Cookies make you popular everywhere you go. These chocolate sourdough treats are almost cookie shaped brownies. Do not despair if you’re not a sourdough baker – there is a substitute in the recipe below. There are a couple of nifty tricks to make these cookies Instagram worthy as well as delicious. The recipe is quick but requires some time to chill the dough.

If you don’t have sourdough starter – there is a substitute below.

The cocoa powder and the chocolate chips are the stars here, use the best quality you can.

Let’s get straight to the recipe. As written, it makes 60 moderate cookies, 40 plus sized cookies.

Ingredients

• 240 grams plain white flour ( 2 cups)
• 80 grams cocoa powder (1 cup)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 150 grams of unsalted butter (2/3 cup)
• 75 grams milk chocolate or white chocolate chips (1/2 cup)
• 75 grams dark chocolate chips (1/2 cup)
• 200 grams granulated sugar (1 cup)
• 400 grams light brown sugar (2 cups)
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 170 grams of sourdough starter discard (or 85 grams of lukewarm water, 85 grams of plain flour = beaten well together). (2/3 cup)

Method

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add the sugars. Mix well.
2. Place the butter and about 1/4 of the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir. Return to microwave for 15 second intervals, stirring after each until the chocolate chips are dissolved.
3. Start the stand mixer with the dry ingredients in the bowl. Pour in the melted butter and chocolate. Beat until creamy.
4. Break the eggs into a separate bowl. Add vanilla and beat lightly.
5. Pour into the stand mixer and mix well. Do not over beat from this point because you’ll beat the eggs to death. Well combined but no more.
6. Add the sourdough discard or flour/water mixture.
7. Stir in the chocolate chips.
8. Chill the batter in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
9. Preheat oven to 190C (170C fan). Prep baking sheets with silicon mats or parchment. You must line the baking sheets or you’ll end up with a sticky mess. I use parchment for this recipe because I lift the sheets off the baking trays (intact) to help the cookies cool.
10. Scoop batter onto prepared baking sheets. I use my smaller trigger scoop ( size of a cake pop) to get moderate sized cookies. Use the golf ball sized scoop to get larger cookies. Adjust the spacing on the baking sheets accordingly. The cookies will spread – no need to flatten.
11. Keep an eye on the cookies, 8 to 10 minutes depending on your oven.
12. If I’m doing ‘Instagram worthy’ cookies, I put the batter back in the fridge in between prepping baking trays. Otherwise, just get them all ready and cycle through the oven.
13. Remove the cookies from the oven – cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet then lift the liner off the baking sheets with the cookies on it to cool altogether.
14. These cookies benefit from a longer cooling period. They do tend to stick to the parchment so I flip the sheet over and peel it off the bottom of the cookies.

I find these keep well for a week or more (if there are any left) in a airtight container but make sure they are well cooled first.

Thank you for reading the blog and trying the recipes. Feedback much appreciated and tag me @mamadolson on Instagram and Twitter if you’re posting photos.

We live next door to the local church and like to attend the ‘Christingle’ service. What’s not to love about a church service that combines live animals, children and fire? The adults do the Christmas story (with animals) but every child is given an orange with sweets on toothpicks and a candle. Then all the candles are lit…..we’ve never seen any accidents but there are usually some near misses and once or twice the smell of singed hair has floated through the church.

We stroll home and have soup and my world famous toasted cheese sandwiches after which we play a board game (preferably a new one), put on our Christmas pyjamas and work on the Christmas jigsaw. One of my sisters sends us a jigsaw puzzle every year – some of them so fiendishly difficult that I wonder if she really likes us or the puzzle is very sophisticated trolling.

Everyone puts out their Christmas stocking and then looks the other way while family members stuff things in them. This is still relatively new for me: I used to buy things for my own stocking, wrap them and then open them the next morning. (My period as a single mom).

Oh, rule in our house – you can have your stocking when you get up but no ‘big’ gifts until after breakfast. As we are all adults now, at least in chronological age, it can be 11 am before this condition is achieved. My youngest (23) still remembers the ‘old days’ when he had a giant Christmas stocking, designed to keep him occupied until at least 8 am. This was seldom achieved but good for him anyway.

