Bake | A Lammas loaf

Toasted basil and blackberry brioche with summer berries for Lammas

A berry- and herb-studded brioche is a great way to celebrate this moment of wheat and berries, but to say making brioche is a bit of a faff would be quite the understatement. It’s a fun project but this dessert will work beautifully with thick, toasted slices of a good-quality bought brioche loaf if you don’t have the time to make your own. The brioche recipe is based on a recipe from River Cottage Baking, with a few additions. Ideally, start making this the day before you need it, as the dough benefits from spending a night in the fridge.

Serves 4-6

For the basil and blackberry brioche

Makes 2 small loaves

400g strong white bread flour

5g powdered dried yeast

10g salt

90ml warm milk

2 tbsp caster sugar

100g butter, softened

4 eggs, beaten

a handful of blackberries per loaf

basil leaves

To glaze

1 egg

2 tbsp milk

For the fruits

210g blueberries

170g blackberries

4 figs, quartered

a few sprigs of thyme

1 For the brioche, put all of the ingredients except the basil, the berries and the glaze ingredients into a large bowl and bring it all together into a dough. Knead for ten minutes (or put the dough into the bowl of your food processor and use the dough hook on it for ten minutes). Place it in a bowl, cover, and chill overnight. The next morning, remove it from the fridge and shape it into your loaves – I put mine into a round cake tin or small loaf tins – then leave them somewhere warm to prove. This could take several hours as the dough will be starting from cold.

2 Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan 180/400F. Once the loaves have doubled in size, decorate them by pushing the blackberries into the surface and laying the basil leaves across it, then beat the egg and the milk together and paint it across the surface. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the oven setting to 180C/Fan 160/350F and bake for a further 30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

3 Place the fruits and thyme into a saucepan and simmer gently until the berries have burst, the juice is released and the figs are turned the colour of the blackberries. Slice the brioche and toast a piece per person. Serve each person a small bowlful and a piece of toasted brioche to scoop up the warm, herby fruit and to dip into the juices.

This recipe by Lia Leendertz with photography by Kirstie Young was first published in issue 50 of The Simple Things. You can read more about Lammas celebrations in our current August issue.

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More from our blog…

More things to do with blackberries…

Recipe | Tomato Focaccia

Almost as much joy to bake as it is to eat. Use cherry tomatoes to get juicy little planets of blistered and sweet tomatoes in the surface of the bread, some sinking into the doughy dimples, and some not.

Makes 1 focaccia

330ml lukewarm water
7g fast-action dried yeast
500g strong white bread flour
6 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing
1 tsp salt
200g cherry tomatoes, some halved, some not
8 sage leaves or 3 rosemary sprigs, torn
Generous ½ tsp flaky sea salt

1 Stir together the water and yeast and leave it to sit for 5-10 mins, or until it becomes foamy.

2 When it’s ready, tip the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the yeast mixture, mixing vigorously, either by hand or using the dough hook on a kitchen mixer for a minute or so, then add 2 tbsp of the olive oil and the salt. Continue mixing for a further 10 mins, or until the dough becomes less sticky, smoother and more cohesive.

3 Brush a bowl with olive oil and tip in the dough. Cover and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for about 1-1½ hrs, until it has nearly doubled in size.

4 Once proved, brush a deep-sided baking pan with a little olive oil, then tip the risen dough into the pan. Pull the dough towards the edges of the pan and use your fingertips to dimple it in places, keeping some spots still nicely aerated. Add about 1 tbsp more of olive oil over the surface of the dough, cover and leave to prove once more for about another 20 mins.

5 Preheat the oven to 230C/Fan 210C/Gas 8. Add the cherry tomatoes to the dough, squeezing some deep into pockets and leaving others protruding out a little more. Do the same with the sage leaves or torn rosemary sprigs, then sprinkle over the flaky sea salt.

6 Bake the dough in the very hot oven for about 25 mins, or until the crust is golden brown and puffed around edges.

7 Once baked, remove the focaccia from the oven and immediately drench it with the remaining olive oil, then allow it to cool for at least 10-15 mins before slicing.The loaf should sound hollow when it is tapped on the underside.

