mix well and cover and leave in a warm place overnight.
Next day, add the syrup, salt and cumin, if using with enough white bread four to make a firm dough.
Kneed for 10 mins
Divide into two and shape into round or oval loaves, place on baking sheets, cover and allow to prove for 30 mins.
Heat your oven to 200,C or gas 6, place loaves inside and bake for 50-60 mins. When you think they're done, turn them upside down and knock gently on the bottom, if the loaf sounds hollow they're cooked if you get a dull thunk put them back in for another 10 mins and repeat.
This a lovely bread and well worth the faff, it freezes well too. BUT, I find it a bit vigorous and either make 3 loaves or split the dough and make a loaf or two and some rolls, otherwise you get a couple of real monster sized loaves. It's much lighter in texture than it sounds too. It goes very well with the following two soups.
CARROT SOUP
1kg of carrots, peeled and sliced in four and then into dice
2 medium sized onions, peeled and chopped
a big pinch of thyme, fresh or dried
1 big bayleaf
2 tsps of stock powder or stock cubes, I use marigold vegetable stock powder, but you could use chicken stock cubes or whatever you usually use, just not beef as its to heavy for this soup.
1 litre of water, at least.
couple of tblsps of vegetable oil
salt and pepper.
parsley and hemp oil, optional
Put the oil in a large fairly heavy pan and heat up and gently fry the onions and carrots with the thyme and bayleaf, until the onion are translucent and the carrots don't looke quite so raw.
Add the water to cover the carrots by an inch or two, add the stock and give it a good stir, bring to the boil and turn it down to a simmer, give the liquid a taste and add salt to taste and a good grind of black pepper. Cover and allow it to cook until the carrots are soft enough to eat comfortably.
Turn off the heat and allow it to cool a bit and remove the bayleaf.
I use a stick blender for this, but any liquidiser or food processor will do, or even a vegetable mouli if you want to really old school, give it whizz until its smooth, ruturn to the pan. You may want to add more water if its too thick at this point, heat it up and serve it with a sprinkle of fresh parsley and a couple of tsps of hemp oil if using. This will freeze well too and defrost in the microwave.
