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

I'm not sure if it has been my technique in the past, or if I had bad batches of flour, but since I switched to a 'very strong' white flour - so-called 'baker's grade', the loaves have risen far more than in the past. This is the first time I've actually had a loaf that looked anything like those the baker makes. See more.

Made this a while ago, it has just taken me a long time to write it up. It is probably worth the wait, however.
Don't be put off by the picture - that was my first attempt, and I have since improved with practice.

This makes a single 10-inch diameter (more or less) pizza.

Unlike most bread recipes, pizza dough doesn't have a second rising (proving); it all happens in the oven.

This is a modified version of a recipe in 'The Best Bread Book' by Patricia Jacobs (Pan 1975).

This uses some of the sourdough starter (see earlier entry A well-bred loaf). The starter I used has been in my fridge for six or seven weeks now, being 'fed' every week. So to use it this time, I took it from the fridge, poured it into a clean bowl and stirred in 75g of wholemeal flour and 100ml of warm water. This just about doubled the volume of the starter to 400ml. After a good stir, and having made a good job of cleaning out the original storage jar (a large Branston pickle container has the right shape and size for me - it allows one to swirl the stuff around in between feeds, a bit like a conical flask from the chemistry lab!), put half of it back into that jar and set it back in the fridge until next time. The balance was kept to one side to allow it to warm up, and start to ferment.

I blagged this recipe for ciabatta from a Lindsey Bareham cookbook 'A Celebration of Soup', first published in 1993. It as no kneading as such, but you do need (sic) a food processor. Mine is a relatively ancient one that has no dough hook as such, just one of those whizzy double-bladed things across the bottom. Worked well, though.

The longer you allow the first fermentation, the better the flavour, they say. Mine was left 3 and a half hours, and I needed some bread for the evening, so that's when the first fermentation had to stop. It has been suggested that you can leave it for up to 24 hours!

Ingredients and recipe........

In plenty of time for Good Friday, I attempted to make some hot cross buns - you can see how they turned out.

The flavour was just right, but the texture was a little heavy, and the glaze/crosses were a disaster. Will try again before Friday (so I'll still be in time), and post if any improvement. And if improved, I'll post the recipe, too.

They did get eaten, toasted with a wee bit of butter.

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Why not try to create a French baguette? Well, I did partly succeed in doing what I set out to do....

Having done a little bread baking in the recent past, I thought it was time to take on my first sourdough. This is what happened. (Nothing to do with vegetables, either!)