You may have noticed that I tend to lean towards the quirky and leftfield when it comes to the things I pick to bake. Like a magpie that's spotted something shiny, if there's a recipe that uses unusual ingredients or that sounds so bonkers you wouldn't think it would work - that's the one I'll choose. Roll on the bread recipe that calls for treacle, instant coffee, cocoa powder, carrot and caraway seeds among its 13 ingredients. This recipe for Black Bread looks like it was cut out of the Guardian Weekend and I thouroughly recommend it for entertainment value alone. Let me walk you through the bizarre instructions for this loopy loaf.
Black Bread Recipe
150g spelt, rye or wholemeal flour
7g easy-blend yeast
1 tsp muscovado sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp instant coffee
75g treacle
3 tsp fennel, caraway or cumin seeds
50g unsalted butter
150g coarsely grated carrot, parsnip or celeriac
325g strong white flour
2 tsp fine sea salt
Oil
Sesame seeds
1. Whisk 225ml cold water and 50g of the spelt/rye/wholemeal flour in a saucepan, bring to a boil, tip into a bowl and leave until lukewarm.
2. Stir in the yeast and sugar, then leave, covered for 45 minutes.
3. Heat 100ml water with the cocoa, coffee, treacle, butter and fennel/caraway/cumin seeds until the butter has melted.
4. Leave until lukewarm then add to the yeast mix along with the grated veg.
5. Add the remaining flour and salt and stir into a soft sticky mess.
6. Rub a tablespoon of oil on both the worksurface and your hands, and give the dough a ten second knead.
7. Return to the bowl and repeat the ten second knead twice more at ten minute intervals.
8. Shape into a ball, put on an oiled baking tray, sprinkle with sesame seeds and put the whole tray inside a clean plastic bag or bin liner. Leave in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour.
9. Preheat the oven to 220C. Cut a deep cross in the top of the dough and bake for 20 minutes, then drop the temperature to 180C and bake for 15-20 minutes more. Voila!
PS. In case you've not made bread before, to highlight how wacky this recipe is I will tell you that the basic bread recipe only uses flour, yeast and water, which you simply mix, knead, leave to rise and bake. Boring!
3 comments:
that sounds amazing! I fully support anyway of getting more caffeine into my diet. OOh and Slim and I now have a house- 20 days until we are officially Brighton residents. Happy baking my lovely x
That's great news! Can't wait to be neighbours - surely that deserves some kind of housewarming cake extraordinaire to celebrate ;o)
Looking for a corporate event planner that delivers on every detail? Bizzopp has you covered!
Post a Comment