Jerusalem Bagels

In the last few months it feels like I have been on the road more than I have been at home and as much as I love exploring new places and spending time in different kitchens around the world, there is a joy about coming home and being back in a routine, cooking in my own kitchen and sleeping in my own bed. However, after a couple weeks back in London, I find that the recipes and ideas that are stuck in the back of my mind start to sneak their way out and demand to be made; to remind myself of those trips. The most recent example of this was with Jerusalem Bagels, which I first tried at the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City. 

Bagels are seen as quintessentially Jewish foods, especially in the US where the bagel was popularised by Eastern European, especially Polish, immigrants in the 19th Century. The Jerusalem bagel is different because its origin isn’t really Eastern European, like its US cousin, it comes from the Middle East. In fact very similar breads are popular all across the Middle East and go by names such as Simit in Turkey or Ka’ak in Arabic countries. For those of us who really only know Eastern European or US style bagels there are some marked differences. The most obvious difference is the shape, being oblong rather than round. The base of the bagels is a very straightforward yeasted dough which contains milk powder and a little sugar. Unlike their US cousins there is no barley malt syrup included and most importantly they’re never boiled, both of which make them easier to make at home. The final bagels, because of their methods, have different textures. The US bagel has its characteristic chew whilst the Jerusalem bagels have a crisp crust with a lighter fluffy centre.

For the recipe I turned to a baker I was lucky enough to meet and spend time with on a recent trip to Israel, with Vibe Israel, the baker behind Lehamim Bakery in Tel Aviv, Uri Scheft. Uri and his breads may be familiar to those who have visited New York as he was involved with the opening of Breads Bakery (although he is no longer connected with said bakery). I was lucky enough to spend a few hours with Uri and learn about his breads and learn how to make a couple traditional recipes, like challah. Meeting Uri was an amazing experiences, he clearly is an incredibly talented baker and his bakery in Tel Aviv is a massively impressive undertaking. Underneath the bustling bakery is a cavernous kitchen with seemingly endless bakers toiling away making a huge variety of breads, cakes and of course Uri’s famous babka. If you’re a fan of babka you owe Uri a debt of gratitude because the current trend is arguably a result of the babka he sold at Breads Bakery in New York. If you’re ever in Tel Aviv a visit to Lehamim is an absolute best

To talk about how to serve the bagel we need to go back to the Jaffa Gate. Very early in the morning a baker takes his bagels and sets up shop at a stand just outside the gate. He sells the bagels, alongside a couple other breads, and with them he gives you a little paper package of zataar. Before we entered the city we tore chunks from the bread and dipped it in the zataar, a perfect breakfast before we tracked down some coffee (dont get me started on my love for arabic/turkish coffee infused with cardamom). Making the bagels back at home in London I wanted to use them to create a more substantial breakfast and taking some inspiration from Tatte Bakery in Boston I made egg in a hole and I would strongly encourage you to do so too, this is a fabulous brunch dish.

Jerusalem Bagels
Makes 6
Recipe adapted from Breaking Breads by Uri Scheft

Bagels
500g plain flour
300ml water, room temperature
7g active dried yeast
60g dry milk powder
50g caster sugar
15g fine salt
20g extra virgin olive oil

Egg Wash 
1 large egg
1 tbsp water
Pinch fine sea salt
60g sesame seeds
Coarse sea salt, for sprinkling

To make the dough place the flour, dried yeast, milk powder, sugar and salt into a large bowl and mix together to combine. Pour in the water and olive oil and using an electric mixer with the dough hook attached (or kneading by hand) mix to form a rough dough. On low/medium speed knead the dough for about 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Note that this dough is fairly low in hydration so it wont be a super silky stretchy dough.

Form the dough into a ball and place into a clean bowl and cover, setting aside until doubled in size, around an hour. At this point instead of rising the dough at room temperature I pop the dough into the fridge overnight to very slowly prove. I do this simply because I cannot resist the idea of fresh bagels for breakfast at the weekend. 

