Lemon Herbal Tea Pain Ordinare

 
This is not your ordinary Pain Ordinare.

But it "sang" just as loud when I took it out of the oven.

I have been wanting to make bread with tea for a while, since I have been seeing so many breads made with matcha green tea powder. But in this case I only use the liquid, not the leaves, and I pretty much put honey into most of my breads, so I added a minimal amount here.

This recipe is adapted from one of my favourite bread books, Bread by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno - it's also been published under the name Ultimate Bread. The pictures alone make this book worth having, showing you the various types and stages of flours, what different glazes and toppings look like before and after the baking process. Definitely a book I refer back to again and again.

Lemon Herbal Tea Pain Ordinare
makes 1 loaf

2 tsp dry yeast
1 1⁄2 cups lemon herbal tea*
1 tsp honey
3 3⁄4 cups bread flour, sifted
1 1⁄2 tsp salt

Sprinkle the yeast into the tea in a bowl. Add honey. Let stand for 5 minutes; stir to dissolve.

Add 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup at a time, to the water and yeast. Mix until it looks like a thick pudding.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the paste “sponge” until frothy, loose, and slightly expanded, about 20 minutes.

Add salt, stir. Add additional 2 1/4 cups of flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring with each addition. When the last of the flour is added, let the dough sit for 5 to 10 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead until smooth, shiny, and elastic, about 10 minutes. If you find the dough is very sticky, not tacky, lightly dust the dough with flour, kneading to combine. Repeat until the the dough is tacky, not sticky.

Put the dough in a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1⁄2 –2 hours. Degas the dough, then let rest for 10 minutes.

Shape the dough into a long baugette style loaf loaf about 14 inches in length. Place the shaped loaf on a floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Proof until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425F.

Cut five diagonal slashes, each about 1⁄4 inch deep, across the top of the loaf.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, until golden and hollow sounding when tapped underneath. Cool on a wire rack.

* I used President's Choice Lemon Thriller tea. It contains Lemon Grass, Rosehips, Orange Peel. Roasted Chicory Root, Verbena Leaves, Citric Acid, "Natural Flavours", and Lemon Peel. No caffeine and apparently no real tea.

I doubled the recipe to make one sandwich loaf and one baguette style loaf. I discovered some extra large aluminum baking pans at my local grocery - I have been searching for something like this for a long time. They measure 29.8cm (11 3/4") x 14 cm (5 1/2") x 8.26 cm (3 1/4"). Pans are pictured below, with my youngest as a size indicator.

For the baguette, I sprayed a parchment covered cookie sheet with water, then sprayed the baguette before it went into the oven. Nice crispy crust on the top and bottom.

I have to be honest and say the dough smelled a lot like latex paint as I was working it. It wasn't unpleasant so much as it was just odd. But the finished bread tastes "really really good" - my daughter; "fantastic!" - my husband; "You're the best cooker!" - my older son (I think it means he likes it). 

Sending to Yeastspotting..