So I don’t do alot of bread. So when I do its a treat. And today, we did it with style. A Sundried Tomato Stuffed beauty. I’m so happy with how this turned out. Just plain and simple flavors that really pack a punch. I don’t like it when things get too complicated. Simple suits me. No jokes about my ex boyfriends please.
So. Bread. It can be a pain in the ass bot to get right. But when you do , it’s so so worth it.. working with yeast is tempramental. But I start my bread a different way to others by starting the yeast first. I’ll show you what I did, it’s not then technical way of doing it but who’s going to know …. I’m not exactly inviting Paul Hollywood round for dinner.
Though I certainly wouldn’t say no…
Anyway. Bread.
Recipe:
500g Strong Flour
1 Sachet Fast Action Yeast
1 Tsp Salt
300ml Warm water
Sprinkle of Sugar
Filling recipe :
1/3 Cup Sundried Tomatoes + oil
Rosemary
Red onion
Topping :
Cherry tomatoes
Rosemary Red onion
Salt
Get 300mls of warm tap water into a jug. It needs to be warm but not hot. No kettles. Add your yeast and a little sprinkle of Sugar to get the Yeast to foam. Leave that to sit for a few minutes while you measure out your flour. ( You can use a stand mixer if you have the dough hook attachment. )
If not, we’re working by hand. Pop your salt in and then start adding your yeast mixture which is hopefully foamy now.
Stir it all together to make a dough with a spoon. Then once it forms a ball it’s going to need some kneading. A good 8-10 minutes worth !
(Though if your using a mixer it’ll probably be only half that).
Advice on kneading – you’re taking the ball of dough and your hand and using the heel of you hand to manipulate the dough underneath in one push then coming back on yourself to ball the dough up again and giving it another push. Continuously. Till your dough starts to spring back all on its own. Means all the gluten in activated.
Once you can poke a little hole in the dough and have it raise back. Your good to go. Pop it into a well floured dish and leave it to rest and rise for an hour.
When I came back my dough had exploded, it was more than double the size and that’s a good sign.
Squish all the air out and pop it onto a well floured board or surface and get rolling. Unless you’re skipping the filling step – if you’re skipping this bit , just shape as you like and decorate.
I rolled mine into a large rectangle about 1/3 inch thick. I toppes half with chopped Sundried Tomatoes a little of their oil , a sprinkle of Rosemary and a few bits of red onion.
Now this bit is important. Fold the other side , over and then under the filling side. You don’t want any seams at the side of the bread , you want them underneath. 1 ) So it doesn’t pop open when it cooks , 2) so it looks pretty and not like some weird sandwhich.
Pinch it to seal well. So it’s all hidden like this :
Then slide onto an oiled baking tray. Preheat the oven to 450°.
Now to decorate ! I make little wells with my fingers and filled them with half of Cherry Tomatoes and little sprigs of Rosemary. I then did a quick sprinkle of Red onion slices and splashed on more oil from thr Sundried Tomatoes. I added some finishing salt here too.
Once the oven is hot , pop in for 15-17 minutes. It might need turning part way through to brown evenly.
I served this still a little warm in large chunks.
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