If you’ve chilled your dough overnight take it out of the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature for about 15-20 minutes. Take the risen dough and gently press to deflate. Divide the dough into 6 equal sized pieces, forming each one into a ball, then cover with a cloth to prevent them from drying out. Working with one piece of dough at a time roll out into ropes of dough roughly 45-50cm long. Squeeze the two ends together, gently rolling briefly on the counter to ensure the ends are stuck together. I personally find this method easier but you can also just press a finger through the middle of each ball of dough then slowly make the hole larger. If doing this you may need to allow each portion of dough to rest halfway through the shaping as it may resit a little before it gets to the desired size. 

Set the finished bagels onto two parchment lined baking trays then lightly cover and set aside for an hour or so until risen and puffy to the touch (they wont quite double in size but they will increase in volume). Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan 350ºF

For the egg wash beat together the egg, water and salt until the egg in uniform in colour. Lightly brush each of the bagels with the egg wash and sprinkle liberally with sesame seeds and a little flaked sea salt. Bake in the preheated oven for about 14-15 minutes until golden brown. Remove and allow to cool before serving. 

Jerusalem Bagels are best served within a few hours of baking.

To serve them as a full brunch dish, as egg in a hole, place a tbsp butter or oil in a wide pan and place the bagel on top. Over medium heat add two eggs into the hole of the bagel (a little of the whites may spill over but don’t worry too much about that), season with a little salt and pepper then place a lid onto the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the egg white is set. I prefer my egg yolk very runny but you can cook for a little longer if you prefer. Serve with a sprinkling of zataar, some zhoug, cheese or just a sprinkling of fresh parsley. To remind me of Israel I serve these with a very strong cup of arabic cardamom coffee.

Step By Step Sourdough Recipe

You’ve created a sourdough starter, it’s rising and falling with regularity every time you feed it, its time to make our first loaf of sourdough bread. The topic of sourdough could and has filled endless books and you could spend a lifetime learning how to make it and then another lifetime learning to master the subject. In this post I want to keep it as simple as possible to get you started but I will try and pepper the post with as much useful information as possible

White, Wholemeal or Something Else Entirely?

When choosing the flour you have a world of possibilities but to keep things a little easier my recipe sticks mainly to white bread flour, although I sneak a little spelt flour into the recipe for reasons I will explain later. You can definitely make sourdough with wholemeal flour, rye or any other manner of flours but if you’re starting out I find white based bread doughs are a little easier to work with and learn from. If you’re also trying to get a more open crumb I find white doughs are more successful, especially as you’re starting out.

Hydration

I prefer making sourdough with 75% hydration, which means for 500g of flour (bread recipes use ‘bakers percentages’ based on the flour, which is written as 100%) you’d use 375ml water. This results in my favourite bread but higher hydration doughs are also harder to handle so if you’re just starting out maybe try making your first loaf with 70% water so 350ml. It seems like a little change but it makes a difference, trust me. 

Levain
25g mature starter (my starter is 100% hydration)
50g 50/50 flour blend (my blend of white and wholemeal bread flours used for the starter)
50ml water at 27C

The first stage of making sourdough is making a mixture called a levin. If this seems similar to feeding the sourdough thats because its basically the same. The recipe calls for mature starter and this simply means a starter that has recently risen after being fed. If, like me, you generally store your starter in the fridge we need to bring the starter back to live after being dormant in the fridge. To do this, if I want to bake the loaf on a Sunday morning, I take the starter from the fridge on a Friday morning feed it first thing and then again before I go to bed which means come Saturday morning you’ll have a beautiful active starter ready to bake with.

Sourdough Recipe
20% / 100g levain
90% / 450g white bread flour
10% / 50g white spelt flour
75% / 375ml water at 27C
2% / 10g salt

Schedule

9am - Make the levain

The levain needs to double in size to be ready to bake with and unlike with the starter I like to do this in a slightly warm environment. To account for fluctuations in the temperature of my kitchen I like to use my oven with the light switched on. This creates just enough ambient warmth to create a environment perfect for the levain. 

