↑brendadada's blog

I tend to make this recipe bread every week or so, in between a loaf or two of seeded wholemeal and one containing walnuts and often sultanas.

Quantities in this recipe are for a small loaf or baton, and the better the flour, the better the bread. Something from a French deli would be ace; obvious really, although I use Dove's Farm organic white bread flour generally, to excellent results. I am looking for a source of authentic French flour, online would be handy, but any suggestions gratefully rec'd as per. I reckon this is as good a place as any to ask. :)

Ingredients:

225g unbleached strong white bread flour

7.5 ml or 1.5 tsp dried yeast

5ml or 1tsp salt ( I use sea salt: nice, but I don't suppose it makes a difference)

150ml water

Make a well in the flour and add the yeast and salt, and gradually add the water to make a firm but soft dough. You could do this part in a breadmaker set on the dough setting, but you'll probably want to put it through twice. Knead well and leave to prove somewhere warm. When it has doubled in size, knock it back and knead again, folding lots of air into the dough, and then shape into a roll or a round, or whatever you want. Leave to rise again for about 30 mins.

Bake for at approx 200º C for say 20 mins on a floured baking sheet, depending on how dark you like the crust. Bread making is really easy, extremely delicious and never fails to impress. Bon apetit!

The tomato in the photograph is the first of the year from my neighbour's greenhouse crop, and smells just fantastic. I'm hoping to get enough to dry a few this year in the oven to make home dried (sun) dried tomatoes for salads and couscous. Will give it a go and keep you posted, lovely readers.