This week the theme BREAD AHEAD! is just right. I am a bread baker and a carb lover. In Germany bread is not only food, it is part of our culture. We name meals after bread: Brotzeit (bread time) is not just a light meal or a snack, it’s part of the Bavarian Culture. At the further end of Germany were I live, we have Abendbrot (evening bread) for the meal in the evening with cold meat and or cheese. I am a cheese lover and I served
Nigel Slater Rosemary and Honey Bread with Goat Cheese
for „Abendbrot“. A delicious bread, although I normally prefer other ingredients but flour, water, yeast and salt ON not IN breads. I couldn’t find dried cherries so I substituted them with barberries. I reduced the yeast from 40 to 25 grams, changed the kneading method and proofing times.
Nigel Slater Rosemary and honey bread for cheese
YIELD: 2 small breads à 460 grams
Moist, sweet and salty, these spongy loaves will keep for two or three days if wrapped in kitchen film. With its sweet fruits and herbal notes, this is a perfect bread for cheese
INGREDIENTS:
- 250 grams strong wholemeal flour
- 250 grams strong white plain flour; Ulrike: wheat flour type 550
- 1 tsp salt
- 350 grams water
- 20 grams honey
- 7 grams dried yeast = 25 grams fresh yeast
- 2 tbsp rosemary = 3,4 grams, chopped
- 50 grams dried cherries; Ulrike: barberries
- 50 grams dried apricots, chopped
- 50 grams golden sultanas
- rosemary stalks a few, to decorate
- sea salt flakes
INSTRUCTIONS
- Mix the flours. Give 3 tablespoons of the flour mixture into a mixing bowl, add the yeast and enough water to make a batter. Leave for 10 minutes or so until the yeast begins to work.
- Add all ingredients, except the salt, and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together. Cover with plastic and let rest about 15-20 minutes for autolysis.
- Tip the dough on a lighty floured worktop and stretch it to a rectangle. Sprinkle the salt over the dough and fold it to a ball. Put it back into the bowl, cover and let rest for about 1,5 h hours with 3 stretch and fold cycles every 20 minutes. The dough will strenghten and is not sticky at the end.
- Half the dough and form each half into a ball and put them on a bakers peel with parchment paper.
Scatter the surface of each loaf with a few rosemary stalks and a few pinches of sea salt flakes. (Ulrike: I skipped this step.
Cover and proof until a finger print doesn’t come out quick (about 40 minutes)
- Preheat the oven with a baking stone to 220 °C/gas mark 8. Gently slide the breads into the oven and bake for 25 minutes, until dark brown, remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. When cool, slice and serve with goat’s cheese and mild honey.
total time: 3 hours
preparation time: 15 minutes
cook/baking time: 25 minutes
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For all other great Bread Ahead! recipes visit the I heart cooking clubs site
more Nigel Slater recipes
more recipes and entries in English
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Such lovely loaves! I could just eat slices of it on its own, with a cup of warm English tea!
Sounds really nice!
Thank you for that great recipe.
I’ll come back here to get more of that stuff ;)
cYa Julia
Two meals named for BREAD!! Yes! Please! ANd this one sounds perfect. And looks beautiful.
I wasn’t aware that bread was so prevalent in the Bavarian culture. I think it is a fantastic idea to have meals centered around bread, especially when the bread is so full of goodies like this one! I can imagine this bread, with it’s sweet fruit, was perfect with a good smear of goat cheese. A lovely evening meal!
Your loaves are beautiful and the combination of rosemary and dried fruit sounds intriguing.
I love the sweet and herby combination in the bread and most especially that cloud of tangy goat cheese on top. This would be the perfect meak for me. ;-)