12pm - Autolyse

An hour before the levain is finished rising, when its roughly 3/4 of the way to doubling, we mix together the flour and water (keeping back 25ml for a later use). To do this we don’t need to knead the dough, or develop the gluten, we just want to hydrate the flour. Squeeze the mixture through your fingers, until everything is moistened, scrape any dry bits from the side of the bowl and then cover the bowl and pop it the oven alongside the levain until it finishes doubling. 

The purpose of the autolyse is to fully hydrate the flour, to make a dough that is extensible which is to say nice and stretchy. The process will also lead to a dough that is easier to work with, has better flavour and better rise. Why do we want this? Everyone at home when they're making sourdough seems to want bread that looks like it came from a bakery, with a nice open texture. I have found that more extensible doughs tend to make more open breads and an autolyse is one of the ways you can achieve this. Another thing is using spelt flour. Using a little spelt in the dough really helps the texture and extensibility so I always include a little. Only a little though as doughs with a higher proportion of spelt can be stickier and harder to handle plus the texture of the finished bread isn’t as pleasing, at least to my taste. 

2pm - Bulk Fermentation

Bulk fermentation is the first rise of the bread and it is where the strength, where the gluten, is mainly going to be developed (the autolyse starts this process off). Unlike a traditional bread dough that is kneaded, sourdough, at least this method, is pretty hands off.

Before we mix everything together, test that the autolyse is ready by doing a float test. The recipe for the levain makes a total of 125g and we only need 100g for the dough itself, the rest is for this stage. Take a teaspoon of the the levain and pop it into a bowl of water. If it floats the mixture is full of gas and is ready to bake with, if it doesn’t we need to leave it a little longer. 

Scrape 100g of the levain on top of the autolysed dough and use your fingers to dimple it into the dough. We want to fully distribute the levain so once the dimpling stops working I start folding the dough on itself until it feels more uniform. Leave the dough for 15 minutes before adding the salt. 

Sprinkle the salt over the dough and use that last 25ml water to pour on top of the dough to help the salt dissolve. Repeat the dimpling and folding process until the salt is distributed. At this stage the dough will separate a little due to the added water but just keep folding the dough until it becomes uniform. As with the levain I like to keep the dough in the oven for the whole bulk to control the temperature.

The bulk should take a total of 4-5 hours depending on the temperature the dough rests at, and how warm the water you used was, and during that period you only have one job and that is to stretch and fold the dough.

Stretch and folds are this recipes kneading and it thankfully takes less time and less effort. To stretch and fold the dough take a wet hand and scoop under the dough lifting it up, gently stretching until you feel some resistance then fold it over itself. You do this at the north, east, south and west points on the dough. This is one set of stretch and folds. We are going to do a total of four sets, spaced 30 minutes apart. Some people do more folds, some less but for me four is generally what I go with and what gives me results I like. If when you turn out the dough from the proving basket it spreads out a lot doing this stage poorly might be one of the issues. The stretch and folds give the dough its strength so this is an important stage. When you stretch the dough up we want to be gentle, stretching until you just feel the dough resisting. If you stretch beyond this point you are tearing the gluten strands and undoing all your good work.

Once you’ve done the stretch and folds we just wait. What we are looking for is a dough that has risen about 20-50% and shows clear signs of fermentation. This would mean a dough that jiggles when you rock the bowl gently and a dough that has bubbles on the top of the dough, especially around the edges. Once thats achieved we are ready for shaping. 

6-7pm - Shaping

Shaping has always been the part of sourdough I have struggled with, it needs to be done with a quick, light hand and lots of confidence. This is not something to question as you do it, you need to be decisive. 

Lightly flour the work surface and use a plastic dough scraper to tease the dough gently from the bowl. At this stage the underside of the dough is floured but the top is still sticky. Using lightly floured hands we are going to do a brief preshape. Go underneath the dough and fold it over itself multiple times as you go around the bowl, forming it into a rough circle. Turn the dough over and cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave to relax for 20 minutes. 

