Breads and spread

The bread was a success. I used a recipe from the book Dough but sort of tweaked it here and there because it is beyond my abilities to follow a recipe religiously. I just can't do it especially if I see a way of improving it. You'd think the least I would do is follow  it diligently to start with, but no. C'est impossible! Anyhoo, all I did was use ciabatta flour instead of strong white and added in some olive oil. Oh, and I use dried yeast because it's easier to store long term and I always use less than it says on the tub. This stops the homemade bread smelling all yeasty and all it means is that the dough will take longer to rise. 

The texture of the bread is a little denser than shop bought wholemeal but I can live with that. It wasn't brick-like just not spongy like a cake  but then bread should be like bread and cake like cake. I'll try this recipe out a few more times before trying out both sweet and savoury variations. I'm thinking a herb, onion and walnut bread would be particularly good and for sweetness something with chopped apricots.

To go along with the bread I made up some miso, tahini and lemon spread :

It is such a savoury tasting spread which works particularly well with earthy flavours so it's good with wholemeal bread but also roast root vegetables (especially roast beetroot). There's no denying it's an unusual combination but nutritionally it is immense! Calcium and protein from the tahini, Vitamin C from the lemon and both digestive enzymes and immune boosting properties from the miso. Add that to the B vitamins and fibre in my wholemeal bread and a girl doesn't need much more...except perhaps some kale. Oh! That would be superb! Lightly stir fried kale on top of it all. 

Just so you know having experimented with various types of miso I now use the lightest one made from rice. I buy it by the kilo (unsurprisingly) at a huge Asian supermarket where it works out cheaper than buying it in a health food shop.

Comments

[Lucy]

bread looks lovely. I can't quite imagine what teh spread tastes like somehow but I like all those ingredients :)

[Cat]

Spread is best described as very savoury. Water it down a bit and it makes a lovely dressing and I also mix it with rice dishes such as a stir fry as it works well with brown rice.
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[Hannah]

I tried this last night as I had just bought some tahini. It was a little strange at first but then I started dipping my finger in and licking it. It is very savoury. I think the tahini makes it taste a little cheesy. Jonathan said it tasted like sick. Not sure I got the proportions right and my miso was the darkest. Going to get some wholemeal bread and have it in a sandwich this afternoon.