Taken from Tomato by Claire Thomson (Quadrille) Photography: Sam Folan

Find more tomato recipes from the book above in our September issue, including Tomato Carpaccio with Tapenade, Roasted Tomato Falafels with Tomato Yogurt and a Borscht.

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More from our September issue…

More tomato recipes for late summer suppers…

Recipe | nettle soda bread

Now’s the time to gather treasures from the hedgerows. And then head home and into the kitchen to make this nettle soda bread.

Nettle Soda Bread

Good handful of young nettle leaves and/or wild garlic
½ pint buttermilk
6oz self raising flour (wholemeal or brown)
3oz plain flour
3oz seed & grain bread flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Gather your nettle tips (with gloves on) before they flower. Strip off the stems until you have enough for one large handful of leaves.

Heat oven to 200C/Fan 180/400F

In a blender or large jug, add leaves and buttermilk. Blend until smooth.

Put flour, salt and soda into a mixing bowl. Form a well in the middle and pour in the nettle buttermilk. Quickly mix together with a fork until a soft dough is formed.

Turn out mixture onto a floured surface, lightly need for 2 minutes then form into a round shape.

Put on a floured baking tray. Flatten the top of the dough and score the top in a cross.

Cook for 30 minutes until the dough sounds hollow. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

N.B. You can substitute nettles for ramsons or crow garlic. For a seed top, before baking rub a little buttermilk over the top and add some sedge seeds (found in autumn) or sunflower seeds also work nicely.

 In this month’s Blossom issue, we have a beautiful feature we think you’ll love by Lia Leendertz, in which she looks at cooking and enjoying some of the season’s bounty. Nature’s Table is the first in a new series. Do tell us what you think! This soda bread recipe with photography by Kirstie Young, was first published in our March 2016 issue but it tastes just as good (if not better) four years on.

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

From our March issue…

More foraging fun…

Bake a basic sourdough loaf

This month marks Sourdough September and we can’t think of much that’s more worth celebrating

As summer draws to a close our minds turn to home comforts, particularly those that involve flowery hands and warm smells emanating from ovens. For our September ‘Begin’ issue, we visited Sourdough School to begin finding out from sourdough guru Vanessa Kimbell how to make that delicious, crusty, chewy bread. You can read all about it on p22 of the issue. To give you a flavour, though, we’ve posted one of Vanessa’s simple sourdough recipes here. Don’t say we aren’t good to you. You can find out lots more about sourdough at The Sourdough School.

Allow yourself about 3 –4 hours for the dough to be mixed, folded and shaped ready to place in the coldest part of the fridge to prove overnight.(If you are new to bread making, you can, instead of shaping the dough and putting it into a banneton, grease a 2lb bread tin liberally with butter, let the dough rise in it overnight in the fridge and then bake as per the recipe instructions below.)

Equipment:
A large mixing bowl
A round cane banneton
2 clean tea towels
A Dutch oven or La Cloche
A large heatproof pan, a sharp knife or ‘lame’ to slash the dough with

Ingredients:
300g water
100g sourdough leaven (made with your starter)*
100g of stoneground organic wholemeal flour
400g organic strong white flour
10g fine sea salt mixed with 15g of cold water
25g rice flour mixed with 25g of stone ground white flour (for dusting your banneton)
Semolina to dust the bottom of the baking surface

Makes 1 loaf

Late afternoon

In a large bowl whisk your water and starter and mix well. Add all the flour and mix until all the ingredients come together into a large ball.

Cover with a clean damp cloth and let the dough rest on the side in the kitchen for between 30 mins and 2 hours – this what bakers call Autolyse

Add the salt mixed with the water and dimple your fingers into the dough to allow the salty water and salt to distribute evenly throughout the dough.  Leave for 10 mins.

Next lift and fold your dough over, do a quarter turn of your bowl and repeat 3 more times. Repeat 3 times at 30 min intervals with a final 15 min rest at the end.

Shape the dough lightly into a ball then place into a round banneton dusted with flour (If you don’t have a banneton then use a clean tea towel dusted with flour inside a colander). Dust the top with flour, then cover with a damp tea-towel

Leave your dough to one side until it is 50% bigger then transfer to the fridge , and leave to prove there for 8 – 12 hours.