Whilst the dough is relaxing prepare you proving basket or bowl. If you using a traditional cane basket lightly dust with rice flour. Rice flour is your best friend and is wont be absorbed into the dough and helps the dough release easily from the basket. If you don’t have a basket you can use a mixing bowl. Line the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and dust that with flour.

To do the proper shaping lightly dust the top of the dough with flour and turn the dough over, using a metal bench scraper to help release it from the worksurface, turning it onto a non floured part of the work surface.

Think of the dough as a compass. Gently lift and stretch the east point of dough up and over towards the west. Gently lift and stretch the west point of dough up and over towards the east. Gently lift and stretch the north point of dough up and down towards the south. Finally gently lift and stretch the south point of the dough up and over towards the north. Turn the dough over so the seams are on the worksurface.

This rough shape now needs to be tightened up a little. Using both hands, which should remain in contact with the work surface the whole time, cup the dough and drag it towards yourself for a drag of about 15-20cm. The dough should drag along the work surface and you should feel the ball tighten up. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat the dragging, doing this a few times until the dough is taught and round. Be careful at this stage as doing this too many times will tear the dough.

Carefully lift the dough and turn it into a proving basket, the seams should be showing.

7.30pm - Proving

Pop the dough into the fridge and leave overnight

8.30am - Preheat The Oven

We are going to bake the bread in a cast iron pot, something like a large le creuset (I use a pot called a Lodge Cast Iron Combi-Cooker which I love for bread). We want it blisteringly hot so preheat it, as high as it will go, at least 250C, for a full hour.

9.30am - Baking

Take the dough from the fridge and carefully turn it out onto a crumpled piece of parchment. You can either leave the dough as it is or dust with little flour. If you leave it as it is the ridges for the cane basket will be more visible, which is a nice look. 

To control how the dough opens up as it bakes we are going to score it with a sharp blade. I use the traditional lame, a razor blade attached to a handle, but you can happily start with a sharp bread knife. The key to this stage is depth and speed. We want a cut that wont disappear as the dough bakes and we want to work with speed so the cut is nice and clean. To start off I simply do a single cut along the length of the dough. I hold the blade at an angle, almost perpendicular to the work surface which encourages the cut to open up into whats called an ear, a bit of the crust that goes really nice and crisp. Trust me when I say it takes a few goes to get a little more confident with this so don’t worry if its not perfect the first time. If we don’t score the bread it will rip and tear randomly so scoring is advised.

Remove the cast iron pot from the oven and remove the lid. Cut away the remaining parchment and carefully transfer the loaf to the pan and place the lid back on. I advise you to do this wearing oven gloves, even if I don’t wear them, as this pan will be blisteringly hot. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Baking the loaf in the pan helps to trap the moisture from the dough, creating steam so the crust is slow to form and the bread can rise to its full potential. Reduce the temperature to 220C and remove the lid and bake for a further 20 minutes or until the crust is nice and dark. If the loaf browns too quickly, in under 10 minutes, you’ll find the crust will soften quicker than desired. If this happens reduce the temperature next time to 200C after removing the lid. 

Even though it is very tempting to cut into the bread immediately leave it at least an hour before enjoying otherwise it will be a little gummy.

How To Make A Sourdough Starter

How to make a Sourdough Starter

I wonder how many times I have failed at baking sourdough bread? I have been obsessed with the idea of making amazing sourdough at home, imagining the smell as the bread bakes, the crisp crackly crusts I would get, the sheer amount of bread with salted butter I would eat, the joy of learning a new skill. But, try as I might, I could never get much further than creating the starter, it was infuriating, maddening even. Sure I made some bread, but it was just bad. Dense, closely textured, boring flavour and, well, just bad. It’s possible that it was down to the fact that I never really dedicated myself to it. Having made bread for years with no real difficulties I had arrogantly assumed I could swan in and instantly make perfect sourdough. Not so. Sourdough needs practice, you almost need to unlearn a lot of what know about bread, you need to develop a feel for it, learn what the dough is telling you, and that takes practice. At the start of this year I decided enough was enough, I need to conquer my baking nemesis, I needed to make sourdough and be happy with the loaves coming out of my oven. I started baking sourdough whenever I had the time, pulling loaves from the oven day after day, quickly filling up my freezer, giving loaves to friends, clients I had meetings with.. Thankfully the practice worked and slowly my loaves got better and better, I started getting crusts that shattered like the best bread, a crumb structure that was more and more open and flavours that were just so much better than any bread made with commercial yeast I’d ever made. I became a true sourdough nerd and I love it, almost nothing is more satisfying to me now then taking off the lid from my cast iron pan as the loaves bake and getting my first glimpse at the bread I’ve taken for a couple days to make. 

