Wow I can’t believe I missed so many Fresh From the Oven Challenges!!! I need to give myself less excuse and get on with it, even though that might mean having to stay up till 12 at night to wait for my loaf to come out, haha.
And that’s exactly what I did for this. I’ve put Ashleigh to bed and started grating courgettes at 8pm… I was so determined to make this one because we have a crazy supply of courgettes with our 4 plants!
The recipe is from Sally, the owner of the lovely blog My Custard Pie. Here’s how to make it:
Ingredients
- 450g courgettes, grated coarsely
- Salt (for degorging and for the dough)
- 675g strong white bread flour
- 2 sachets of easy-blend/fast-action yeast or 14g instant dried yeast
- 3 tablespoons parmesan, grated
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Tepid water – about 200ml
- Milk, to glaze
- Sesame seeds, to sprinkle
Method
- Place the courgettes in a colander, sprinkle lightly with salt. Allow the juices to drain for about half-an-hour, then rinse well in cold water and pat dry
- If using instant yeast whisk it into 90 ml of the tepid water until frothy and dissolved. Mix the flour, yeast, parmesan, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and some black pepper together in a bowl, then stir in the olive oil and courgettes. Add some more water until the mixture comes together as a firm, soft dough. I did this and the kneading in my KitchenAid with the dough hook.
- If kneading by hand, turn the dough onto a lightly floured board or work surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Lightly oil a bowl and put the dough into rise, covered with cling film or a cloth, for about one hour or until doubled in size.
- Knock back the dough in the bowl (punch the air out of it) and then http://premier-pharmacy.com/product-category/gastrointestinal/ turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead again briefly until smooth.
- Divide the dough into eight equal pieces and roll to shape into even balls. Lightly grease and line the base of a 23 cm cake tin with baking parchment. Place one ball of dough in the middle and all the others around it.
- Brush the tops of rolls with milk and sprinkle over some sesame seeds. Cover again with oiled cling film or a cloth and leave to prove until doubled in size and the balls touch each other – about 30 minutes.
- Put into a preheated oven at 200 C for about 25 minutes until golden brown and cooked. Cool on a wire rack. Tear each roll off to eat as a bun.
As you can see… I didn’t make clusters of buns, I just poured it into a tin because the courgette is too moist and the dough was just way too wet… so it’s too sticky to be rolled into buns. To be honest I didn’t expect the loaf to be edible because it was just so wet, but! It turned out fine and I even attempted a single bun.
Funny enough tonight’s Great British Bake Off is having a bread night. And one of them baked a courgette loaf. Shock of all shocks, his loaf was “too wet” according to the bread god Paul Hollywood. And he said courgette will always do that because it retains moisture. The courgette loaf actually tastes very good as sandwich, it compliments the ham and cheese I put in, and the green specks of courgette looks gorgeous! Definitely worth having a go if like me, you have an abundance of courgettes from your garden. 🙂
Just shows, you should go in for it next year!
My dough was wet, too, but I managed to shape it into buns. However, I let it rise too much; silly me. Your sandwich idea sounds like a brilliant fit. Nice work on the challenge!
I wish I had a crazy supply of courgettes by 4 plants don’t much like me or growing. Well done for staying up to get it done. There’s nothing wrong with a wet loaf it gives a lighter crumb, or so I’ve always been taught. I trying to watch The Great British Bake Off this year but I just end up yelling at the tv.
I was interested to see the comment on Great British Bake Off too (absolutely addicted to this by the way) – I suppose the salting in this recipe gets rid of some of the moisture. I agree with Alex and think that there is nothing wrong with a wet dough – easier to work with if you use a dough hook rather than knead by hand though I find.