Saturday 20 August 2016

Loafing around

The unseasonably wet and windy weather this weekend has somewhat thwarted my plans, and I know I'm not the only one with a lot of people putting off camping trips.

I managed to run some essential errands this morning without getting too wet or blown away but things seem to have settled down to an afternoon of steady drizzle with the occasional downpour. Any thoughts of venturing out of the house for a second time have definitely disappeared.

Although I tried to relax into an afternoon of reading I just couldn't stick to it and was suddenly gripped with the desire to make some bread.

So, with the Women's Olympic triathlon as my soundtrack I set about making a seeded cornmeal loaf, which is probably one of the simplest bread recipes I know, in spite of having a relatively long list of ingredients.

Pre-heat the oven to 190C or gas mark 5 and lightly oil a 1lb (450g) loaf tin.

Into a large mixing bowl sieve 175g strong bread flour (I used Dove's Farm gluten-free brown bread flour) and 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, then stir in 150g polenta, 1 teaspoon of caster sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 25g each of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds (reserving 1 teaspoon), and milled flaxseed (or seeds of your choice). Beat 1 egg with 150ml milk (I used almond milk) and 125ml yoghurt and add to the bowl, stirring with a wooden spoon to form a slack dough.

Transfer the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and sprinkle with the reserved poppy seeds. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 50-60 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack, although it's delicious served slightly warm.



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