| The more I make bread, the more I am convinced of | | | | bit too sweet, so next time round I reduced the |
| the importance of the kitchen being in the best position | | | | amount of honey, but this recipe has been our staple |
| in the house. When we designed and built our house, I | | | | diet ever since, and I am now truly ensconced in my |
| was determined that the kitchen should have a view | | | | kitchen, looking at the view, every other day, while I |
| and be on the front of the house. Now that it's | | | | endeavor to keep the supply level with the ever |
| six-fifteen of a summer morning and I'm up early, | | | | increasing demand. |
| kneading bread, because we've run out again, I'm | | | | Any way, finally to the recipe: |
| especially happy to be looking out over a sun-soaked | | | | 500g rye flour 450g whole-wheat flour plus more for |
| landscape to the distant mountains. Every time you | | | | kneading 50g plain flour 1 tablespoon salt 1 10g sachet |
| make bread you're guaranteed a good ten minutes of | | | | of instant yeast 1 tablespoon honey 3 tablespoons oil |
| contemplation as you knead it, the mechanical rhythmic | | | | 670 ml milk 125 ml water |
| activity frees the mind to wander or switch | | | | Warm the milk to lukewarm. Mix the flours and salt in a |
| off…very therapeutic. Having a view thrown in | | | | large bowl. Make a well in the middle and put in the |
| as well is just an added bonus. | | | | yeast, then honey, then oil, pour on the warmed milk |
| I haven't always made bread. It is a comparatively | | | | and water and mix. When it gets doughy turn out on |
| recent development. Making jam was the first | | | | to a well floured surface (it will be extremely sticky) |
| breakthrough into self-sufficiency, then came the day | | | | and knead for 10 minutes. You will need to keep |
| when our local supplier of rye bread, who made a loaf | | | | adding flour as you knead. It is better for it to be too |
| that (miracle of miracles), all the children would eat, | | | | sticky than too dry - you can always add more flour, |
| decided to switch recipes and use caraway in | | | | but too dry will make a dry, hard loaf. After 10 minutes, |
| it…instant rejection by the whole family. | | | | put it back into the bowl with a plastic bag over it and |
| We'd stopped the wheat bread to try and help my | | | | leave in a warmish place for two hours or so. Then |
| son's allergies and found it helped most of us, so apart | | | | knock down, firmly pressing out the air, but not over |
| from the occasional indulgence of fluffy white bread, I | | | | kneading, then form into two or three loaves on a |
| wanted to stay off it. There was no alternative; I would | | | | baking sheet, cover again and leave to rise for another |
| have to take the leap into bread making. The main | | | | hour. Then bake for 30 minutes at 190C until they |
| reason that I'd resisted was that it seemed to take so | | | | sound hollow when you tap on the bottom of the loaf. |
| long. First the mixing and kneading, then the rising, then | | | | Cool on a wire rack |
| knocking down and forming loaves, a second rising and | | | | So how do I keep track of the bread making, in |
| finally the baking. Who could keep track of all that in | | | | between school runs, mealtimes and the rest? Well I |
| the chaotic life of a three-child family? | | | | don't always. There are times when I optimistically start |
| So eventually I take the plunge, turn to my friend Nigel | | | | the bread off, leave it to rise and four hours later |
| (Slater, not namedropping but he and Nigella (Lawson) | | | | remember about it, knock it down, forget to switch on |
| are ever-present in my kitchen, in book format of | | | | the oven so it has had an extra day or so in rising time |
| course) and find a foolproof recipe for a white loaf, | | | | by the time it gets cooked. It does seem to be very |
| simpler to start off with white I think. Well the first try | | | | forgiving though - whatever you do to it, you do |
| produced a reasonable, if huge, loaf, and though my | | | | generally get bread out at the end, it may not always |
| son still remembers that it was a bit doughy in the | | | | be the perfect loaf, but then variety is the spice of life |
| middle. Second try, I got two pretty perfect loaves and | | | | after all. There was one time it hadn't quite finished |
| I was on a roll. | | | | cooking by the time I had to do the school run, so I |
| Now to find a recipe for rye bread. It seems that 100% | | | | asked my husband to take it out in ten |
| rye is usually made by the sour dough method and I | | | | minutes….. By the time I got back we had a |
| couldn't see my family going for that, so settle for a | | | | very useful weapon against intruders. We didn't eat |
| half and half rye/whole-wheat recipe… triumph. | | | | that one…I think it was rivet for lunch…! |
| Ok, my son the food connoisseur complained it was a | | | | |