It’s no secret we are fond of bread, not ordinary white plain bread!
What we love is tasty, lush, savory loaf.
To our opinion this is the best-never-failing bread recipe ever which comes from Jenny COLGAN’s Little beach street bakery novel.
To that simple, basic recipe just had whatever ingredient you might like to taste.
So today, since we had some dried cranberries left and a couple of sultanas we baked these two loaves.
Let’s get started!
♥ 1 Packet dried instant yeast
♥ 400g Lukewarm water
♥ 700g White flour or whole-wheat flour
♥ 1 tbsp of salt and a tbsp of sugar
Dissolve the yeast in the water.
The water should be lukewarm NOT hot otherwise it will “kill” the yeast and you’ll be terribly sorry left with a flat, tough bread.
Then, spoon in the flour, salt and sugar and knead for about 3 minutes in your electric stand mixer.
If kneading by hand, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic for about 10 minutes.
Now divide your dough into two and add in whatever ingredients you chose (raisins, nuts, cranberries, tomatoes, cheese……)
Knead again to mix well. for about 2/3 minutes by hand, 1 minute mixer.
Shape your two doughs into two balls and let them rise until doubled in size in a cool to normal draught-free room.
Once they have risen knock them back, shape them into a long loaf (the size of your baking tin).
Put them into your tins and leave them to prove for about a hour.
Make a long slash (one cm deep) with a sharp knife or a blade to allow the loaves to rise and open evenly.
Place the loaves in the preheated oven, mist the oven with a water sprayer and bake your breads for 30 to 40 minutes.
You will know the bread is done when tapping on the under side it sounds hollow.
Leave them to cool on a wire rack.
Top slice: Sultanas and cinnamon bread
Bottom slice : Dried cranberries bread
