It is a mystery to me that people are so impressed if you make your own bread. I agree that, if you have a good baker, it is a fairly pointless activity but, as supermarkets have discovered, little can get the tastebuds working faster than the smell of fresh loaves.
One of the easiest recipes to get huge plaudits is Sally Clarke's for breadsticks with Maldon salt and thyme. You knead 300g of strong bread flour and a pinch of salt with a small walnut of fresh yeast that has been dissolved in a teaspoon of olive oil and tablespoon of tepid water. Add this to the flour and then add more tepid water until the dough is firm but not sticky.
Knead for 10 minutes and leave, covered with cling film, in a warm place for an hour or until the dough is doubled. Turn it out, knead briefly with a tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves and make into cigar-shaped rolls. Paint with olive oil and sprinkle with Maldon flakes. Leave for five minutes then bake in a hot oven for about 15 minutes (until each base is hollow when tapped.) Turn out onto a cooling tray. Then eat with olive oil rather than butter.
-
Chelsea Flower Show 2025: What else to do in SW3 if you're coming to the world's greatest flower showThere's more to Chelsea than just the Flower Show so we've rounded up some of the best places to eat, stay and shop.
-
Uniquely unique? The Yorkshire grain silos transformed into a home that's a symphony in glass, steel and curvesAmid the beautiful countryside of North Yorkshire, on the edge of the Castle Howard Estate, The Silos is a property for which the word 'house' simply doesn't cut it. And that's not the only way in which it's made us throw out the dictionary.
