Totally Addicted to Bread

For some the addiction is chocolate, for others its ice cream, for me its bread (and cheese but we’ll concentrate on the bread for the moment). There is nothing I like more than the smell of freshly baked bread except maybe the taste of freshly baked bread.

I gave in to my addiction and bought the bread book . I swear I was drooling just reading the book. This book has a plethora of lovely breads and also recipes for pretzels, bagels and doughnuts. I can’t wait to try these. Each recipe is given for hand made bread and also for a bread making machine. There always seems to be fewer steps involved in the bread making machine version. I am very tempted to buy a bread maker but EVERYONE keeps telling me that once the novelty wears off after the fist couple of uses the bread making machine will be relegated to the back of the kitchen appliances cupboard where it will build up dust before being sold at the next garage sale. So I have a cunning plan. My friend, A, bought himself a bread maker last year. I had the pleasure of tasting a few of his sourdough loaves but now the bread maker has been moved into kitchen appliance purgatory. I’m going to save it from this purgatory, dust it off and give it a run for its money. If all goes well with this little bread making venture then I will invest in my very own bread maker.

In the mean time I tried out some of the tomato, pesto and pine nut bread made the good old fashioned way – by hand. There is something very therapeutic about kneading dough. I made two loaves in the naïve belief that I would freeze one for later consumption. Who was I kidding? My friend M popped over with her gorgeous lil girl L, S, J & I all devoured almost all of the two loaves in less than an hour. It was delicious, especially since it was straight from the oven so the butter just melted in.

The best tomato bread I have ever tasted was made by a girl who works with me. I didn’t know she made it herself and asked her where she bought it because I really wanted to get some myself. The ultimate compliment I guess. I have tried her recipe but it just didn’t taste as good as the one she made. Damn that fickle yeast.

Tomato, Pesto & Pine Nut Bread

475 g (15 oz, 4 1/3 cups) strong white flour
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons caster sugar
1 ¼ teaspoons fast-action dried yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons pesto
275 ml (9 fl oz, heaping 1 cup) water
75 g (3 oz, scant ½ cup) sun-dried tomatoes (not in oil), thinly sliced
3 tablespoons pine nuts
1 egg yolk, to glaze

1 Mix the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a large bowl. Add the oil and pesto then gradually mix in enough warm water to make a soft dough.

2 Knead well on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Work in the sun-dried tomatoes and all but 1 tablespoon of the pine nuts. Put the dough back into the bowl, cover loosely with oiled Clingfilm and leave in a warm place to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

3 Tip the dough out on to a lightly floured surface, knead well then press into a greased 18 cm (7 inch) deep square tin or 1 kg (2 Ib) loaf tin.

4 Leave in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes or until the dough reaches the top of the tin.

5. Remove the Clingfilm, brush with the egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon of water and sprinkle with the remaining pine nuts. Bake in a preheated oven, 200C (400F), Gas Mark 6, for 30-35 minutes until the bread is well risen and sounds hollow when tapped with the fingertips. Check after 15 minutes and cover with foil if over-browning.

6 Holding the tin with oven gloves loosen the bread with a palette knife. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.