Daily Bread.
Cassie Kill.
This recipe for Italian tomato and bread salad is very simple, so good quality ingredients really shine through.
4 large tomatoes, cubed
220g of stale rustic bread, crusts removed and cubed (or toasted fresh bread)
1 ¼ cups of thinly sliced red onions
2 teaspoons of minced garlic
¼ cup of red wine vinegar (or balsamic if you want a richer flavour)
½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
Fresh basil
Salt and pepper
Combine the tomatoes, bread and onions in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the garlic, vinegar and oil to make a dressing. Pour the dressing over the bread salad and let it sit for 30 minutes at room temperature. Add the basil, season according to taste and toss to combine. Serve.
PHOTOS BY SARA HILL. COOKERY BY FREDDIE BATES.
|Tom Collister.
This recipe makes one large and two small loaves. The key to good bread is a warm kitchen and lots of moisture, both in the bread and in the oven while you're cooking it. Try experimenting with different ingredients.
1kg of strong bread flour
or 600g white mixed with 400g brown)
1.5 pints of warm water
2 dessert spoons of fast action yeast
1 dessert spoon of salt
2 dessert spoons of soft brown sugar
Large handful of walnuts chopped into small pieces
Larger handful of mixed seeds
Mix everything together to a sticky dough. Remove from the bowl, wash and dry the bowl and brush it with a thin layer of oil. Return it to the bowl, cover and leave for 10 minutes. Knead for 10 seconds, then cover and leave for 10 minutes. Repeat this process once, then repeat again, this time leaving for half an hour. Next, shape the dough into rolls or put into tins, cover and leave in a warm place for around an hour, until they have doubled in size.
Turn the oven on to full temperature with a flat baking tray in the bottom. Spray the loaves with a fine mist of water. When the oven is up to temperature, put the loaves in and throw half a cup of water into the tray in the bottom of the oven. The steam will help give the bread a nice thin golden crust.
After 10 minutes, turn the oven down to 220°C (gas mark 7) then leave for another 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown, then take out of the tins and place upside down on the oven shelf. Bake for a further 10 minutes to avoid overcooking the tops. These timings are for loaves. Rolls take much less time.
Take out of the tins and put on a wire rack to cool. Enjoy a thick slice, still warm and generously buttered. Call me simple, but in my mind, food doesn't get better than that.
|Laura Burn Acaster.
Making soda bread means you don't have to wait around for the dough to rise and the yeast do its magic, because the aeration is produced though the use of bicarbonate of soda. It's particularly easy because there is barely any kneading involved. For a vegan alternative you can try replacing the honey with agave syrup, and instead of cow's milk and yoghurt, use soya. This recipe is unlike a traditional soda bread recipe, but I find the adjustments make for a tasty alternative and I can find nearly all the ingredients at my local corner shop. This recipe makes one large loaf.
260g of milk, plus some for brushing
60g of honey
350g of plain white flour, plus some for dusting
150g of wholemeal flour
1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp of salt
60g of linseeds, plus some for topping
20g of poppy seeds
40g of sunflower oil
70g of natural yoghurt
Preheat your oven to 200°C (gas mark 6). Put the milk and honey in a pan on a low heat. Gently warm through on the stove and stir until the honey has dissolved. Next, in a large bowl mix together the flours, bicarbonate of soda, salt and seeds. Make a small well in the centre and pour in the milk & honey mixture, oil and yoghurt. Mix with a large spoon.
Scrape the mixture out of the bowl onto a floured surface and gently knead until all of the ingredients come together to make a dough ball. It is important to stop kneading just as all the ingredients are incorporated as you do not want to over work the dough. Shape it into a large round with a smooth top. Place on to a non-stick baking tray and pat down slightly. Brush over with milk and generously sprinkle over with linseeds. With a sharp kitchen knife score a cross into the top, from edge to edge at right angles about 2-3cm deep. Be sure not to cut right through the dough.
Place on the top shelf of your oven and bake for 40-50 minutes or until the crust is brown and the dough in the centre, where you made the cross, is not damp. I like to use a digital probe thermometer to check if the bread is baked though. To do this, insert it from the underside of the loaf. If the temperature gauge is racing towards 100°C then the bread is done.
Enjoy fresh from the oven with butter and jam. This bread does not keep well so it's best eaten on the day or the next day for toast.
|Komal Khan.
700g of strong flour
400ml of warm water
4 good pinches of easy yeast
3 pinches each of salt and sugar
Olive oil
Rosemary
Knead the ingredients together except the rosemary until your hands are clean. Leave to rest in a warm place for around an hour then place on a tray, poke your fingers in it all over then pour on some more olive oil, rock salt and rosemary. Bake at 200°C until golden.
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