The following morning

The next morning preheat your oven to 220°C for at least 30 mins before you are ready to bake. Place your cloche or baking stone in the oven and a large pan of boiling water underneath (or use a Dutch oven). The hydration helps form a beautiful crust.

Once the oven is up to full heat, carefully remove the baking stone from the oven, taking care not to burn yourself, dust with a fine layer of semolina, which stops the bread sticking, then put your dough onto the baking stone and slash the top with your blade. This decides where the bread will tear as it rises. Bake for an hour.

Turn the heat down to 180°C (and remove the lid if you are using a Dutch oven) and bake for another 10 -15  mins.  You need to choose just how dark you like your crust but I suggest you bake until it is a dark brown – it tastes much better.

Storage

Sourdough is really best left to cool completely before slicing and is even better if left for a day to let the full flavour develop. Once your sourdough has cooled, store in a linen or cotton bread bag, or wrapped in a clean tea towel. If you don’t like a crunchy crust on your sourdough bread, simply wrap your bread in a clean tea towel whilst it is still warm.

* To make 100g of leaven, use 1 tbsp of sourdough starter, 40g of water and 40g of strong white flour, mix well and leave, covered on the side in the kitchen in the morning. It will be lively and bubbly and ready to bake with in the evening.

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More from our September issue…

More sourdough (and other) baking inspiration…

Your (sourdough) starter for ten

Don’t think of your sourdough starter as a recipe. Think of it as a pet…

Who knew that people give their sourdough starters names? Oh OK, you did then. We had no idea! But now we do we just can’t stop thinking of excellent monikers for them.

Overused it may be but Clint Yeastwood still brings a smile to our faces. And if you want a celebrity starter there’s definitely a rich seam to be tapped. How about Bread Dibnah, or Sheena Yeaston? Matthew Breaderick, Crustin Hoffman or Dough Berrick? Philip Loafyield? Too tenuous?... Yes, ok we’ll leave it there.

You could of course choose something more ‘under the radar’. Bubbles, perhaps. Or Gloopy-Lou.

Or simply go oblique. On one sourdough forum a user explained “Mine is called Eve. She started all this trouble after all.” Another says firmly that she never considered naming hers. Fair enough: “I love my starters, they are my boys, like children, I talk to them  and I'm proud of them. I miss them when I away. But I have never wanted to give them names.” We’re lost for words now, frankly.

In some ways it’s no surprise people feel they need to name their starters. They become like one of the family in many ways, needing regular feeding, plenty of love and attention. A bit like a very low-maintenance pet.

But look after it you must, so we asked Luc Martin, sourdough expert and owner of Pig and Rye Sourdough Bakery, Breakfast and Lunchroom in Tllburg, The Netherlands.

“The best way to look after a starter is feed it every day. At the bakery we use 3-10kg a day and the few hundred grams that’s left gets mixed with fresh flour and water to be used the next day. Our starter is wholegrain rye based, I’ve kept it alive for over ten years but I don’t believe the age of the starter has any effect on the finished bread.”

He has this advice for newbies to the world of sourdough starters: “For a home baker keeping a starter alive is trickier because you don’t necessarily bake every day. The best thing to do is keep the starter alive in a small quantity, like 150g total, then every day bin 100g and refresh with 50g flour 50g water. There are tricks like storing in the fridge, or keeping the starter hydration lower, both will slow fermentation and extend time between feedings but if you make a mistake you can end up killing the starter.” And that would be a sad day indeed. Keep it simple then, folks.

And what does a sourdough guru call his starter? “Mine has no name I’m afraid, but if I did name it it would probably be Blueberry which is how it smells when it’s ready to bake with.”

In our February issue we have a feature on overnight bakes that will make good use of your starters, keep you busy on a Saturday night before bed, and give you a warm glow of smug satisfaction (and a lovely loaf to boot) on Sunday morning. We have recipes by Rachel de Thample for sweet loaves, crumpets, an oat loaf and even apple and cardamom buns. But we especially enjoyed the recipe for this crusty overnight baguette. We strongly recommend you have a go yourself this weekend. And let us know what you named your sourdough starter, too, so we can give Philip Seemore Loafman the credit, too. Here’s one of our February issue recipes to get your started (see what we did there).