Suggested menu below!

Christmas Eve Menu

Simple crudité – carrots, celery, raw cauliflower, raw broccoli, bell pepper strips, radishes

Corn chips

Hummus

Optional for the adults: oysters (on the shell if you like them) don’t eat ’em raw – try this recipe for simple baked oysters

Potato & carrot soup with grated cheddar cheese on top

World famous toasted cheese sandwiches (grilled cheese for you Americans)

This is an interesting menu to pair with wine. Personally, I’ll drink champagne with anything except Oreo cookies (don’t ask) and it’s highest and best use may well be with oysters. However, beer is also a good choice or a light red wine.

Prep Ahead Tips & Timing

1. Buy good quality sliced white bread and sliced cheese of your choice for the toasted cheese. It’s Christmas, everyone is busy, even I buy (some) bread this time of year. Look for good quality sliced cheese; cheddar, Swiss, Emmental are all good choices. Put the butter out to soften well ahead.
   
2. Prep your crudité the day before. Store in tightly sealed plastic bags with a damp piece of kitchen towel to keep them moist but crunchy.
   
3. Make the soup up to three days before. Grate your cheese for topping on the day.
   
4. Prep your oysters (either on crushed ice or pop them in the oven.
   
5. Get your soup warming, put out the crudité, chips and hummus.
   
6. Do your sandwiches up and serve everything.

Thanks for reading the blog, cooking the recipes and commenting. I hope your holidays are spent with people you love.

Toasted cheese sandwiches are part of our traditional Christmas Eve supper. Kids love them and served warm, adults can’t say no either. Two secrets to these world famous (just kidding) sandwiches; butter both sides of the bread and use a flat crepe pan or griddle for cooking.

Ingredients for this recipe are fairly obvious – bread, butter and sliced cheese. I serve these with soup and one sandwich each seems to be enough.

It’s okay to use good quality store bought white bread for this recipe. Might seem like heresy from someone who makes all her own bread but home made bread is denser and it’s difficult to get even slices. You want good quality white bread because it needs to carry a fair amount of butter without tearing.

Put good quality salted butter out to soften well before you’re planning to make the sandwiches. It’s Christmas so I like to use butter from Normandy ‘Isigny Ste Mere’; but any good quality salted makes a difference. Do not use margarine or ‘spread’. It’s a crime against sandwiches and you’re reading the wrong blog if you’re afraid of butter.

The eternal question for toasted cheese sandwiches: what type of cheese? If you’re feeding a crowd, then I recommend aged medium cheddar but most cheeses will do. If you’re feeding a few close friends (grown ups) it might be worth investing in some Comté or Jarlsberg. You can use hard or crumbly cheese if you want; grate it in advance and apply to the bottom half of the sandwiches once they’re on the pan.

Ingredients: sliced white bread, sliced or grated cheese of your choice and room temperature butter.

1. Put your pan on the heat to warm up. No need to apply butter or oil.
2. Put your oven on to warm, say 100C, prep an oven proof plate with a clean tea towel.
3. Butter both sides of each piece of bread. It’s a bit messy but absolutely worth it.
4. When the pan is hot, carefully place pre-buttered bread slices on the griddle and apply cheese to each slice. Place another pre-buttered bread slice on top of each. When the bottom is golden brown and toasted (3 to 4 minutes), flip each sandwich. The second side takes about half the time so keep an eye on it. The cheese might not be completely melted but don’t worry.
5. Transfer the sandwiches to the plate in the oven and cover them with the tea towel and leave them in gentle oven. They’ll be perfect by the time you’ve finished making all the sandwiches and are ready to serve up.

Get busy toasting! Thank you for reading the blog, cooking the recipes, sharing and commenting. Tag me @mamadolson on Instagram and Twitter if you’re posting photos.

Merry Christmas.

This is one of our favourite winter soups; traditionally we have this on Christmas Eve with the world’s greatest toasted cheese sandwiches. This recipe is based on one from the original Silver Palate cookbook. I’ve adjusted the seasoning and changed how the cheese is incorporated. The soup keeps much better when the cheese is added as a topping when serving it. Also – cheese can curdle unpredictably. Nothing like making a big vat of soup and then ruining it at the list minute.

