Homemade lovely crusty grainy bread

…for the cook with lots of bread to make and not much time for kneading.

Ingredients:

420ml warm water

1 level tsp of salt

750g bread flour: a mixture of whatever you like but I use 500g multi cereal bread flour and 250g of locally grown and milled wholemeal flour.

1 tsp dried yeast

1 tsp sugar

Optional Extras:

1 generous tablespoon of linseeds

1 tablespoon of sunflower seeds (and any other seeds you like: sesame, pumpkin, onion…..)

A couple of tablespoons of chopped, mixed pitted olives (marinated in olive oil and chilli for a couple of weeks first if you like)

A couple of tablespoons of sundried tomatoes chopped into bits, also marinated if you like…

1 tbs chopped mixed herbs, fresh or dried…. Any other things you think would be nice like basil or chives, just chuck it in.

Recipe:

Now for the complicated bit: put the water and salt in a bread maker.

Add flour and everything else.

Put the bread-maker on to the bread dough setting.

After all that effort you need a rest. Sit down, have a cup of tea and read a book for a bit.

At the end of the cycle, unplug the bread-maker and leave the dough for about half an hour.

Remove, cut into 3 or 4 loaves.

Place on one or two baking sheets with enough space for them to increase in size.

Humpbuckle Hint: Use a pastry brush to wet the loaves, with a little bit of water.

Generously sprinkle with poppy, sesame or onion seeds.

Leave for about an hour to prove, then put the oven on as high as it will go.

Wait til it’s hot, put the loaves in, cook for 10 mins then reduce heat to 180°C  if fan assisted, 200°C  if not, Cook for a further 10- 15 minutes.

Cool for as long as you can wait then smother in lovely, French, gritty salted butter (in moderation, etc etc…..) and enjoy with some delicious soup, stew or on its own is really filthy…