Breakfast baguettes

Baguettes are a great way to get into bread-making. They’re easy to make and super satisfying to see (and eat!) the results. Especially great with salted butter and jam.

• Makes 4 small or 2 large sticks

• 250g active sourdough starter*,  or 5g instant yeast

• 325ml water

• 1 ¾ tsp sea salt

• 500g strong white bread flour

1  Mix everything together to form  a dough. Give it a good knead until it’s nice and stretchy. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise at room temperature for 8–12 hours, or until doubled in size.

2  Punch down and shape into  2 really long or 4 shorter rectangles – flatten and roll into a baguette shape, tapering and tucking the ends in.

3 Lightly oil a large baking sheet – or two, if needed. Dust with semolina or flour. Arrange the baguettes on the prepared baking sheets, leaving a little room around them so they can rise. Cover with floured plastic and allow to rise for 1½–2 hours or until almost doubled in size.

4 Make diagonal slashes across  each loaf using a sharp knife or razor blade. Bake at 220C/Fan 200C/ Gas 8 for about 15–20 mins or until well browned. Spray with water before baking, then 5 mins and  10 mins into the cooking time.

Cook’s note To activate your sourdough starter, remove from the fridge. Feed 2–4 tbsp of starter with 150g strong white bread flour, plus 150ml water. Whisk or stir until well mixed. Cover loosely with a lid or  a clean cloth. Let it ferment in a warmish place for 8–12 hours.

*For instructions on how to make a sourdough starter visit thesimplethings/blog/sourdoughstarter.

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More breads and bakes to enjoy…

More from our February issue…

How to: make a sourdough starter

Rachel de Thample explains how to make your own sourdough starter

In our February issue we have a feature on ‘wake-up bakes’, that is loaves, cakes, crumpets and baguettes that can be started on a Saturday evening and left overnight to give you fresh bread for Sunday breakfast. The sourdough recipes require what’s called a starter, and you can learn how to make one here. You can find all of the full recipes starting on p38 of the February issue. Take your marks, get set, start your starters!

Simple sourdough starter

Simply mix 100g strong white bread flour with 100g filtered or mineral water (measure it on a digital scale for best results). Loosely cover with a cloth. Set at room temperature in a dark place and leave to ferment for 1 day. If the starter has yet to produce lots of little bubbles across the top, indicating that it is active, add an additional 100g strong white bread flour and 100g filtered or mineral water. Mix well and continue this exercise each day, topping up the starter, until it’s risen slightly and has a good number of little bubbles formed at the top. Once you have your starter activated, you can make sourdough loaves, crumpets and more… If your starter is getting off to a slow start, try adding a piece of dried fruit such as a dried apricot or prune to the mix, a 5cm piece of rhubarb and/or 1 tbsp natural yogurt or kefir, to help feed it.

Dark rye sourdough starter

Rye flour is more absorbent than white flour, so you use slightly more water to get a rye starter going.

Day 1: Add 50ml filtered or mineral water to 2 tbsp rye flour. Stir to make a smooth paste. Cover with a cloth and leave at room temperature (about 20C) away from direct sunlight for 24 hours.

Days 2–4: Repeat the process above. By Day 4 you should start to see some bubbles.

Day 5: Stir in 100g rye flour and 200ml filtered or mineral water.

Day 6: By now your rye sourdough starter or leaven should be active and have developed a fruity smell. Double the quantity of batter using 100g rye flour and 200ml filtered or mineral water.

Day 7: Your starter is ready to make your first batch of bread. Store the starter in the fridge for up to 1 month between bakes. Before making a loaf of bread, take the starter out 12 hours before and feed it with 100g flour and 200ml filter or mineral water to reactive it.

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More bakes to inspire…

More from our February issue…

Recipe | Schiacciata di uva

Schiacciata di uva

A RECIPE TO CELEBRATE HARVEST (SCHIACCIATA MEANS ‘SQUASHED’)

Serves 12

200g raisins
250ml vin santo or moscatel
850g strong white bread flour
2 scant tsp fast-action yeast
435ml warm water (100-110C)
1 1⁄2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing
450g black seedless grapes, washed and stalks removed
2 tbsp demerara sugar
2 tbsp fennel seeds
you will need
A 33 x 22cm baking tray

1 In a small pan, bring the raisins and vin santo or moscatel to a boil, then turn off the heat and set aside for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight.

