HOT CROSS BUN TIRAMISU

Another #7daysofbread suggestion from @bakingequalslove
This is ideal for an Easter dessert. It offers you a delicious way to use up your hot cross buns and spare Easter eggs:

Hot Cross Bun Tiramisu (photo and recipe by @bakingequalslove)

1 hot cross bun
~30mL espresso / strong coffee
~30mL Marsala / coffee favoured liqueur
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup mascarpone
1/2 cup whipped cream
1 TBSP icing sugar
Chocolate Easter egg to grate

* Fold whipped cream, mascarpone together with icing sugar.
* Add sugar to hot coffee and let cool. Add Marsala and stir.
* Cut hot cross bun in half.
* In a glass, layer:
Mascarpone mixture, grated chocolate egg, bottom half of hot cross bun, a couple of Tablespoons of coffee mixture, the rest of the mascarpone mixture, more grated chocolate, the top of the hot cross bun dunked in coffee mixture
* Grated chocolate to finish

For the reel version, go to our Instagram April ‘23 page:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cq111DCpglU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

📷💭🙏 For more beautiful photos and food inspo, check out: Nessie Sharpe @bakingequalslove

For other #7daysofbread ideas, have a hunt around for the hashtag on our site or Instagram. We’ll keep adding to it!

local proverb

A meeting without snacks…

…is just an email

~ Morty

Challah is a Friday thing

Challah is a beautiful bread and an increasingly popular one around this neck of the woods. You may have grown up with it and associate it with candlelight and wine, friends, family and blessings on Friday nights. Or you might be wondering why we don’t bake it all the time. We’re getting lots of orders for it, because, well, obviously (it’s delicious). So let’s talk challah.

Challah is an enriched white yeasted bread served on Fridays. More specifically, it’s eaten on the Jewish sabbath (which starts on Friday at sunset and ends after dark on Saturday). Challah also plays an important role on certain Jewish holidays like Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Challah is not eaten at Passover because it’s a leavened bread (which is why we didn’t sell it at Easter this year). Challah is one of many incredible Jewish breads and pastries. (You know bagels and babka, right? There are so many more.) Challah is soft and full of flavour. It’s a bit like brioche, but made with oil, not butter, so is basically your dream white bread, especially if you don’t do dairy. It makes the most incredible french toast. And it comes with the added tactile pleasure of usually being braided, meaning it pulls apart with style and flare.

Challah also speaks of blessings and of the traditions that bring friends and families together every Shabbat. Challah functions as a physical metaphor for manna from heaven at the sabbath meal. It is baked for sharing during shabbat; candles lit, wine poured, blessings made and prayers shared. Then rip it, slice it, savour it, enjoy it, appreciate it. It’s beautiful bread.

Because challah is a ‘specialty’ bread, eaten at certain times and as part of a long spiritual tradition, we work closely with the Rabbi and The Kosher Deli on Greys Ave around when and how we bake it. Hopefully this helps get you in the mood for challah. If you want to know more, of course, there is a lot of literature out there! In the Auckland Public Libraries, for example, you might try Braided; A Journey of a Thousand Challahs by Beth Ricanati. You’ll be baking your own challah before you finish!

Basic challah ingredients: wheat flour, eggs (cracked and checked individually in kosher tradition), olive oil, water, salt, sugar, yeast; may contain traces of soy.

Sometimes, we add raisins, or coat it in sesame seeds. Depends on the time of year (or if someone’s getting married, etc.). Again, we work closely with Greys Ave Kosher Deli on this.

Note that the ‘c’ in challah is basically silent. Google “how to pronounce challah” if you are unsure!

Bread science and health - a podcast

The science of bread production and bread digestion makes for a fascinating political story.

It’s also a bit of a rabbit hole, if I’m honest, but throw in Russia’s most recent invasion of Ukraine and the “wheat war” that we may all be facing, and you’ve got a political discussion worth forming an opinion on; and that’s before we get sidetracked by fibre content and nutritional benefits… Wheat and bread are topics to be informed about in 2022.

Bacteria; nutrition; food labelling; traditional foods; modern diets; ancient civilisation; twentieth century food production; factories; grain markets; shelf lives; urban life; local foodways and international economics... It’s all in the science of bread and it’s incredibly interesting. If you want to get started on this discussion, here is a podcast. We all love a good podcast, right?! (It’s not long and it’s a good overview!)

Can bread be healthy? - podcast by ZOE Science & Nutrition (on all the usual podcast channels)

One of Minchin’s beautiful wheat fields. Canterbury, New Zealand, 2022

The ZOE podcast blurb goes as follows: “It’s no exaggeration to say that bread shaped modern humanity - it was the cultivation of wheat for flour that transformed our ancestors from hunter-gatherers to city dwellers. Today, millions of us start the day with a slice of toast, and most lunches in the US and UK are wrapped in a slice of bread or a burger bun as a cheap, flexible, and delicious energy source. But modern industrial processes designed to reduce the time and cost of baking mean today’s bread would be unrecognizable to our ancestors.  Today’s bread tastes good but has lost most of its nutritional content. With most of its fiber gone, and no time for bacteria to work its fermenting magic, bread has become a simple starch, rapidly turned into sugar in our blood and offering little to support our gut bacteria. For this reason, bread is increasingly demonized as an evil carb. In today’s episode, Jonathan speaks to two authorities on the subject to ask: Can bread can ever be healthy?”