So now I want to pass on everything I have learned and I want to encourage you to try it. As much as it can seem daunting and there are many things you can do wrong. it is absolutely achievable for the regular home baker, and actually it might be a little easier than you think. First things first, the starter. When I was talking to you all on instagram the one topic that came up again and again was you either couldn’t get the starter to become active, or you killed it. Thankfully I think I can help as these were things I’ve struggled with and things I’ve learnt to overcome, but before we get to that lets make a starter. It should also be noted that there are many ways to create a starter, this is just the way I learnt and my preferred method.

Things You’ll Need

• A jar with a lid

• A 50/50 blend of organic wholemeal bread flour and white bread flour

• Digital thermometer

• Digital scale

• Small spatula

• A name for your starter, every starter needs a name (my theory is if you treat it like a pet there’s no way you’ll accidentally kill it)

Feeding Schedule

Day One - 9am

Take your clean jar and add 50g of your flour blend and to that add 50ml water that is at 26C/78F. Use your spatula to mix together until no pockets of flour remain and everything is hydrated. Place the lid on loosely, you want the starter to be able to breath so don’t fully secure it. Place the starter in a dark spot and leave for 24 hours.

Day Two - 9am

Repeat the process, adding 50g of the flour blend and 50ml water at 26C/78F, mixing together. Set aside once again for 24 hours. 

Day 3 - 9am

Pour off all but 25g (about 1 tbsp) of the starter and feed as before with 50g flour and 50g water at 26C/78F

Day 4 - 9am and 9pm

From now on we are going to feed twice a day, once in the morning and once at night (it’s normally the first thing I do when I wake up and the last thing I do before bed). The feedings are the same as day 3, discarding all but 25g of the starter and feeding with 50g flour and 50ml water. 

Day 5 - Day 7

Now we just repeat the same process as in day 4, feeding twice a day.

By the end of this process you should have a starter that doubles in size every time it’s fed but lets break down what you’ll likely see as you go through this week. After the first feed normally nothing happens, occasionally you might see a lone bubble or two hanging out on the surface, but there’ll basically be no activity. After the second or third feeding you may see a lot of bubbles, it wont be increasing in size, but it will seem super active. At this stage it’s also possible the starter may smell a little unpleasant, maybe reminiscent of sweaty shoes, or bad body odour. In this early stage as you cultivate the natural yeast and bacterias the starter goes through a few different stages of bacteria growth some of which may be unpleasant, some may also make the starter seem super active and bubble up a lot but don’t think its ready to bake with, it won’t be. Once the start is a little more mature it will settle into something more pleasant. My advice here is don’t worry, persevere, a few more feedings will normally bring everything back to a more pleasing odour. It’s also worth noting that even though there might be a layer of bubbles, if the starter isn’t increasing in size its not ready for baking so keep going for now. After day 4 you should start seeing some more obvious activity, you should be able to see it increasing in volume after every feed. At this stage I like to track how active the starter is by marking where the volume starts, allowing me to see if it doubles with each feed, you can do this with a rubber band or simply marking a piece of tape and sticking it to the jar. Once you’ve done this for a week you should have an active starter. It may take a few more days but it will get there. 

Tips to help your starter stay active and healthy

Water 

• using lukewarm water helps as fermentation needs a slightly warm environment to really get going. I use 26C/78F as in my house this means my starter will rise within about 10 hours (and then start to fall within the next two hours). If your kitchen is cool you could up the temperature a little and if it’s warm you can cool it a little, just keep it consistent. 