2 Mix the flour and yeast with 1 tsp salt. In a jug, combine the warm water with the olive oil. Pour into the flour mixture and combine, then knead until smooth and elastic. Or use a mixer with dough hook attachment.

3 Brush a thin layer of oil over the inside of a large bowl and put the dough inside, turning it over in the oil. Cover with cling film or a plastic bag and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour 30 mins).

4 Brush a 33 x 22cm baking tray with oil. Divide the dough into two and roll half out to the size of the tray, pushing it into the corners. Drain the raisin mixture and spoon over the dough. Roll out the second half of dough to the same size and sandwich over the first. Pinch the edges to join. Leave in a warm place, covered with a clean tea towel, until risen (at least 30 mins).

5 Preheat oven to 190C/Fan 170C/ Gas 5. When the dough has risen, scatter over the grapes, then sprinkle over the sugar and fennel seeds.

6 Bake in the preheated oven for 45 mins, until you have a golden crust and the grapes are bubbling and releasing their juices. Cool on a wire rack for 15 mins, then cut into generous slices to serve, with coffee or as a dessert in its own right.

Turn to page 24 of October’s The Simple Things for more of our autumn fruit feast, including Blistered grapes, ricotta & toasted sourdough, Parma-wrapped chicken with figs & gorgonzola, Herb-roasted veg Kale & fennel salad, and Poached prunes with Pedro Ximénez.

A feast of autumn fruit was inspired by the annual harvest days at Dunleavy Vineyards in the Chew Valley, Somerset, when friends and family join together to help harvest grapes and share a meal in the vineyard afterwards.

Launched in 2008 by Ingrid Bates, the vineyard produces multi-award winning rosé wine from Pinot noir and Seyval blanc grapes. Dunleavy Vineyards’ first sparkling wine will be available from October 2018.

dunleavyvineyards.co.uk

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

View the sampler here.

More from the October issue:

More harvest recipes:

Toast | Spring peas, broad beans & flowers

Full of the things that shine in spring.*

Serves 4
100ml extra virgin olive oil
350g podded broad beans and peas
Handful of parsley, stalks and all, finely chopped
Handful of mint, leaves picked, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 dried chillies
1⁄2 lemon
4–8 slices of sourdough

TO SERVE
Lemon
Ricotta
Edible flowers
Cook’s note: You can now buy edible flowers at the supermarket, usually stocked alongside the fresh herbs.

1 Heat 80ml of the olive oil in a heavy-based frying pan over a low heat. Add the broad beans, peas and a pinch of salt and pepper. Fry for about 10 mins.
2 Grind the parsley, mint, garlic and chilli with the remaining oil to a paste using a pestle and mortar. Add to the pan with the veg and fry for 2–3 mins. Remove from heat and add a squeeze of lemon juice.
3 Boil the eggs for 6 mins and toast the bread.
4 To serve, peel and halve the eggs, spoon the broad bean mix on the toast, then top with the eggs, a squeeze of lemon, some ricotta, a pinch of salt and freshly ground or cracked black pepper, and a scattering of flowers.

Turn to page 31 for more from our Grown & gathered feature to find out how Australians Matt and Lentil have learned to live alongside nature, adapting an ancient way of life for the modern world. Hear their story and try a few more of their recipes. 

* ...if you’re in Australia. In temperate Britain, you’ll have to wait until early summer!

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

View the sampler here.

More from the April issue:

More edible flower recipes:

Recipe: Ribollita and focaccia

Is there anything more reviving than a steaming bowl of soup and a hunk of freshly baked bread to dip into it? 

February’s The Simple Things includes three soup recipes and accompanying loaves - turn to page 37 to see them all. Or try Ribollita, an Italian classic packed with beans, veg and bread. Plus, an airy, herby focaccia to go with it.

Ribollita

This Italian soup translates as ‘reboiled’, and traditionally it is made one day for eating the next. It is thickened with bread, but don’t let that stop you from pairing it with an airy, herby focaccia.

