Tea Bread Recipe
Image source: Pix4free
This recipe was provided by our Artist in Residence, Delali Adiamah.
Tea Bread is similar to a baguette. It is less in sugar and dusted with a good amount of flour.
Ingredients:
3 cups (384g) of all-purpose flour
2tbsp (25g) of sugar
1/4cup (57g) of butter
1tsp (5g) of salt
1/2tsp (2.5g) of nutmeg
1/2tsp (2.5g) of pineapple flavour or vanilla extract
3/4 - 1 cup (6-8fl oz or 177-236ml) of warm water
2tsp (10g) of yeast
Directions:
Place the flour, salt, butter, nutmeg in a mixing bowl and mix together. Add the melted butter.
Put 50ml of the warm water in a bowl, add the yeast, 1 tsp sugar and whisk. Set it aside to froth. This may take up to 15 minutes.
Now add this to the flour mixture and mix until well incorporated.
Add the 300ml of water and mix the flour into a dough.
Knead the dough until it is very elastic.
Grease a glass bowl with butter. Roll the dough into a ball and place in the greased bowl. Rub the dough with the butter and turn the dough up, so the buttered face is up.
Cover the bowl with cling film and place in a warm place for the dough to rise. You can create a warm environment by warming up the oven to 100°C. When the set temperature is reached, switch it off and leave the oven light on.
Once doubled in size, this may take an hour, place on a floured surface and knead, knocking out the air. Cut it up into 6 equal pieces and knead it into a bun on a lightly floured surface. Alternatively Roll into oblong shapes. Lightly butter and flour your choice of baking tray. Place the buns in the tray, ensuring that they are equally spaced. If going for the oblong shapes, line a baking tray with baking paper, create compartments as shown and place each dough in each compartment. Lightly dust the dough with flour, this is optional.
Cover with a damp warm cloth. Using a rolling pin or something suitable to prevent the cloth from touching the dough.
Leave in a warm place for it to rise and double in size. This may take 30 minutes to an hour depending on the warmth of the environment. Don’t let it over proof.
Heat up the oven to 180°C. Place the baking tray on a top shelf.
Bake the dough for 30 minutes and then place a bowl of cold water on the bottom shelf. This will create steam in the oven to help create a lovely crust on the bread.
Turn up the heat to 200°C and bake till the bread is light brown. This may take another 20 minutes.
Once the light brown color has been achieved, take it out of the oven, cover the bread with a cloth and let it rest to cool down. Remove the cloth after 5 minutes and continue to let it cool down completely.
Once cooled, serve with your favourite beverage or sandwich.