• I had heard, for years, that sourdough starters needed to be made with filtered or bottled water, the chlorine used in tap water affects the bacteria. Im not going to say this isn’t the case everywhere but in London where i’m based the tap water works perfectly, I’ve had no issues. If you live in an area with high chlorine levels leave water in an open jug overnight and this will rid it of the chlorine.

Use Organic Flour

• The reason this is important is organic flour is teeming with the bacteria and yeasts we are trying to cultivate. I have made starters with non organic flours, the sort you find in every supermarket and they work fine but I have found it can take a little longer. 

Use a Blend Of Flour

• I like to use a blend of wholemeal bread flour and white bread flour. The reason for this is two fold. I generally only have one starter on the go at a time and so I need something multi-purpose that can be used in all my sourdough recipes. This blend makes it useful in lots of applications. But why not all white flour? Until recently all my previous starters have been white flour but I took some advice from the Tartine Bread book and use a blend as the wholemeal flour helps create a stronger more active starter, you could also use rye flour to supercharge the starter but I use wholemeal for my first reason, I find it a more useful mix for multiple styles of breads.

FAQ’s

Since I am getting a lot of questions over on instagram as we make our sourdough starter together I thought it would be valuable to add a little FAQ section since a lot of the questions are the same and the answer could be helpful

Q. I’ve just started making a starter why does it smell of vomit
A. In the early stages of making a starter this is perfectly normal, in the first couple days unwanted bacteria might grow in the starter and this can lead to very off seeming aromas. Dont worry just keep feeding as normal and the bacteria cultures will settle into something more pleasant.

Q. I am getting a layer of water on top, in the middle or on the bottom of the jar. What is it, should I pour it off?
A. this is known as ‘hooch’ its basically water with a small layer of water. My general rule is if its clear I stir it back in, if its darker I pour it off. Hooch is a sign your starter is hungry so feed it.

Q. I religiously feed it every 12 hours right?
A. I find 12 hours is my rough window but thats because its roughly how long my starter takes to rise and then start to fall. Until you know the rhythms of your starter the level of the starter falling is the best indicator you have that its hungry and needs a feed. In my kitchen using 26C water I know I can do two daily feeds roughly 12 hours apart to keep the starter healthy, if your kitchen is hotter the starter will run out of food quicker so you might want to use colder water to slow down the fermentation to keep it two feeds a day. If your kitchen is on the cold side you might want to use water a little more like 28/29C to speed the fermentation up. This is also why its important to check the temperature of where you store the starter. I like somewhere around 20-25C.

Q. This seems like a lot of effort and my start already doubled, can’t I bake with it already?
A. No one said sourdough was quick, it needs patience and attention. To get a healthy starter that will last you for years and years, forever if you look after it properly, you need to dedicate a week to it at least. Creating a healthy consistent starter normally takes 7-10 days. After that we can happily bake with it and even store it in the fridge so we don’t have to feed it every day.

Q. Can I use plain flour, self raising flour, spelt flour etc?
A. Generally I prefer to use white bread and wholemeal bread flours but as we make this together in a time that flour is a little scarce you can basically use whatever flour you have except self raising flour, you cannot use anything with a raising agent in, it needs to be just flour.

Q. What should a healthy starter smell like?
A. all starters will be a little different but I say they should smell a little ripe, and just a tad sour. If it smells like nail polish remover or vinegar this is another sign the starter is hungry.

Q. My starter isn’t really rising should I throw it out and start again?
A. This early stage when the starter seems pretty dormant is probably when most home bakers give up and throw in the towel but just be patient with regular feeding the starter will get there, remember its a living thing and we need to look after it and in return the starter will eventually become nice and active and lead to amazing bread. Just keep feeding and it will get there.

Q. Can I switch the flour I am using.
A. The quick answer is yes but the long answer is yes but try not to. Once a starter is healthy changing the flours isn’t a problem but I find if you change the flour early on, especially in the first week you can slow down the starter so try and be consistent as much as you can.

