We have decided we would never buy a loaf of bread again. The decision was actually made last year after spending some ridiculous amount of money in one of London’s artisan bakeries. Not that it was not worth it. Bread was delicious and surely, prepared from great ingredients and with a lot of skill. Yet it is something wrong with overpaying on something that not so long ago we used to have skills to make ourselves.

I remember my grandma baking a weekly supply of sourdough every Thursday. It was enchanting to see flour and water and a bit of salt changing into a living mass of dough and then beautiful loaves of farmhouse bread. It was this crucifying waiting for the first delicious slice with nothing more than home made butter. That’s living!

So we have been baking our breads for almost a year now and although not every loaf was something we would serve to the Queen the result were certainly encouraging. Bread baking changed our life for better, more sustainable and closer to our roots. Every loaf is a tribute to our grandmothers’ skills to fill home with lovingly hugging smell of freshly baked bread.

 

Ingredients:

  • 225g potatoes peeled and diced
  • 7g dried yeast
  • 350g unbleached strong white flour
  • 115g wholemeal flour
  • 2 tsp fine sea salt
  • 25g unsalted butter
  • 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1 tsp nigella seeds
  • 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds

Method

Cook diced potatoes until soft, drain and keep 230 ml of the cooking water to one side. Rice the potato and mix the potato water to make a paste.

Rub the butter into the flour, then add all seeds and rosemary. Place dried yeast on one side, salt on the other.

Mix in the potato mix until slightly wet dough is formed. Kneed for 8-10 minutes until elastic and smooth. Place in an oiled bowl and leave in a warm place until it has doubled in size.

Heat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knock back gently (kneed to remove air). Place in a greased, floured bread tin, dust well with flour and using a sharp serrated knife make an incision along the centre.  Cover the loaf with oiled cling film and leave to rise. When doubled in size spray with cold water and place in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.

Leave to cool on a cooling rack.