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Ingredients

2 tsp fast action yeast, about 7 g (I use Allinson’s Easy Bake Yeast)
1 tsp caster sugar, about 5 g
300 ml warm water
450 g plain flour – plus 30 g for dusting and shaping the bread

Optional Mix-Ins

70 g dried apricot
30 g pecan

or

25 g mixed seeds
20 g black sesame seeds

or

100 g mixed olives

Method

1. Add the yeast, sugar and warm water to a large bowl. Leave for 5 minutes until the yeast starts to foam. The water should ideally be lukewarm at about 20-30°C, do not use hot water.
2. Add the flour, then the salt. Add the mix-ins if you’re using and mix all the ingredients together with your hands until fully combined.
3. Oil the work surface and your hands with a little bit of oil, and knead for 10 minutes. The dough will still be a bit sticky at this point but this is fine.
4. Once kneaded, place the dough in a floured bowl. Cover with cling film and prove until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
5. Sprinkle the work surface with about 30g of flour and tip the dough onto the work surface.
6. Don’t knock the air out of the dough at this point. Gently shape the dough by grabbing a piece from the outside and pulling it into the middle, do this all the way around. Then turn the dough over and use your hands to gently round it out.
7. Place the dough in a well-floured bowl, seam side down. Cover with cling film and prove for 30 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, place a 24cm Dutch oven in the oven and preheat to 210°C fan.
9. When the dough has finished its second prove, remove the cling film and place a piece of baking paper on top of the bowl. Gently tip the bowl upside-down so the dough ends up on the paper.
10. Very carefully remove the hot Dutch oven from the oven and remove the lid. Use the edge of the baking paper to lower the bread into the Dutch oven gently. Put the lid back on and carefully put the Dutch oven back in the oven.
11. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until golden brown.
12. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.

What’s your favourite mix-in for bread? Share with me in the comments below 🙂

Janice xx

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