Our blog is dedicated to seasonal living: cooking with local produce (sometimes our own), sewing for the home and searching out vintage bargains.

We believe that most of the pleasure is in the journey - in the making and creating, even if in a simple way.

Thursday 31 March 2011

Easy Bread

This is me on my hobby horse - so much shop bought bread is dire. It is not difficult to make - just seems that way. Irish soda bread is probably the easiest of the lot. However, this is also pretty easy and very delicious - actually a bit too nice. I've eaten far too much of it. It is also a great stress-reliever- kneading some dough. Try it

2 lbs mixed flour (I used a mix of white, wholemeal and seeded, roughly the same amounts of each, but it doesn't matter)
1oz fresh yeast.
About a pint of mixed milk and water, warmed.
teaspoon salt

Mix the yeast with some of the milk/water in a small bowl. Put all the flours and the salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the yeast mixture. Gradually add in enough of the milk/water to make a sticky dough. You may need a little extra flour as you work the dough. Knead the dough for 10 minutes. Cover the bowl and leave to rise for 1 hour in a warm place. Knock all the dough back and knead again for 2 minutes. Form into 2 rounds, or cobs. Sprinkle a little flour on top. Put on a greased baking tray. Cover with a clean tea-towel. leave to rise for 30 minutes. Bake in a moderate - hot oven for about 30 minutes. Cool on a wire tray.

1 comment:

  1. Warm, just made bread - you really can't beat it, can you?

    ReplyDelete