Saturday, April 13, 2013

Cooking Bread on an Aga

When we were booking a holiday in Scotland for an Easter break I noticed that the only oven at the cottage was an Aga. I've never cooked on an Aga before so thought it would be a great opportunity to have a go!
 
I don't really know much about Aga's but a friend on Twitter informs me that the Aga we had on holiday is a two oven Aga with a roasting oven and simmering oven.  
 
I found it really easy to cook on and the warmth it generates so homely. I used the roasting oven the most but the simmering oven was great to use to keep things warm in.
 

 
 
I decided to bake a simple white cob loaf on the Aga while I was on holiday and had taken the ingredients I needed with me for this purpose. I've baked this bread before so know I can do it okay and thought it would be a good loaf to try out.

I used the Paul Hollywood recipe for my loaf

500g Strong White Flour
10g Salt
10g Instant Yeast
30g Butter
320ml Water
Oil for Kneading

I combined all the ingredients together in a bowl (making sure not to let the yeast come into contact with the salt) and then kneaded the dough for 10 minutes until it formed a smooth dough. This is my favourite part of bread making!

Once it was kneaded I left it to rise in a bowl over the Aga for 2 hours.

 
Once it had risen I knocked it back and then formed it into a cob shape. Once it was in this shape I left it to prove next to the Aga which was a lovely warm spot. The loaf proved really well in this warm atomsphere.

 
Once the loaf had proved for an hour I cooked it in the roasting oven of the Aga. It cooked much quicker than in the gas oven I have at home, and the base of the loaf cooked really well, which I've had a problem with in my gas cooker.
 
The resulting loaf was well risen and very crispy on the outside.
 


 
This is the loaf structure on the inside. It has a dense structure with no large air bubbles inside and a uniform rise throughout the whole loaf.

 
Because we had the use of the Aga I decided to use the Aga's roasting oven to make some lovely crusty toast from my cob loaf-it makes the best toast I've ever tasted!


Having had a chance to use the Aga I'm now convinced I need one of my own!

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