Mint, Yoghurt and Lime Bread

This is the first savoury recipe of the blog and it had to be bread.  I’ve been making bread for a while now but I’m not regular at it and still consider myself a beginner – I know bread recipes but I’m far from knowledgeable about all the techniques that go into making good bread.  Although I have the good intentions of baking bread regularly, sometimes I just get lazy and buy supermarket produce for a while.  Then I’ll make the resolution again to bake my own as much as possible because it is much healthier and doesn’t have additives and it’s better for the children and so on.

Truth is that fitting bread making into your day takes a bit of organisation.  It takes a while for it to become routine and you have to give it a chance if you want it to become a daily thing.  Sometimes I can manage it for a good while but so far I have always let go eventually.  I do come back to it though.  Because I really do enjoy making bread – maybe almost as much as making cakes.  But not quite.

I've decided to invest in some good bread books, something that can explain and show all the techniques as well as recipes, and currently have in my Amazon basket Bread (River Cottage Handbook No.3) by Daniel Stevens, Artisan Breads Everyday by Peter Reinhart, The Handmade Loaf by Dan Lepard, Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson, Local Breads by Daniel Leader, The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum, Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques by Jeffrey Hamelman, English Bread and Yeast Cookery by Elizabeth David and The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown.  I think I will need to do a lot more research on them before deciding which ones to buy.

I feel that bread is almost as good a medium as cakes to experiment with flavours.  Probably even more so since you can really showcase the savoury as well as the sweet.  Although I do have to admit I find savoury bread far more appealing than sweet.

This bread was inspired by one of my favourite dips.  It consists of yoghurt, lime zest, lime juice, chopped mint and seasoned with salt.  Sometimes I add in grated cucumber for texture and sometimes toasted cumin for bite and sometimes both.  It’s very versatile and I love it with kebabs and in my family we make kebabs a lot, hence this is an oft made dip.  I thought the combination of mint, lime and yoghurt would translate well into bread so tried it out.

I didn’t use fresh mint because the crop growing in my parents’ garden has just wilted away in the cold weather here in Dundee (it’s been snowing!).  Instead I utilised Egyptian mint tea which I buy from my local tea and coffee shop.  The dried mint is much more potent than the fresh so it’s much easier to infuse the flavour into the bread.  Also, I wanted to incorporate the mint into the actual batter and thought this would work better in its dried form.

I baked this in a loaf tin rather than freeform which was a big mistake.  I always bake my bread freeform and I don’t know why I decided to use a loaf tin this time.  I think I wanted the end product to look good in pictures maybe – you know, look like a proper slice of bread.  Never again.  First of all I made the mistake of lining the tin with foil which ended up just getting completely stuck to the end product.  The very middle on one side didn’t quite bake through, although the rest was baked fine.  Also, the bottom part of the loaf (that which was in the tin) had a paler look to it than normal and I didn’t like it.  I never have these problems when I just bung a vaguely oval shaped dough onto a baking sheet, so it probably was the inexperience of working with the tin. 

But I made other silly mistakes as well, like not slashing the top of the loaf and forgetting to add the wheat bran and crushed dried mint topping which I wanted.  Bottom line was, I was rushed that day and trying to cook the family dinner while I also baked the bread.  This is why it’s good to be organised properly when attempting bread.

This tasted like the savoury dip it was modelled after.  I think the 2 tsp of salt I added was a bit too much so I’ve decreased this to 1 tsp in the recipe below (I wouldn’t add in more than 1 ½ tsp).  The bread is moist but sturdy and you really get the tang from the yoghurt coming through in each bite.  You feel the mint and lime rather than taste them outright, more like an aroma of the ingredients hitting you but then aroma does play such a vital part in the taste experience.  This is fantastic toasted and slathered with salted butter in the morning.

Mint, Yoghurt and Lime Bread

·         300ml water

·         1 tbsp dried loose mint

·         2 limes, zest

·         100ml Greek Yoghurt

·         2 limes, zest

·         1 ½ tsp fast action yeast

·         400g strong white flour

·         100g spelt flour

·         1 tsp sea salt

·         1 tbsp dried loose mint

Boil the water with 1 tbsp dried mint and the zest of two limes so the flavour infuses into the water – the longer you can leave it for the more it will infuse with the flavours.  Strain the water (discard the used mint and zest) and leave to cool.  Whisk the yoghurt into about 200ml of the infused water.  Add the zest of the remaining two limes to the wet mix.

Combine the flours, yeast, salt and dried mint together in a large bowl.  Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry and mix together to form a dough.  If you feel the dough is too stiff, add a little more of the retained water – the dough should be a little on the sticky side but not too difficult to handle.  Cover the bowl and leave for about 10-15 minutes.

Oil a worktop and start kneading the dough, pushing the dough away from you then pulling back.  The dough will be quite wet but do the best you can.  It will look and feel messy but will come together eventually becoming more elastic as you develop the gluten – you should feel a little difference in texture.  Knead for about 10 minutes.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, spraying a little oil on top of the dough too.  Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge overnight.

In the morning, turn the dough out from the bowl and knock it back gently, no need to be too vigorous.  Then knead it into the desired shape.  I usually go for a longish oval shape or a round and place the ‘seam’ side down when leaving it to prove (rise for the last time before placing it in the oven).  As I used a tin this time, I kneaded it as usual, then bringing the outsides in (sorry, it’s the best I can do to describe the process), I shaped this into a rectangle that would comfortably fit into my tin.  I placed the dough into the tin seam side down, covered it loosely with oiled clingfilm and left it to prove in a warmish place.  

As it was an exceptionally cold day in Scotland (-1°C) mines took over an hour to prove.  It doesn’t usually take that long.  You’ll need to judge the time on the prove yourself.  Basically what you’re looking for is the dough to rise to almost double its height – no more.  You can actually over prove the dough which is not good.  

Make sure the oven is preheated to at least 250C for a good 20 minutes before placing the loaf into the oven.  It’s important for the oven to be as warm as possible for your loaf to get a good rise and crust.  I baked mine for a little over 1 hour, decreasing the heat 190C after 25 minutes.  I suspect if you bake it free-form it won’t take as long, but it is important to keep an eye on it especially if it begins browning too much on the outside (in which case place some foil over it).  I would give it at least 40 minutes in the oven and then start checking to see if it’s done (it should sound hollow when you knock the bottom and it should also feel a lot lighter than when you put it in).

Leave to cool on a wire rack.