I’ve still got the baking bug & I’m happy to say- today I made my best bread yet! Yeh, I’m pretty excited about it.

I tried quite a different recipe this time, a milk bread, that even called for butter in the dough. Even though it contained wholewheat, it was smooth & fluffy, the wet-dream of all breads. Another thing I liked about this one is that it was quick. Yes, I know it requires kneading, but this one you can make on a whim unlike the “famous no knead bread” I tried last week that takes hours to proof & seriously, what’s wrong with a little kneading? It’s good exercise & fun.

I split the dough up & made a couple of long rolls & a loaf of sweet chilli bread.

I had made some sweet chilli sauce a few days ago that was brewing in the fridge & today I had an idea that it might make a nice bread flavouring, so while kneading the dough I mixed in a few spoons of my spicy sauce. Now I’ve tasted the bread I know I could have put a little more sauce in, but I thought I had better stay safe on my first try. Man, it was good.

The recipe I followed was way too liquidy; by the end I used almost double the flour they called for (I was quite unhappy as I was low on plain flour). I ended up adding the rest of the flour, as needed, coming from my wholewheat stash. Y’know what? It came out grand & I would probably do it exactly the same again next time around.

So here is my adapted recipe-

• 3 cups plain white flour
• 2-3 cups of wholewheat
• 2 tsp salt
• 1Tb butter
• 2.25 ts/ 7g fast-action dried yeast
• 1 Tb sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water

(like I always say, the qty of flour will depend on the weather a little. It’s good to have too much flour on hand than too little. You may will need to adjust the amounts for your climate. Add more flour/liquid until you have a nice soft dough that doesn’t stick to your counter. You’ll have to do it by feel.)

1. Put the flour, sugar, yeast & salt into a large bowl. Add the butter & rub it into the flour with your fingers until it’s like breadcrumbs.
2. Heat the milk & water until it’s luke warm (not hot!) & add it to the dry mix. Get your hands in there & mix the dough until it forms a soft dough that leaves the sides of the bowl clean.
3. Sprinkle flour on the counter & knead the dough for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
4. Add any flavouring/ grains/ nuts/ fillings/  you might want to mix through.
5. Shape it into a loaf or whatever shape you’re doing. Dust it with flour & cut slits.
6. Grease a loaf tin/ flour a baking tray & lay out your loaf. Cover with a damp cloth/ plastic wrap & put it out in the sun/ warm place for half an hour. It should rise nicely.
7. Dust with more flour if you like or brush with egg-whites for the shiny, crunchy crust & bake for 35-40 minutes at 400 degrees F, until risen and golden brown. If unsure, tap the bottom & listen for the hollow drum sound. If it sounds hollow-ish, it’s good.
8. Cool it on a rack so the bottom stays crisp.

(I’ll also add that I put a small dish of hot water at the base of the oven when I put the loaves in. Steam helps rising, but there are also stories on the internet about this method shattering bread-stones & even oven doors. I don’t know if it’s an urban myth or true, so I won’t recommend the method in fear of feeling responsible for someone breaking their stone. You can always put a lid or foil-tent over your loaves to help keep in moisture.)

I sliced a chunk & immediately spread some butter on it for the taste test & realized it doesn’t even need butter on top. You can taste the butter already in the dough. This is a bread that I can quite happily eat just plain, especially the chilli loaf. Hurrah for spring!