This time of year is perfect for bread-making. If you’re hanging around home during the Christmas break, what better thing to do than knead some bread? The smells are amazing and the resulting loaf is incredibly rewarding. Some people start to bake cakes while others take the bread route.
I’ve always found bread-making to be very different to cake-making. It’s so honest; there’s no disguising a faulty loaf. If it’s not been kneaded enough you’ll know and if it’s been underbaked it just won’t be right. There’s no salvaging a bread with layers of thick frosting or distracting sprinkles.
Bread is pure and simple and one of our staple foods. I’m a fan of real bread and love using fresh yeast. The dried variety is more readily available and so I think it’s fairer to share recipes that use it as it’s more likely people will try them.
Often bakeries will sell small blocks of fresh yeast if you ask. It’s so alive and smells amazing. I find it gives more life to the bread but the dried yeast does a perfectly good job too. If you can find fresh yeast you can substitute it by using the same volume, that is one teaspoon of dried to one of fresh.
Carbohydrates galore
One of my favourite things about the festive feast is the abundance of leftovers. We usually create huge sandwiches with turkey, salty ham, stuffing, bread sauce and cranberry sauce. Yes, that’s bread in three different formats and enough carbohydrates to fuel a marathon runner. So I decided I’d remove the stuffing from the equation and create a stuffing loaf instead.
This bread is your typical crusty white yeast but it is packed full of seasonal herbs and buttery onion. Needless to say it makes incredible sandwiches. There’s room for so much more once the crumbly stuffing is no longer needed.
Any leftover bread is, of course, ideal for stuffing. It makes delicious croutons and toasted sandwiches too. It's delicious spread thickly with mayonnaise and Dijon mustard, a few thin slices of spiced beef and some sauerkraut.
This is sandwich season when we eat lunch at four in the afternoon after a late breakfast of Christmas pudding and the last of the rum butter. It’s makes it all that more special when good bread is involved.
Herb Stuffing Loaf
Makes 2 loaves
800g strong flour
2 tsp fast-action dried yeast
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
500ml warm water
1 large onion, finely diced
100g butter
4 tbsp mixed herbs
Oil for kneading
Method
Place the flour, yeast, salt and pepper into a large bowl. Pour in the warm water and stir till mixed and craggy. Leave to rest for 10 minutes with the bowl over it. Oil your work surface and knead the dough for five minutes. Leave to rest for 10 minutes then spread the dough out and sprinkle over the herbs and onion mix. Knead till combined and divide the dough in two and shape into two ovals. Place each loaf on its own heavy-based baking tray, lightly floured. Cover with a tea towel and, to increase in size by half, leave about 45 minutes. Dust the loaves with flour then score the tops with a sharp knife and bake in a very hot, 220C, preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. Lower the heat to 200C after 20 minutes and bake until golden on top and hollow sounding when the base is tapped. Leave to cool on a wire rack before cutting. Place a tea towel over the loaf as it cools if you prefer a softer crust.
