4 Bread Recipes From Around the World

Published on 4th April 2013

By Leila El-Dean

Why not spice up your bread making skills with a few recipes for bread from around the world?

Here are some varieties I've come up with.

Naan Bread

No Indian meal is complete without a delicious, hot naan bread to accompany it. Here's how to make your own.

naan bread

Great for mopping up curry (image source: Flickr)

Ingredients:

15g fresh yeast or 7g dried
300-350ml warm water
500g plain white flour
15g fine salt
1 generous tbsp plain yoghurt
2 tsp vegetable oil

Method:

1. Put the yeast in a jug with about 100ml of the water. Stir and leave for 10-15 minutes or until nice and foamy.

2. Put the flour in a large bowl, stir in the salt and then make a well in the centre. Pour in the yeast liquid, the yoghurt and oil and another 200ml of the water. Mix to a rough dough, adding more water if necessary - it should be soft and slightly sticky. Turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, until smooth. Put it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

3. Beat the gas out of the dough and give another brief kneading. Then cut it into four pieces and roll each out until about 5mm thick. Leave to rest for 5 minutes while you heat a heavy-based pan over a medium-high heat. Put one of the pieces of dough into the hot pan and cook for 5 minutes or so until its underside has formed a crust and is golden and patched with brown. Turn it over and continue cooking until the other side is golden brown. Repeat with the other pieces of dough. Serve warm.

Traditional Soda Bread

soda bread

Soda bread (image source: Flickr)

Ingredients:

500g plain flour
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp fine sea salt
Approx 400ml buttermilk or live yoghurt
A little milk, if necessary

Method:

1. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl and stir in the salt. Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk, stirring as you go. If you need to, add a tablespoon or two of milk to bring the mixture together; it should form soft, slightly sticky dough.

2. Tip it out on to a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly for about a minute, just long enough to pull it together into a loose ball but no longer - you need to get it into the oven while the bicarbonate is still doing its stuff. You're not looking for the kind of smooth, elastic dough you'd get with yeast-based bread.

3. Put the round of dough on a lightly floured baking sheet and dust generously with flour. Mark a deep cross in it with a sharp, serrated knife, cutting about two-thirds of the way through the loaf. Put it in an oven preheated to 200 degrees C/Gas Mark 6 and bake for 40-45 minutes, until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath.

4. Cool on a wire rack if you like a crunchy crust, or wrap in a clean tea towel if you prefer a soft crust. It is best eaten warm.

Tomato and Basil Ciabatta

ciabatta bread

Ciabatta after 2nd fold (image source: Flickr)

Ingredients:

400ml water
3/4 tsp easy-blend dried yeast
500g flour
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
40g sun-dried tomatoes
a handful of shredded basil
1 tsp sugar 1/4 tsp yeast

Method:

1. Make a sponge mixing 250g flour, 200ml of water and half the yeast the night before to make a sponge/sloppy bread.

2. Add the rest of the water, flour, yeast plus the milk, oil, salt and sugar the day of making.

3. Let the bread-making machine knead it briefly.

4. Place in hot place to rise. Leave it for an hour to 90 minutes, until it doubles or even trebles in size. The longer you leave it the more the chewy it is! 5. Bake at 220 degrees C/Gas Mark 7 for 25 to 30 minutes.

Brioche

brioche bread

This loaf turned out perfectly! (image source: Flickr)

Ingredients:

250g plain flour
100g butter
2 rounded tbsp caster sugar
7g sachet fast-action yeast
3 eggs beaten
egg yolk, to glaze
2-3 sugar cubes, lightly crushed

Method:

1. Tip the flour into a food processor fitted with a plastic kneading blade and add the butter. Process until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.

2. Stir in the caster sugar, a good pinch of salt and the yeast.Add the eggs and mix to soft dough and then knead in the machine for 2 minutes.

3. Butter a brioche mould or 2pt loaf tin. Sprinkle a layer of flour onto a work surface and tip the dough onto it. With floured hands, knead very briefly to form a ball and then drop the dough into the tin, smooth side up.

4. Cover with cling film and leave to rise until doubled in size, about 2 hrs in a warm place.

5. Heat oven to 200 degrees C (fan) or 180 degrees C (standard).

6. Brush the top of the brioche with egg yolk, then sprinkle over crushed sugar and bake for 20-25 mins, until golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Tip out onto a wire rack and leave to cool.

For some more great recipes, take a look here and here.