• “Vanessa Kimbell is an author, founder of the sourdough school, and a specialist in bread nutrition and digestibility.

• “Tim Spector is a co-founder at ZOE and one of the top 100 most cited scientists in the world.”
  
  

  https://feeds.captivate.fm/zoe_science_and_nutrition/

Sourdough Hotels

It’s an actual thing; hotels for sourdough starters. Gotta love Europe!

Sourdough starter holiday life

Marty's grain

Good sourdough relies on good grain…. here is Marty from Minchin’s Milling talking about his (it’s why our breads have such great flavour). If the milling process is a mystery to you, or if you just want to know your farmer, have a look!

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Your grain makes Level 4 taste better, Marty @MinchinsMilling !

#awkwardphotosbyAucklandersinCanterburyfields

#watchoutforelectricfences

#eatNZgrains

#freshlymilled

#knowyourfarmer #knowyourmiller #knowyourbaker

#yougetthepicture #flourtothepeople

Home delivery update

During Level 4 and 3, we are now offering contactless home delivery Tuesday - Friday. Pre-order at: https://the-dusty-apron-nz.myshopify.com/

Why and how?

Our bakers have been in their bubbles for over a week and are healthy, well, (and checking locations of interest daily). We therefore reopened with a skeleton crew to supply our wholesale essential services and are offering home delivery, too.

We can review the range we’re offering and the days of delivery as the levels open up and we expand operations. For now, this is how we keep it safe.

All our usual pandemic PPE practices are in place, following Ministry and food safety guidelines.

Hygiene, kindness, social distance, and traceability - our promise

We’re doing what we can and we know you are too. Loving the community outreach. Loving the local.
Keep safe NZ! Thanks for everything you’re doing.

https://covid19.govt.nz/health-and-wellbeing/protect-yourself-and-others/

On compost...

Our wraps are fully compostable - and yes I mean compostable at home!

I’ve trialled it to make sure. I reckon a week or two tops (if you turn your compost properly when you add it; If it just sits on top, you will still have our awesome Dusty Apron logo looking back at you a week later).

My compost was completely emptied during the first lockdown but is back and happily full of worms again. As with all paper products, I rip it up into smaller pieces before adding it.

I compost bread too, by the way.

TIP ON COMPOSTING BREAD: soak it in liquid until it breaks apart into a soft porridge-like glug, then mix it in so well that it’s spread evenly and fully connected to your active compost. If you just throw a hunk of hard bread in, it keeps its shape, goes moldy on the outside and takes ages to break down (which usually only happens after lots of rain).
I know there are purists, but when it comes to compost, my basic principle is: If we eat it, then the worms and their compost friends will too. (Meat complicates this theory for obvious reasons, but that’s what bokashi bins are for!). I love giving everything to my worms, so there you go! Our wraps are compostable. You’re welcome.

Oh, and why is compostable wrap important to us? Because carbon emissions from global food waste are FOUR times those generated by the aviation industry! (That’s horrific! Also a pre-COVID stat, but you get the idea) And why is food waste so bad for the environment? … As I understand it at its most basic: because the landfill approach to waste means everything is just buried, creating an anaerobic environment for decomposition so that even the most compostable organic materials, like food, are broken down anaerobically. This produces methane gas and other gases harmful to the environment and our atmosphere. We don’t want to be part of that problem! So… even if you aren’t a gardener, I encourage you to compost your waste and let it degrade as nature intended (with air!) xxxx

Bread care

First few days: Not in the fridge! Unsliced is best.

Keep it on the counter wrapped in a cloth (clean teatowel works!). You can use a slightly damp one if you want to overnight, then pop it in a hot oven for five minutes or so to refresh it. You’ll find what works for you with your oven quick enough.

Avoid keeping it next to windows or in direct sunlight.

After days 1-3 ish: Sliced into the freezer works great!

As do toast and croutons (soups and salads!),
bruschetta (where do I even start and do you seriously have enough bread left over to feast out properly?!),
breadcrumbs (amazing meatballs and crumbed fish and chicken or schnitzel and all the other delicious crumbed dishes…)

You can freeze bread fresh and whole (even better). Then just refresh it in a standard oven 10-15 minutes (you know your oven and how crispy you like it!). This works so well, you might not even notice the difference! Only thing is… how much freezer space do you have???

Note: sourdough lasts longer than unfermented bread because the acidity of the starter inhibits bacteria and molds.
(The exception being those packaged ‘breads’ you buy that don’t go moldy after two years forgotten in the back of your cupboard; what the heck are those things made with???? Nothing grows on them!!!!)

As for croissants, pastries and baguettes: eat immediately if possible! There’s a reason French bakeries usually do small batches of these throughout the day.

To refresh these, though, just pop them in the oven for a few minutes (not too long!).

Want to know more? Try: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/the-best-way-to-store-bread/