Serves 6
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra
for drizzling
2 onions, chopped
2 carrots, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
400g tin chopped tomatoes
250g cooked cannellini beans
250ml water or stock
1 tsp dried oregano
2 slices white bread, ideally stale
A few handfuls of cavolo nero, roughly chopped
Small handful of chopped parsley

1 Heat the olive oil in a pan and gently fry the onions, carrots and garlic until softened and translucent.
2 Add the tomatoes, beans, water or stock, and oregano and bring to the boil, then simmer for 30 mins.
3 Tear up the bread and add it to the pot, along with the cavolo nero, and simmer for another 20 mins.
4 Season and divide into bowls. Drizzle each serving with olive oil and sprinkle with parsley. Or follow tradition and leave overnight to let the flavours marry together, then reheat and serve the following day.
 

Focaccia

A lovely, airy bread for dipping in oil or soup. This recipe is based on Paul Hollywood’s and works brilliantly.

Makes 2 loaves

500g strong white bread flour 10g salt
10g instant yeast
140ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for kneading and drizzling
360ml cold water
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp sea salt flakes

1 Lightly oil a square or rectangular plastic storage box. Measure the flour, salt and yeast into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in 40ml of the oil and 240ml water, then stir in with your fingers, adding more water as you need it until all of the flour is incorporated. You may not need to use all the water but you should create a fairly wet dough.
2 Coat your work surface with some of the remaining olive oil, tip the dough onto it, and knead for around 10 mins, adding more olive oil if the dough starts to stick. Drop the dough into the plastic container and cover with a clean tea towel. Leave to double in size: about an hour.
3 Cover two baking sheets in parchment and drizzle on olive oil, then tip the dough out of the container and as gently as possible cut it into two pieces and stretch them into rectangles on the baking sheets, taking care not to knock the air out of them. Cover with clean tea towels and leave to rise for another hour.
4 Preheat oven to 220C/Fan 200C/ 425F. Use fingers to make dimples all over the focaccia, then drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on herbs and salt. Bake for around 15 mins, or until golden on top and hollow sounding when the bottom is tapped. Drizzle on more oil and leave to cool on a wire rack.

More from the February issue:

More soup recipes:

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

View the sampler here

Recipe: Pitta bread

Is there anything more satisfying than making your own bread?

Pitta is extremely easy to make and it goes with everything because it’s light and doesn’t overpower a dish.

Pitta bread

7g instant yeast

240ml tepid/warm water
1 tsp golden caster sugar
400g plain flour
50ml olive oil, plus extra for oiling

1 Mix the yeast and warm water together in a large bowl. Leave for a couple of minutes and then add the sugar and stir through. Add the flour and olive oil and knead together until you have a smooth doughy consistency that bounces back. This should take 5-8 minutes. Leave the dough in an oiled bowl for about one hour until it has risen.

2 Preheat the oven to 220C/Fan 200C/425F.

3 Once risen, cut the dough into eight equal pieces and shape them into nice balls. Lay them on a baking tray and leave to rise for another 10 minutes. Once risen, flatten each ball with a rolling pin (not too thin), lay on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes or until the pittas have puffed up. Keep an eye on them during baking – bake for too long and the breads will be too crunchy and lose their softness.

4 Serve, dipping into some olive oil and za’atar if you like.

These will keep for a few days if sealed in an airtight container.

Recipe from Palestine on a Plate by by Joudie Kalla (Jacqui Small) Photography Ria Osbourne 

More from the October issue:

More bread recipes:

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

View the sampler here

Recipe: Muhammara and an easy flatbread recipe

Want to be wiser? Eating a handful of walnuts a day can improve your memory, concentration and cognitive function, according to a recent study. Swap hummus or baba ganoush for this walnut pepper dip and, as well as treating your tastebuds, you’ll be recharging your brainpower.
Turn to page 128 of April's The Simple Things for a Muhammara recipe.

Want to make your own flatbread? We're trying Nigel Slater's recipe, as it reignited his passion for pita. Try it here.

