Sugarcane Juice Wholemeal Bread
I visited a friend at Johor Bahru recently. He runs a preschool which has a farm for the children's outdoor activities. It is an organic farm with various vegetables, huts for children to climb and play, lots of space to run, and there is even an outdoor oven built from bricks! We thought it is such a cool place and my four-year-old loves it so much that we would definitely enroll her there if we are staying in JB. Before we left, my friend gave my daughter a dried loofah that she can play with, and a big bundle of freshly harvested organic sugarcane. That was really welcomed, because I have not been buying sugarcane juice from the stalls due to hygiene considerations, but have always wanted to let my daughter taste how sugarcane juice is like. Especially when I've shared with her how I used to chew on sugarcane sticks as a child. Now the challenge is to cut the sugarcane into small pieces and squeeze out the juices!
It was a lot of hard work to cut the sugarcane into small pieces with my kitchen knife. Thankfully the juicing process was much easier with the use of the Omega Juicer. It can really squeeze the last drop of juice out from the pulp. My perseverance pays with a wonderfully refreshing and sweet sugarcane juice that is very different from what we buy from the stalls. After enjoying a cup of juice and offering some to our friends and family, we still have some sugarcane remaining. Although we love the taste of fresh sugarcane juice, I was more keen to experiment with them in cooking and baking.
This is when I have the idea to use it in my bread. A sugarcane bread! So I set to work on a standard lean wholemeal bread recipe and replaced the water with 100% sugarcane juice. The dough was beautiful, and I decided to bake it in a loaf pan after a long rise in the fridge (to allow the yeast to work longer, for a deeper flavor to the loaf). I adjusted the recipe for the hydration level, baked it at 240 degree celcius for 10 minutes and lower it down to 200 degree celcius and bake for another 20 minutes. My bread browned very fast, about 10 minutes into baking. This is expected since sugarcane is a source of sugar and molasses, and molasses cause breads to brown quickly. I tried to cover my bread with a foil but I guess I was not fast enough. My bread browned a bit too much.
The result was a loaf with very open and soft crumbs and a crispy, nicely browned crust. It has a very subtle sugarcane fragrance, especially the browned crust (so getting very close to burnt is not a bad thing after all). The taste of the bread is much nicer compared to the original recipe. The sweetness is very subtle and very natural, a different kind of sweetness from that provided by sugar. It is like biting into a fruit versus a candy. Nothing beats fresh and natural food ingredients in baking!
For those who are keen to have a try at baking this bread, I have included the recipe below, with adjustments to oven temperature and hydration level to produce a really nice loaf with open crumbs. This is not a difficult bread to bake, but it requires more supervision when the loaf is in the oven, for optimal browning.
Sugarcane Juice Wholemeal Bread
Ingredients:
150g Wholemeal flour
100g bread flour
210g fresh sugarcane juice
10g olive oil
5g salt
4g instant yeast
Method:
In a mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients - flour, salt and yeast, being careful not to let the salt come in contact with the yeast directly. You may place them at the opposite side of the mixing bowl when measuring the ingredients and give them a quick stir into the flour when ready to mix.
Add oil into the juice and pour over the flour mixture. Mix with clean hands to form a shaggy dough.
Tip dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for around 15 minutes, resting it for 1 minute every 2-3 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. (* The dough will be sticky to the touch at first; it's okay to add a little extra flour during the kneading process, but don't be tempted to add excessive amounts. Otherwise you will end up with a dense bread. Persevere and you will be rewarded with a bread with open, beautiful crumbs.)
Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl that is large enough for the dough to double in bulk. Cover with a damp tea cloth or cling wrap. Leave in a warm place for 1 hour.
Gently knock back dough in the bowl by folding it back into itself - this will deflate the dough slightly, but it will develop more strength. Cover it again and leave for 30 minutes.
Tip dough onto a lightly floured surface and flatten it into a rectangular shape. Then roll into a tight log, just like rolling a swiss roll. Place dough seam-side down in a greased loaf pan. Cover and prove for another hour.
Place loaf in a preheated oven at 230 degree celcius for 10 minutes, cover the top of the loaf and bake at 200 deg celcius for another 20 minutes or until bottom of loaf sounds hollow when tapped with your knuckle. This works for my oven, you may need to do adjustment with your oven. Monitor the first 10 minutes into baking, this loaf browns really fast, so do cover it when you notice that it has browned to the desired level.
Remove loaf from oven and immediately turn out onto a wire rack to cool, to avoid bottom of loaf becoming soggy from the steam in the pan.