Hmmmm, hearty bread! Salad Days have recently posted two brilliant hearty bread recipes, which also includes a great Soda bread from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.  We’re head many a fearful expressions when we recommend baking. It’s different to cooking right? Well yes, but in general bread is a pretty simple food to bake. Then again if you want to go further and have a tastetastic loaf with all the right crust it al starts with a tried and tested recipe.  If you dig a good slice, whether with a wholesome stew or a big dollop of jam (Dom is very messy with this part), then we are sure you’ll enjoy this recipe. Let us know what you think! Salad Days - 
Wholemeal and granary boule. Ingredients: 250g granary flour, 125g wholemeal flour, 125g strong white or spelt flour, 350ml warm water, 10g dried yeast, 10g salt. Whizz all the dry ingredients together and gradually add the warm water until the dough has formed a solid lump that comes away from the blade and the edges of the bowl. Cover and leave to rise for an hour.  Pulse the dough a few times to knock it down then turn out onto a floured board. Bring the sides of the dough to the middle, turning as you go to form a round loaf. Sprinkle with some seeds (I chose fennel) and some flakes of sea salt and bake on a tray in a hot oven for 35 minutes. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall – Soda Bread Ingredients 500g plain flour  2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp fine sea salt Approx. 400ml buttermilk or live yoghurt A little milk, if necessary bread 1. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl and stir in the salt. Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk, stirring as you go. If necessary, add a tablespoon or two of milk to bring the mixture together; it should form a soft dough, just this side of sticky. 2. Tip it out on to a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly for about a minute, just long enough to pull it together into a loose ball but no longer – you need to get it into the oven while the bicarb is still doing its stuff. You’re not looking for the kind of smooth, elastic dough you’d get with a yeast-based bread. 3. Put the round of dough on a lightly floured baking sheet and dust generously with flour. Mark a deep cross in it with a sharp, serrated knife, cutting about two-thirds of the way through the loaf. Put it in an oven preheated to 200°C/gas mark 6 and bake for 40-45 minutes, until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath. 4. Cool on a wire rack if you like a crunchy crust, or wrap in a clean tea towel if you prefer a soft crust. Soda bread is best eaten while still warm, spread with salty butter and/or a dollop of your favourite jam. But if you have some left over the next day, it makes great toast. Variation: For six-seed soda bread, mix together 2 tablespoons each of sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, poppy and linseeds, plus 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds; set aside. Follow the main recipe but use half white flour and half wholemeal flour. Add all but 1 tablespoon of the seeds to the dry ingredients before proceeding as above. After cutting a cross in the top of the loaf, brush it with a little buttermilk or ordinary milk and sprinkle with the remaining seeds. Bake at 200°C/gas mark 6 for 40–45 minutes.   

Hmmmm, hearty bread!


Salad Days have recently posted two brilliant hearty bread recipes, which also includes a great Soda bread from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. 


We’re head many a fearful expressions when we recommend baking. It’s different to cooking right?

Well yes, but in general bread is a pretty simple food to bake. Then again if you want to go further and have a tastetastic loaf with all the right crust it al starts with a tried and tested recipe. 


If you dig a good slice, whether with a wholesome stew or a big dollop of jam (Dom is very messy with this part), then we are sure you’ll enjoy this recipe.


Let us know what you think!


Salad Days - 
Wholemeal and granary boule.


Ingredients: 250g granary flour, 125g wholemeal flour, 125g strong white or spelt flour, 350ml warm water, 10g dried yeast, 10g salt.


Whizz all the dry ingredients together and gradually add the warm water until the dough has formed a solid lump that comes away from the blade and the edges of the bowl. Cover and leave to rise for an hour.  Pulse the dough a few times to knock it down then turn out onto a floured board. Bring the sides of the dough to the middle, turning as you go to form a round loaf. Sprinkle with some seeds (I chose fennel) and some flakes of sea salt and bake on a tray in a hot oven for 35 minutes.


Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall – Soda Bread



Ingredients

500g plain flour 

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp fine sea salt

Approx. 400ml buttermilk or live yoghurt

A little milk, if necessary

bread

1. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl and stir in the salt. Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk, stirring as you go. If necessary, add a tablespoon or two of milk to bring the mixture together; it should form a soft dough, just this side of sticky.

2. Tip it out on to a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly for about a minute, just long enough to pull it together into a loose ball but no longer – you need to get it into the oven while the bicarb is still doing its stuff. You’re not looking for the kind of smooth, elastic dough you’d get with a yeast-based bread.


3. Put the round of dough on a lightly floured baking sheet and dust generously with flour. Mark a deep cross in it with a sharp, serrated knife, cutting about two-thirds of the way through the loaf. Put it in an oven preheated to 200°C/gas mark 6 and bake for 40-45 minutes, until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath.


4. Cool on a wire rack if you like a crunchy crust, or wrap in a clean tea towel if you prefer a soft crust. Soda bread is best eaten while still warm, spread with salty butter and/or a dollop of your favourite jam. But if you have some left over the next day, it makes great toast.


Variation:

For six-seed soda bread, mix together 2 tablespoons each of sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, poppy and linseeds, plus 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds; set aside. Follow the main recipe but use half white flour and half wholemeal flour. Add all but 1 tablespoon of the seeds to the dry ingredients before proceeding as above. After cutting a cross in the top of the loaf, brush it with a little buttermilk or ordinary milk and sprinkle with the remaining seeds. Bake at 200°C/gas mark 6 for 40–45 minutes.