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Thursday 9 June 2011

bread stories

bread
bread
bread

one of the reasons why i've gathered a veritable stack of nigel slater cookbooks over the years, is that his cooking is truly unfussy, unpretentious. i don't mind cooking being a bit of a challenge sometimes, but i believe it should be compatible with the demands of my day to day life, and i can't and won't get up at five in the morning to start some infusion or other with circa twenty-three herbs for a dinner two days ahead. and even though cooking is some kind of slow-down, grounding process i enjoy, the whole thing - ultimately - is about eating the food. at least for me.

so the country loaf i baked a little while ago just hit the spot. after it had cooled down enough, we had thick slices with home-made strawberry jam. so good. the next morning, i had it toasted with sliced tomatoes.

the recipe is from nigel slater's appetite. it's too long to just type it up, but it involves nothing more than 1kg bread flour, 2x 7g dry yeast, 20g salt, c. 700 ml water.

what are your favourite bread recipes? and have you tried baking with sourdough? (my attempt looked pretty, but tasted bland. the sourdough was store-bought.)

9 comments:

máni said...

oh this looks sooooo good! argh, why don't i have time to bake bread now?! ;)

Laura said...

Mm! Lovely pictures.. make me hungry. I should really try to bake some myself, too.

MANDY said...

I love cooking but I have never baked bread, our bakery bread is just too good.
Yours my dear looks AMAZING ... and how wonderful with jam (that's my favorite, bread and jam.

Cara Edwards said...

homemade bread and jam is the best combination! we tried to bake some once but it turned out hideous, props to you!

Shokoofeh said...

Love your bread photos! :)

Unknown said...

How could you? You know I'm trying to cut down on bread-y things…this is just too mean of you. And the homemade jam bit is just sticking the knife in!!

Truthfully, I used to love my breadmaker but once I discovered how easy handmade bread was I stopped using it. Plus kneading gets out my aggression!!

alexandria said...

Beautifully done! I too enjoy Nigel's books.

likeschocolate said...

Gorgeous! Well done!

Edelweiss&Enzian said...

Wow, looks just perfect!
Love your blog!
Follow you now, follow me back?
Edelweiss&Enzian

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