Sandwich bread

Method

Poolish

1. Into a small bowl, add the yeast and water. Stir it together to dissolve, then add in the flour. Whisk this through with a hand whisk to create a wet batter with no lumps of flour.

2. Cover the bowl with a sheet of cling film and leave it at room temperature for 3 hours. After 3 hours you should see lots of bubbles on the surface and the mixture will have puffed up.

Dough

1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the poolish that has bubbled up, and the remaining ingredients. It is ideal to use diastatic malt powder here to help with the flavour and the colouring of the bagels. You can leave it out, or add a little bit of barley malt syrup instead (2 tsp) as a replacement.

2. Attach the dough hook and mix on a medium speed for 10-12 minutes, until the dough is smooth and when you take a small piece of dough and stretch it between your fingers, it passes the window pane test.

3. Shape the dough into a ball, and then place it into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl and chill the dough for 30 minutes in the fridge.

4. Once chilled, cut the dough into 100g pieces, and roll them into tight balls.

5. Place them onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper, and lightly spray the top with cooking oil. If you don’t have cooking spray you can very lightly brush them with any type of neutral oil.

6. Cover the surface with cling film and refrigerate again for 30 minutes.

7. Take the chilled dough, and use your finger to press a hold in the centre. Then place both index fingers in the hole and spin them around, to create a large hole in the centre of the bagel. The hole needs to be bigger than you think as it will shrink as it proofs and bakes.

8. Place the donuts back onto a tray, lightly oil and cover them with cling film again.  Proof for 30 minutes at room temperature, before placing them in the fridge overnight or for 12 hours.

9. The next day, prepare a large baking tray with your chosen bagel toppings. Preheat the oven to 220C/430F Non-Fan assisted.

10. Take a large pot and add the water, malt extract, baking soda and salt. Bring this to a gentle simmer.

11. Working in batches, poach the bagels in the liquid, for 60 seconds on each side (I do two batches of 3 bagels, then a final batch of 2 bagels).

12. Immediately remove them from the liquid using a slotted spoon, and lift them directly onto a wire rack to drain briefly.

13. Next, working quickly, lift them into your bagel seasoning. Flip the bagels to ensure they are evenly coated in the seasoning. Lift the coated bagels onto a baking tray lined with a sheet of parchment paper.

14. Bake the bagels for 20-22 minutes, or until they are a deep golden brown colour. Note – you’ll probably only be able to fit 6 bagels on your baking tray at a time, so I bake 6 bagels first, leaving the remaining 2 bagels in the fridge, before poaching and baking them. Alternatively, you can bake all 8 at once on two separate trays, ensuring you swap the trays over halfway through the bake.

15. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool or serve slightly warm. These are best stored in an airtight container and eaten within 48 hours but may need to be heated up slightly if left for over a day.

Method

1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add all of the ingredients, except the butter.

2. Knead the dough on a medium-low speed for 5 minutes, scraping down the sides occasionally to ensure nothing is sticking to the edges.

3. After 5 minutes, add the cold cubed butter a few pieces at a time, waiting about 10 seconds in between each addition. 

4. Once you have added all the butter, knead for 5 minutes and then turn your stand mixer off for 5 minutes. This will help with the development of the gluten and make it easier to knead. After 5 minutes, knead for a further 7 minutes, or until the dough appears smooth, and a small piece of dough passes the windowpane test. This is where you take a small piece of dough and stretch it out between your fingers. The dough shouldn’t tear, and you should be able to see through the dough. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

5. Scoop the dough onto your work surface and give it a brief knead and smooth it into a round ball.

6. Very lightly oil a large bowl and lift the dough into it. Cover the bowl with a sheet of cling film and refrigerate the dough overnight/12 hours.

7. Once chilled, remove the dough from the fridge and cut it into 80g pieces. This will give you ‘demi baguette’ size loaves. If you want large loaves, almost like a large baguette, you can do 160g pieces.

8. Shape the dough into rough balls, and cover them with a tea towel and allow to rest for 5 minutes on the work surface.

9. Once rested, flip the dough over so the seam is facing up, and use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a rough oval shape. You will need a little bit of flour to stop it sticking as you roll but avoid using too much otherwise it will be difficult to seal them.

10. Take the oval and with the long edge in line with your body, fold one third of the dough towards the centre, and firmly seal it to the dough with the heel of your hand.

11. Rotate the dough 180 degrees, and fold the top ⅓ of the dough into the centre and seal it with the heel of your hand. 

12. Then fold the top edge of the dough all the way over to meet the bottom edge. Seal it again firmly with the heel of your hand.

13. Then just lightly roll the sealed dough back and forth under both hands.

14. The buns can be left plain or covered in seeds. If you want to cover them in a topping, simply brush some water over the bun, then coat it liberally with your topping.

15. The vienna bread has an iconic slashed design, so using a very sharp razor blade, make slashes at a slight angle across the entire loaf. Slash deeper than you may think.

16. These are traditionally baked in perforated baguette moulds – they create a perfect shape for the vienna bread and allow for even air flow. Alternatively you can simply place them on a tray lined with a baking sheet.

17. Lift them onto the tray, evenly spaced and proof at room temperature, covered with a tea towel, for 2 hours. They should have doubled in size.

18. Just before they have proofed, pre-heat the oven to 200C/390F Non-Fan Assisted.

19. Once proofed, splash a small amount of water into the bottom of the oven, and then place them into the centre, baking for around 18-20 minutes or until golden in colour.

20. Remove them from the oven, and allow to cool slightly before serving. These are best stored in an airtight container and eaten within 48 hours.