Q. What can I do with the discard
A. Bake with it. You can basically use it in any recipe that calls for bread and liquid. Since the starter is 50% flour and 50% water just weigh the discard (you can store it in a jar in the fridge adding to it daily until your ready to bake with it) and divide that number in half. Use that number for how much liquid and flour you’ll need to take out from your recipe to replace it with starter. One thing to note is I don’t like baking with the starter until it's healthy, sometimes early starts can have unpleasant aromas and I don’t want those in my baking.

What Now

Okay, you have an active starter what now? I know the reality is that you’re not likely to bake with it more than once a week and feeding it every day, twice a day, isn’t the most practical, that’s just too much flour to wasted. Whilst you can bake other things with the discarded starter I still like to reduce the amount of feeding needed and the amount of flour that will become waste. I’ll talk more about baking with discard at a later point but for now I’d just like to point out I don’t like to bake with the discard at this early stage. Whilst you’re still growing the starter the flavour can be a little off and I don’t want those flavours in my baking, so until the starter is a little more established you will need to be happy with a little discard. You can either throw this away or compost it. 

Because of this my preferred method to reduce wastage is to keep the starter in the fridge. The chilly environment of the fridge doesn’t kill the starter it just slows it down, way down. We haven’t been able to cryogenically freeze people successfully yet but with starters we’re basically there. By popping the starter in the fridge it doesn’t need daily feeding, in fact it can hang out there for a couple weeks with needing a feed. There are just a couple things to keep in mind. When you put the starter in the fridge you need to do so an hour or two after feeding it, so that is at the start of the rise and fall curve, not the end of it. Secondly, when you bring it out of the fridge you’ll need to give it a couple feeds to revive it ready for baking. Practically this means that, if for example, you’re going to make the loaf on Saturday I would take the starter from the fridge the first thing Friday and give it a feed that morning and then again that night. Come the morning on Saturday the starter will nice and active. The third thing to note about keeping the starter in the fridge is its smell. Sometimes when you leave the starter in the fridge for a long time it will develop a thin layer of liquid on top, this is called hooch, its basically alcohol. This can give the starter an astringent, nail polish like smell. If this is the case, simply pour off this layer and, yes you guessed it, give the starter a few feeds, the smell will return to normal and you’ll have a nice healthy starter again. Trust me, my last sourdough starter was left abandoned in the fridge for a few months and had a lot of alcohol and smelled like it belonged in nail salon. After feeding it for a few days it was back to health. 

I really hope you give the starter a go, its so satisfying when you pull that first loaf of bread from the oven and that s satisfaction only grows when you devour the bread. Next week I will be posting a video from a bakery where I went to get help with making the bread and to get answers to a whole bunch of questions you guys sent me about sourdough, so my go-to recipe for sourdough bread, my house loaf, will be posted the week after that. Until then, happy baking.

Rhubarb and Custard Brioche Tarts

All I can say is thank god our tastes change and develop as we get older. As a child I winced at the sharp, almost sour rhubarb we grew in the garden, only happy to eat it when topped with a layer of crumble and accompanied with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Coming from the rhubarb triangle, its a real place I swear look it up, this comes close to treason in the minds of my fellow Yorkshire folk. To be fair to my childhood taste buds this was not the wonderful forced rhubarb I adore today it was thick, woody and with no hint of pink. Thankfully these days I cannot get enough, it brightens up those cold winter months, a shining star in a world of grey. When it comes to rhubarb no one does it better than Yorkshire, home of the best forced rhubarb in the UK. Forcing is a process of growing rhubarb in dark huts which speeds up the growth resulting in beautifully thin and tender stalks of rhubarb with that delightful pink blush we all associated with rhubarb.

