Bread bulletin: Tin can roti*

Doesn't this look like one of those round bales of hay?

(*roti = Malay for bread)

Those large tins of fruit cocktail and cherries in syrup come in handy after the contents have been used. Each one holds about 550ml and is large enough to be used as a baking tin.

I remember bakeries and roti men selling cylindrical bread when I was little. The loaf was yellow and slightly sweet, but you don't get them anymore. I wonder why.

It makes sense to bake bread in tall cans, especially for food like burgers. Instead of making individual buns, slices of tin can bread already have the perfect shape for those patties. Besides, there's the novelty factor.

Of course, you can get special cylindrical bakeware, which is used for items like Boston Brown Bread to give it its customary round shape. Those baking tins can be opened at both ends to facilitate the removal of the bread. But if you grease the used tin cans well or use parchment paper, the bread won't stick and ruin that perfect shape.

The risen dough   

Once the dough in the tin has risen to about 2cm from the top, cover the mouth of the tin securely with a piece of greased aluminium foil before placing the tins into a hot oven to bake. The dough will rise some more during the baking but with nowhere to go, the top (which will become one end of the loaf when you're ready to cut it) will be flat.

Delightful discs for all dem delicious dollops to devour... Yipes, that deserves a 'D' for destroying the English language!

I made a dough using white and wholemeal flour, with a little rye flour thrown in for good measure, but not enough for this bread to be called a rye. For the two tins, I used a total of 2¼ cups of flour.