Hello again. Today’s review is something a little different from the Co-operative: pumpkin seed bread. My experience of their sourdough bread mix was unfavorable, so this mix might be better, mightn’t it?
The pack can make one loaf or ten rolls. I go for the rolls in a tear n share style. You will need to add 280ml lukewarm water (more on that later). Let’s take a look at the dry mix itself…
Okay, there are some seeds in there but not to the level I had expected. Still, the flavour of the bread is the important thing here, not the number of sunflower seeds. To make the bread, add water and combine until a soft dough is formed. At this stage I have to point out that the amount of water stated in the directions is not enough. A dry mix of 500g is capable of taking more than 280ml water and still be workable. In fact 320ml is what I add and the dough comes together nicely. The 280ml will make a very stiff dough that would surely not come together properly. Here’s mine…
A smooth, supple and easy to work ball of loveliness! Not looking like pancake batter nor a brick. Spot on. I could have followed the Co-operative to the word, but why spoil the potential of this bread? Okay, after giving the dough its usual workout (knead & stretch, knead & stretch) leave it covered until it doubles in size. As it happens, the first rise took well under an hour (warm day, warm kitchen @24°c). The directions tell me to knock back the dough and shape into a ball, so I do. However, being a cheeky devil, I go for a second bulk rise now rather than forming rolls or shaping a loaf. In the fridge for two hours and we have this…
Looks good and is very soft to the touch. Now, divide in to ten pieces (or for my purposes, nine pieces). If you want a loaf from this mix then shape it any way you like. For my tear & share bread a spring-form baking pan is needed. Arrange the dough balls like this…
and leave for one more hour until the pieces have come together and formed something like this…
Of course, I added the sunflower seeds on top. Finally, bake @230°c for 15 minutes for rolls, 35 minutes for a loaf. Open the oven and find…
Oh, yeah! How good does that look? Kudos to the Co-operative for this mix: light and soft textured bread, but please, 320ml water not 280ml.
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Score 4/5
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