Herman the German Friendship Cake - Also makes Good Bread

I have been cooking Herman The German Friendship Cake for about 6 weeks now

It is a starter mix that you stir and feed for 10 days
To make the Starter Mix if you are having to start from scratch
Go to the website click hereThen split in 4

Cook with one
Keep one for yourself and give away the others
Originally, my daughter Katie gave a portion to Grandson Joseph
He, then, gave one to me
First we made the original cake,which has apples and raisins

Tried one with Crunchie bars, not much success with that
So No photographs of that

Made a Raspberry and Chocolate one, This was very popular

But this time,. I am using 2 portions
I am making Bread AND a Banana and Coconut version that I found on The Website

The Bread was posted by Cheryl
Unfortunately, I left it in the oven too long and the rolls were overcooked
I went back to bed as it was quite early and waited for the timer to go off
Stupid!

Anyway I had one for breakfast and it was very tasty.
Smothered it with Avocado and topped with tomato.

The bread is sweeter than I would normally make, not as sweet as Brioche but nevertheless
I will be definitely be making this again.
It is perfectly fine to have with Savoury

Next time I will keep an eye on the Oven
I think maybe 15 minutes would do it
We will have some for lunch with soup
The rest I will turn into breadcrumbs for the freezer

Actually...They were fine at lunch, in fact excellent with Cauliflower Cheese Soup
Pity I have to wait another 10 days before I cam make it again
There recipes on the website click here to get all of the info
Also you will get "The How To Grow Herman"
Great for children to be involved
And now for the Bread
I decided to make Bread Rolls

This is taken from the Website as I said, posted by Cheryl
I also took Cheryl's advice and let it rise over night
Right Cheryl, this is from you

To prevent Herman Bread tasting too sweet, you need to make an adjustment on “Day 9”.
Normally you would add his last feed of 1 cup flour, 1 cup (8oz) sugar and 1 cup milk, and then divide into 4 portions.
But for bread, you need to add the flour and milk only, then divide into 4 portions, then add the sugar individually.  For any cake and friend portions add 2oz sugar, but for the bread portions add just ½ oz.  Then on “Day 10” bake or pass to friends as normal.
The Recipe
    •    500g (1 lb 2 oz) Strong Flour (White or Wholemeal)
    •    1 Teaspoon salt
    •    240ml (8 fl oz) Tepid Water
    •    1 Portion Herman
Tip:-   To get the perfect temperature water use 160 ml (⅔) cold tap water and 80 ml (⅓) freshly boiled water.
Method
    1.    Mix flour and salt together in a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
    2.    Mix the water with Herman and pour into the flour well.
    3.    Gradually work the ingredients together to make a soft dough.  Add a little more water if it seems too dry, or add a little more flour if it seems to sticky.
    4.    Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes.
    5.    Put the dough in a large clean bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise for 3 to 8 hours until doubled in size

    6.    Knock back, then shape into a ball and place in a large loaf tin, or divide into 12 and shape into balls for rolls. 

Cover and leave to rise for 2 to 6 hours.

    7.    Bake in a pre-heated oven at 220ºC / Gas Mark 7, for 35 minutes for a loaf or 20 minutes for rolls.  When cooked the bottom should sound hollow when tapped.
A good idea:  Do steps 1 to 5 after lunch, Step 6 before you go to bed, step 7 first thing in the morning, and amaze the family with freshly baked bread for breakfast!
Thank you Cheryl
Unfortunately a little overdone

But an excellent Crumb
Reminiscent of Ciabatta

So I will make this again
This is a Rustic Bread, well worth it
Now for the Cake

This is mix all in together cake but I like to break it up a bit
The recipe was posted by Rachel Norris

Banana and Coconut Cake
1 helping of Herman
1 cup sugar   - 225 g
2 cups SR flour -300 g
½ tsp salt
⅔ cup desiccated coconut
2 mashed ripe bananas
1 tsp baking soda
2 tabs boiling milk
⅔ cup cooking oil 160ml
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Pre-heat oven to 175C I use fan oven

Put flour and salt through a sieve into a big bowl
Add sugar, nutmeg and coconut


Meanwhile in a small bowl
Beat eggs, vanilla, add oil
add Mashed bananas 
Add to Herman
Pour into dry ingredients

Add baking soda to boiling milk
and Add to the bowl

Mix till combined
Pour into prepared 23 cm tin
Bake in oven for about 45 minutes
You will probably find it needs another 10-15 minutes

Test with a skewer if it comes out wet
Put back in till skewer comes out clean
It does take longer than you would expect

Cool a little in the tin then turn out onto rack
and cool

I iced it with
Orange and lemon icing
160gms Icing sugar
2 tablespoons butter
Add zest of an orange
And enough lemon juice to make a fairly stiff icing

Very nice for Afternoon Tea
It is Bread Baking Day #62
I thought this would be a good post for this event