Read more:

From the April issue

Middle Eastern recipes

Bread recipes

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

View the sampler here

Recipe: Soda ale bread

Still ploughing through the remains of your new-year bash? This loaf neatly absorbs those half-bottles of beer or cider you find hanging around after a party. The brew gives the bread a distinctive, deliciously yeasty character, great with soup or cheese

butter or oil, for greasing
350g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
250g wholemeal flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp light brown sugar or honey
1 tsp salt
dash of rapeseed or olive oil
300ml buttermilk or thin yogurt
200ml beer or cider

1 Preheat the oven to 220C/Fan 200/425F. Lightly grease a baking sheet and dust with a little flour.
2 In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the middle and quickly stir in the oil, buttermilk or yoghurt and beer or cider with a knife, working just enough to bring the dough together into a rough ball. The quicker you work, the better the texture will be. If it seems dry, add a dash more beer or water – the dough should feel quite soft but not be too sticky.
3 With floured hands, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it very briefly – just enough to bring it together into a rough round, about 7cm high.
4 Transfer to a baking sheet, sprinkle generously with flour and use a sharp knife to cut a deep cross in the middle of the loaf.
5 Bake for 15 mins, then lower the oven setting to 200C/Fan 180/400F and bake the loaf for a further 20–25 mins, until it sounds hollow when tapped on the base. It’s best eaten warm, with plenty of butter, but it’s also good toasted the next day.

Recipe from Love Your Leftovers by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, photography by Simon Wheeler (Bloomsbury Publishing)
 

Read more:

From the January issue

Wisdom: Allegra McEvedy

Bread recipes

January's The Simple Things is out now - buy, download or subscribe.

Recipe: Olive and rosemary sourdough

Alex Gooch’s Olive and Rosemary Sourdough (From our February issue)

 

500g strong white bread flour
300ml water (room temperature)
200g starter
10g finely chopped lemon zest
11g salt
200g pitted olives
10g rosemary

1 Mix the first five ingredients in a bowl. When they start to come together, turn out onto your table and knead for 5 mins. Form into a ball and place in a lightly-oiled bowl. Cover tightly so that it is airtight. You can use cling film or place the bowl in a bin bag and create a greenhouse effect. Leave the dough to prove in a warm environment for 2.5 hours.

2 Turn your dough out onto a very lightly oiled surface and stretch it out so it is wide and flat. Place your olives and rosemary, ripped up in a rustic fashion, on top of the dough and fold all of the corners in. Gently knead together so that the olives are roughly distributed throughout the dough. Form into a ball, and place back in your bowl and leave well covered for 90 mins.

3 Turn the dough out and divide into two or leave as one to make a larger loaf. Shape them and then roll them in flour so they are lightly covered all over. Lightly flour your proving basket (see Gooch’s glossary, opposite) and place your dough in it seam up. Cover well to prevent a skin forming and leave for 2 hours for its final prove.

4 Preheat oven to 240C/Fan 220C/475F. Turn the dough out of the basket into your cloche (see Gooch’s glossary) or onto your tray. Slash the top well with a sharp knife and then bake for 30 mins for two small loaves or 35 mins for one large. If using a cloche, remove the lid for the last 10 mins in the oven. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a rack for at least 2 hours
before eating.

Originally published in February 2015's issue of The Simple Things - buy a back issue now.

More Gathering recipes in the August issue - out 29 July 2015.

Want, knead, love: Real, down-to-earth bread baking

There's something about bread that is so fundamental, so magical, so right. Our passionate baker boy, Alex Gooch, is here to pass on his bread baking knowhow.

Meet Alex Gooch, our new baker boy, in the first of his new series about baking bread.