I know the web is full of recipes declaring they’re the best, the ultimate, the best darn recipe you will ever make so I will say this as even handed as I can manage, these are utterly delicious, sorry I couldn’t help myself, they’re just too good not to shout about from the rooftops, you need to make these, I implore you. The combination of rhubarb and custard is a well trodden path, reaching classic status for sure. To add another element I infused the custard with a selection of my favourite things that just so happen to pair wonderfully with the rhubarb. A handful of fresh ginger, a sprinkling of ground cardamom, a couple star anise and of course a healthy dose of vanilla, which all meshes together to give the custard a flavour worthy of the rhubarb that sits atop it. 

I have been making a version of these tarts (or buns I’m still not sure what to call them) for years, a blueberry topped version appears on the paperback cover of my book Patisserie Made Simple and is the version I made most often, but this new rhubarb brioche is definitely the only one I am making from now on. 

Rhubarb and Custard Brioche Tarts

Brioche
180g plain flour
180g strong bread flour
30g caster sugar
1 tsp fine salt
85ml whole milk, cold
7g dried fast action yeast
3 large eggs, plus one for glazing
150g unsalted butter, diced
Pearl sugar, for decoration

Spiced Custard
250ml whole milk
thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, sliced
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 star anise
100g caster sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
20g cornflour
25g unsalted butter, diced

Roasted Rhubarb
250g rhubarb
20g caster sugar
juice of 1 orange (I used a blood orange)
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

For the brioche place the flours, sugar salt and yeast into the bowl of a stand mixer and briefly mix to combine. Add the milk and egg and then knead of low/medium speed for about 10 minutes or until the dough is no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl. Add the butter and piece or two at a time, mixing until fully incorporated. Knead for a further 10 minutes or until the dough is no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl and smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a bowl, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate overnight. 

Note: the butter doesn’t want to be soft or warm but not cold from the fridge either, it needs to be pliable but still a little cool, when mixing we don’t want to warm up the dough, otherwise we’ll end up with a greasy dough.

Prepare the custard now too as it means come the morning when you assemble the tarts there is little work to do. Place the milk, flavourings and half the sugar into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat, cover and set aside for an hour or so to infuse. After an hour bring the milk back to a simmer. Meanwhile whisk together the sugar and cornflour (doing this will prevent the cornflour going lumpy). Add the egg and yolks and whisk until smooth. Pour in the milk and whisk to combine. Pour the custard back into the pan, through a fine mesh sieve to remove the flavourings then place the pan back on the heat. Whisking constantly, cook the custard until it is thick, almost the consistency of wallpaper paste. Scrape the finished custard into a bowl, add the butter and mix until fully combined. Press a sheet of clingfilm onto the surface of the custard and refrigerate until needed.

In the morning take the brioche from the fridge and divide into 10 equal sized pieces. This can be done by eye or by weight, which is my preference. Form the brioche into balls and then flatten into discs, about 11-12cm wide. Use these discs of dough like pastry to line 10cm loose bottom tart tins, the excess of the dough will go up the sides as if making a tart shell. Place these onto a parchment lined baking tray and lightly cover with clingfilm or a tea towel, setting them aside for about an hour or until the dough has risen and is puffy, if you gently press the dough with your hand it should spring back very slowly, if it springs back fully it needs a little extra time. 

As the brioche proves we can work on the rhubarb. Cut into little battons, about 7cm wide and place onto a baking tray, sprinkling with the sugar, pouring over the orange juice and vanilla. Bake at 180C (160C fan) for about 10-12 minutes just until starting to soften. The baked rhubarb doesn’t want to be fully cooked as it will go back in the oven atop the brioche but it needs to be on its way. Set aside until the brioche is ready.

To assemble remove the custard from the fridge and beat to loosen a little. Brush the edges of the brioche with a beaten egg and then fill the middle of each tart with custard, topping each with a few stalks of rhubarb. Finish by sprinkling the exposed edge of the tarts with pearl sugar which will give a nice look and added texture. If you can get hold of pearl sugar you can use any bake proof sugar you like, be it sanding sugar, demerara or coffee crystals. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the exposed brioche is golden brown. Remove and set aside to cool.

You can serve the brioche still slightly warm or room temperature which ever you prefer. These are best on the day made but you can also serve them a couple days after baking, gently reheating in  the oven will make them feel fresh again.