Tomato and Basil Loaf

After what has been a hectic morning, here is the Tomato and Basil Loaf recipe. I wish you better luck than I have had, and any hints and tips would be very gratefully appreciated. My problem seems to be in getting the bread to rise.

Ingredients (Makes 2 good sized loaves)

300ml/10fl oz/1 ¼ cups warm water
1 sachet Asda or equivalent dried yeast (this is probably equivalent to about 2tsp)
Pinch sugar
15ml/1tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
450g/1lb/4 cups strong white Bread Making Flour
5ml/1tsp salt
1.5ml/1/4 tsp black pepper
50g/2oz/1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
15ml/1tbsp sun dried tomato paste
15ml/1tbsp chopped fresh basil (1 – 2 tsp dried will do)
15ml/1tbsp chopped fresh parsley (1 – 2 tsp dried will do)

1. Put half the warm water in a jug. Sprinkle the yeast on top. Add the sugar, mix well and leave to stand for 10 minutes.

2. Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan and fry the onion gently until golden brown.

3. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl with the salt and pepper. Make a well in the centre. Add the yeast mixture, the fried onion (with the oil) the sun dried tomatoes, sun dried tomato paste, herbs and remaining water. Gradually incorporate the flour and mix to a soft dough, adding a little extra water if necessary.

4. Turn the dough on to a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. (The recipe says 5 minutes but I think 10 to 15 might be better)
Place in a mixing bowl, cover with a damp dish towel and leave in a warm place to rise for about 2 hours until the dough has doubled in bulk. . Lightly grease a baking tray. (I find that greasing it with olive oil is good. Never never never use 1 cal spray or the bottom of your bread will be a burned black mess!!!)

5. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead again for a few minutes. Split the dough into two and roll out to form 2 loaves. Place on the prepared baking tray. Cover and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes until well risen. Preheat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF/Gas 7.

6. Dust the loaf with a little flour. Bake for 10 minutes then lower the oven temperature to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas 6. Bake for 20 minutes more, or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool slightly before serving.

Domestic Goddesticity

I’m all for feminism and being a career woman. The only problem is that I like a bit of domestic bliss as well and therein lies the problem. I just don’t have time for both. In my ideal world I would be holding down a sensible and high flying job during the day and spending my evenings and weekends, socialising, baking, reading, shopping and taking long walks followed by hot baths. It all sounds like heaven. Sadly it would appear that I don’t have time for heaven, as was brought home to me over the weekend.

It should have been so simple. With a busy week in front of me (our big event happening this coming Saturday) I was going to do some leisurely cooking and baking in advance and then freezing it, ready to be defrosted for quick and easy eating after a long day.

The plan was to make Chicken Paprika and some bread as an accompaniment. Delicious, or so I thought.

First to be made was the Chicken Paprika. Secure in the knowledge that I had correctly followed the recipe, I dished the chicken into individual portions to be stored in the freezer. It was on opening the fridge/freezer door that I noticed the yoghurt which I had forgotten to add to the Chicken Paprika. I can now expect to find my tongue ablaze with Paprika on eating this first delicacy.

I then realised that I had burned the pot I had cooked it in. Not just a little burn. Oh no, the kind of burn that a days soaking, a few hours boiling and some CIF couldn’t shift. I’ve now given up and will try to put a positive spin on the black crusty thing lurking at the bottom of my pot.

Now I know that Bread is a recurring theme of this blog so I apologise in advance but my second disaster was with yeast and dough. I made it once, it didn’t work out. I made it a second time and it was fine. I rested on my laurels and forgot the phrase “pride comes before a fall”. Oh and what a spectacular fall this was. I fell right out of those laurels and bashed my head on the ground, with not even a soft bit of bread to break my fall.

My excuse is that I was rushing the bread because, again, I didn’t have a lot of spare time. Secondly I thought that as I was now an experienced bread maker, I could cut corners, experiment and generally do what I wanted. THIS IS WRONG. ALWAYS RESPECT THE BREAD OR IT WILL NOT RESPECT YOU.

Corners were cut, quantities were changed and the result was a charred soggy mess that took me 5 ½ hours to achieve. I could have wept. In fact, I almost did, but I had visitors coming, so I had to keep my chin up, buy some cake and carry on.

When they did arrive, one look at the bread told them the sorry tale and when their toddler tried to take some, he was hastily dragged away by his mum.

Of course I am putting this lack of culinary skill down to the lack of time I had to do it. Nothing to do with just not being the domestic goddess that I would dearly wish to be.

The bread could be said to have been baked

This blog entry is a little later than planned because the end of quarter VAT returns are without mercy and the excuse of "I had to write a blog entry" just didn't cut it with the accountants, but anyway, taking a small break from the number crunching - Here goes:

I've finally done it. After many weeks of quite frankly not having had any spare time to do it, I have finally baked my first loaf of bread. It didn't go quite according to plan mind you. I don't have a breadmaker so am doing it the old fashioned way.

Everything was going fine until it got to the point of leaving the dough to rise. The recipe called for a damp towel to be placed over the bowl with the dough in it. For some obscure reason I decided that the towel should be soaking. This was a big mistake! Essentially the dough failed to rise. This was despite the fact that it was sitting next to a boiling hot radiator for two hours in what I shall describe simply as the smallest room in the house. I called my mum who said that there really was little more I could do. Undeterred I left it another two hours but again nothing happened. It resolutely refused to rise. However I gamely decided to carry on. I had spent a good 5 hours by this time on this piece of bread and I was not going to give up that easily.

I kneaded it again, rolled it into a rough baguette shape and baked it. When its baking time was up, I gingerly took it out of the oven. It actually looked OK so I was hopeful. The first thing I noticed however was that it was very heavy. It felt like the weight of possibly six loaves, not one. My heart sank and I was desperate to try some. Risking burning my fingers I took a knife to it and cut off the end and tested it. My joy returned when I found that it was still edible. It was, it has to be said, somewhat chewy but tasted quite good. My feeling of pleasure and everything being right with the world returned and I felt as if I had really achieved something - albeit not quite as it should have been, but an edible loaf nonetheless. I'm going to try it again soon, when time allows, with a towel only slightly dampened. Wish me luck.