DWP Bake-off!!

A quick post about my day - we had a bake-off at the Department of Work and Pensions, and I won the savoury competition. Hurrah!!

I had thought about entering last week but given that I had a night out yesterday I decided not to bother, because I would have to be up all night baking my entry. However, I got home about 9pm last night and got a Facebook message from a friend at work, inquiring whether I had started my baking. Since I was at the two pint stage (where everything is a good idea), I immediately got going on my bake.

I had decided ages ago that I wanted to bake a bread centrepiece, which is my favourite kind of bake. Since I bake bread for boyfriend every single weekend, it wasn't exactly a huge challenge, but I did go for something extra special. The recipe I used was from the Great British Bakeoff 2014: a goat's cheese and olive braided Moroccan loaf. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it on TV, and I do believe it is going to be my go-to I-want-to-impress loaf.

The British Bake-off version.
I think mine looked better (less dense)

Here's the recipe:

********************

Starter:

Mix 400g strong bread flour with 4g yeast and 400ml warm water. Leave to bubble and froth for 30 minutes.

Building up bread and gluten:

Add another 400g flour, some more yeast, salt and plenty of olive oil. Knead and knead for a good 15 minutes, then pop in an oiled bowl, cover with cellophane and leave to rise in a warm place for an hour or two. Or, if like me you've left it to the last minute, leave in a cold, mid-winter kitchen all night.

Filling:

When the bread has risen enough, make the filling. Mix tomato puree with harissa, a few strands of saffron and olive oil. Chop the goat's cheese and black and green olives.

Making and plaiting the loaf:

Put the risen dough on a lightly floured surface. Divide into four roughly even-sized balls, and roll out into rectangles using a rolling pin. Down the centre of each rectangle, spread the filling and top with the goat's cheese and olives (I'd also be tempted to put some basil or something in here too...just a thought). Then roll the rectangles into sausage shapes and make sure they're nice and tight so none of the filling falls out. Next, roll the dough sausages along the surface top until they're long and thin. Perfect.

To plait the loaf, put the dough strands side by side and attach the top together. Then braid in the following way:

Strand 4 over strand 2

Strand 1 over strand 3

Strand 2 over strand 3

and repeat and repeat again. When fully braided, twist the plait around a small ovenproof bowl and put on a floured baking tray. Now leave to rise for another hour.

Baking:

Before baking, some people might like to brush the top of the loaf with a combination of egg and a wee bit of milk. I don't do this though, as I think it makes the crust come way too crusty. I just pop it straight into a 200 deg C pre-heated oven for 20 mins, and then a further 25 mins at 180 degrees. And it's done!!

********************

I recommend serving this bread with a roasted onion hoummus in the bowl in the centre. I bet it's delicious.

The finished product,
hot from the oven

Getting this bread to work today was an absolute 'mare however. I had to put the loaf on a pizza tray and wrap it with cellophane to keep it stable - not a good idea when the bread is still warm from the oven and condensating all over itself. Also the smell coming from that loaf was incredible, and if any dogs had come on the train it would not have survived!!

Well it made it into work safe and sound and I had to spend the entire morning with it sitting on my desk, protecting it from glaze-eyed people who looked like they just wanted to sink their teeth into it. I was starving by the time the competition came around, but it was worth showing some self-control and not stealing a slice, because I was rewarded with a lovely bottle of champagne as my prize!

My prize!!!

I'd like to say that the competition was fierce, but shockingly most people entered the sweet competition (19 different cakes), and my sole competitors were some sausage rolls, giant scotch eggs and some delicious samosas (I totes bought one of those after). But still, coming first out of four is still something so I'll just take that as a win. And afterwards they went around the department selling off slices of everything (the money went to charity), and I'm very pleased that they charged £2 a slice for my bread. So I totes feel like I did something good today :D