Tomato and onion bread

This one was cobbled together from several other recipes of a similar type; it turned out well. See *read more* for photo.

You'll need:

• 350g strong white flour
• 40g chopped onion
• 50g sundried tomatoes (in oil)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon (3g) dried yeast
• 3/4 teaspoon sugar
• 150ml sourdough starter
• 140ml warm (blood temo) water (approx)

For hints on how to make the starter, see an earlier post, a well-bred loaf . If you don't use the starter, add approx 100ml more water and 75g more flour.

Cream the yeast in 50ml of the water and allow to bloom.

Put the flour, salt and sugar into a suitably-sized bowl, and mix them well. Chop the onions, if not already done; chop the tomatoes with knife or scissors, into reasonably small pieces (less than half inch/12mm bits) and mix tomatoes and onions into the dry flour.

Make a well in the centre of the flour. If using starter, add it now, together with the yeast/water you set aside earlier, and the balance of the water. If there is too much liquid, you can always add a little more flour once you have done a little kneading to see how it feels. Mix as much as you can while still in the bowl.

When that becomes impossible, turn out onto a floured board or worktop - I use the fold-down top of the stove, once it has been warmed a little by having the oven on low. The dough should not be sticky, so add a little more flour, if necessary, as you knead (or should that also be 'as needed'!). I am not going to tell you how to knead; everyone develops their own technique, and it is very difficult to explain without an active demo.

It should not be necessary to knead for more than 10 minutes, by which time you should have a slightly lumpy (from the onions/tomatoes - you did remember to put them in, didn't you?) but resilient dough that is silky to the touch.

Put the dough into a greased/oiled bowl, cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place for 60 to 90 minutes. This example was left the full one-and-a-half hours. It should at least double in size by this time. Turn out onto a clean, floured surface, and knock most of the air out. Knead gently into the shape you want - I should have made mine longer, it got rather fat in the middle - and place on a greased/oiled and floured baking tray. Cover once again with the cloth and leave in a warm place for about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to Mark 6 (approximately 400 degrees F, about 200 C). When your dough is ready, dust it with flour and use a very sharp knife or razor to cut a half-inch (12mm) deep slit along the top. Pop into the middle of the oven and bake for about 35 minutes, until the bottom sounds hallow when tapped. Depending on the heat distribution in your oven, it may be wise to turn the tray around at half-time, to prevent one side being darker than the other (or burning). Remove and cool on a cooling rack.

This was an excellent accompaniment to the summer squash soup we ate for supper last night, and went well as the sandwich bread for today's lunch. The taste of neither the tomato nor the onion in this bread is strong - it is fairly subtle - you could vary those ingredients to suit your own taste.

Next time, I'm going to try it with more tomatoes, add mozarella and chopped, fresh basil - almost a self-contained pizza! I hope you enjoy it.