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Prep Time: 180 Minutes Cook Time: 50 Minutes |
Ready In: 230 Minutes Servings: 6 |
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The original recipe had called for a mixture of plain flour and whole-meal flour (half and half), but I don't bother with the plain flour, nonetheless, both turn out beautifully with a crunchy crust, packed with flavour. Choice is yours... Ingredients:
600 g whole meal flour, plus a little extra (whole-wheat flour) |
1 teaspoon salt |
1 teaspoon sugar |
4 g dried yeast |
400 ml water, hand-hot |
30 g butter, melted |
Directions:
1. You will need a 2 lb loaf tin, well buttered.
2. Seive the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a large bowl and pour in the hand-hot water with the melted butter.
3. Mix with your hands to form a dough, then scrape it out of the bowl on to a work surface.
4. Knead for 10-15 minutes, adding more water if necessary (the dough should be very soft -it is better to have too much water than too little).
5. Transfer the dough into a greased bowl, cover it with a clean, damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place ideally for two hours.
6. Next, roll the dough into a long sausage, about twice as long as the tin, flatten it with your knuckles into a long strip and fold it into three.
7. Fit the dough in the buttered tin, with the fold beneath, pressing in on the edges so that you will have a nice rounded top.
8. Sprinkle the surface with a generous dusting of flour, then cover the tin with a damp, clean tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for further 30-40 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to gas mark 6/200C/400°F.
10. After the second-rising, bake in the centre shelf of the oven for 40 minutes, until the loaf sounds hollow when removed from the tin and tapped on the bottom.
11. Return the bread back into the oven, but this time without the tin, upside down for a further 5-10 minutes to crisp the base and the sides.
12. Cool the bread on a wire rack.
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