“Good bread takes patience, passion and instinct. Making it brings you into the moment completely. It stimulates all of the senses, whether it be the feel of the dough, the sweet smell of the baking bread, or the crackle as you squeeze a ciabatta. “When I was growing up, my brothers and I ate toast, toast and more toast! And that was about as close to bread as I got until I started as a kitchen porter when I was doing my A levels. “I loved the camaraderie of the kitchen and felt at home there. They offered to train me, so I ditched the idea of college and settled into the chef’s life of long hours and a surrogate family of fellow foodies. “I liked baking bread and worked at a few Italians where I mastered focaccia pretty well and at hotels I made plenty of pastry and croissants. But it was while at Penrhos Court in Herefordshire that I started experimenting, encouraged by chef Daphne lambert (who I named my first sourdough starter after). In 2007 she let me take over one of the kitchens at night and this was my first bakery. I began selling bread and jams at farmers’ markets and food festivals, then the following year I opened my bakery called Alex Gooch Artisan Baker in Hay-on-Wye. “There are so many possibilities with bread: rye sourdough, mixed grain, ciabatta, brioche but one of the things that keeps me excited and inspired is following the seasons, and letting them dictate the bread I make. It turns out that pink fir apple potatoes make the most scrumptious potato and onion bread, and the magical cep makes a mind-blowing garlic and cep foccacia with herb oil. “Baking is a hard job – pulling all-nighters and the need to step up a gear when things are busy. But baking at home is different: one of the reasons I think it is now so popular is because the results are so rewarding. The process is so enjoyable, too. It is very natural; you can listen to the radio or chill out for a while – bread is at its best when it is left to rest a lot.”

Turn to page 49 of October's The Simple Things for Alex's seasonal bread bakes, including Black garlic flatbread with sesame, nigella and a kale, miso dressing; Roast pumpkin and apple rolls; and Plum and ginger bread with a cider and honey glaze.

Buy or download your copy now.

Alex Gooch supplies restaurants, hotels, delis, functions and events and sells at markets in different towns four days a week. He also runs bread-making courses: www.alexgoochbaker.com. Tweet Alex @alexgoochbaker to let him know how your bread bakes.

Don't miss: National Craft Bakers' Week

National Craft Bakers’ Week 7-13th October 2013 Bakers from across the country are coming together this October to tempt people into their bakeries to support National Craft Bakers’ Week. A range of fabulous bread, cakes and pies will be available for people to try and buy, with promotions and events taking place around the country during the week.

National Craft Bakers’ Week is organised on behalf of hundreds of craft bakers across the UK who form a key part of the British high street. It aims to encourage support for bakeries from local communities and highlight the variety of produce made by these skilled craftspeople every day. The campaign is supported by TV baking stars Tom and Henry Herbert, the Fabulous Baker Brothers, who run Hobbs House Bakery in the Cotswolds at Chipping Sodbury. Tom and Henry are passionate about getting the public to support craft bakers: “There is rightly a great feeling of pride about British food at the moment and National Craft Bakers’ Week is a great way to remind everyone that bakers are very much part of this story,” says Henry. “Baking is a real skill and one that we need to celebrate and support. It can take years to learn the craft as there are so many techniques to master, from traditional bread making and caring for a sour dough culture through to icing cakes. So please show some love for your local baker by visiting them this October – it will be worth it!”

National Craft Bakers’ Week supports the Teenage Cancer Trust and bakers will be fundraising on behalf of the charity. For more, visit www.craftbakersweek.co.uk.

Share some sticky marmalade picnic bread

Enthused by yesterday's Etsy cutlery wrap discovery, we’ve spent all morning hunting out recipes for lovely nibbly food to take on all the picnics we’ll be having.

This marmalade picnic bread recipe from apt 2b baking is quite possibly the ultimate in picnic food. It combines bread and filling in one handy loaf which can be pulled apart for sharing. No need to pack sticky jam jars, knives or cutting boards! How clever.

So clever, in fact, it renders our new knife and fork wraps totally obsolete. Looks like we’ll have to extend our picnic food hunt a little longer…

Join the bread revolution

Is there anything better than freshly-baked homemade bread? Bakery owners Duncan Glendinning and Patrick Ryan think not.

Champions of all things local, seasonal and foraged, boys behind The Thoughtful Bread Company have written their first book. Bread Revolution is packed with recipes for us to try at home. We dropped into the launch party to sample the recipes and can confirm that these bakers have some serious skills.

In particular, we couldn’t stop nibbling at their mini stone-baked flatbreads, dipped into home-made hummus and zinged-up pesto. We were sure that they’d be too fiddly to achieve at home, but we had a peek at the hummus recipe and it’s only three sentences long! Hardly more effort than buying it at the supermarket and ten times as tasty.