Making this soup is easy, especially if you have a quality stick blender. I have a commercial standard one that could double as an outboard motor – if I could only find someplace to plug it in.

Another useful gadget is a handheld mandolin slicer; I slice the onions and the carrots straight into the pot with mine. Be careful – until you get used to the mandolin, you may lose the skin on the ends of your fingers. Several times in my case.

Easy to make a vegan version of this soup – substitute a light vegetable or nut oil for the butter and be careful with your vegetable stock. Remember that many commercial stock cubes are not vegan or even vegetarian (even vegetable stock).

Let’s get straight to the recipe.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 85 grams unsalted butter
• 150 grams chopped or sliced onions
• 350 grams chopped or sliced carrots
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley
• 2 litres vegetable stock, divided
• 900 grams of potatoes, peeled and chopped into cubes
• salt and pepper to taste
• Cheddar cheese for grating to serve.

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a deep stock pot.
2. Add the onions and the carrots, cook over a low heat until these are tender and lightly coloured, about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on the pot so it doesn’t scorch on the bottom.
3. Add the parsley, 1.5 litres of the stock and the potatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until potatoes are very tender, about 20 minutes.
4. Puree the soup; easiest in the pot using a stick blender. Also can be done in a blender or a food processor. Separate the stock and the vegetables, retaining the stock. Put the softened vegetables in the blender or food processor, add enough stock to moisten (300 mls) and puree. Return the pureed soup to the pot.
5. Adjust the consistency using the extra stock if necessary. It will thicken as it cools. Taste for salt and pepper and season as necessary.
6. The soup will keep at this point for 3 days in the refrigerator; remove and heat up to serve.
7. Grate enough cheddar cheese to allow for a generous topping for everyone’s soup.
   
   

I’m trying to post all of my festive period menus and recipes. More coming soon.

The weather here in London is turning towards autumn after a summer that we hardly noticed. It’s time for some easy to cook comfort food. One of our family favourites is slow cooked lamb with prunes and pearl barley. It’s a classic one pot meal – well it’s two unless your slow cooker has a sauté function. Put it on in the morning and it’s perfect for dinner plus leftovers.

I have an amazing slow cooker that will brown and also make the sauce. If yours doesn’t have that function then make the sauce separately in a deep fry pan and add to the lamb in the slow cooker.

I use lamb shanks then strip the meat off them. It will also work well with a lamb shoulder or lamb neck. The recipe is for 6 lamb shanks, a generous two kilos with the weight of the bone or approximately 1 kilos if just using stewing lamb chunks. Ginger, saffron and the sweetness of the prunes gives this dish a Middle Eastern vibe. Adding the pearl barley a couple of hours before the end allows the barley to soak up all the juices. The recipe feeds 8 people with leftovers.

Recipe

Ingredients

6 lamb shanks

300 grams prunes

4 large shallots or an onion, chopped very fine

2 carrots, chopped very fine

45 mls (3 tablespoons olive oil)

Pat of butter

250 mls dry white wine

30 grams minced ginger (I use the jarred stuff for ease)

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon saffron threads

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 litre (4 cups) lamb stock or chicken stock

250 grams of pearl barley or long grain rice.

Preparation

1. Put the saffron in a small amount of hot water. Sauté the onions, carrots and ginger in the olive oil with butter, until well softened. Add the white wine, cook at high temperature until all the alcohol in the wine has evaporated. Add the spices including the saffron and its liquid. Add the stock and bring to a simmer.
2. Pit the prunes and rough chop into halves. Put the lamb and the prunes in the slow cooker. If lamb shanks, stand them upright in the slow cooker with the bone ends up. Pour the sauce over the lamb. Cook on a low setting for six hours. Add the pearl barley or the rice about two hours before the cooking time is up. The barley will absorb most of the cooking liquid. Remove the lamb, bone it and return it to the slow cooker.
3. Allow the stew to cool for 20 to 30 minutes. You could add some mashed potatoes or Yorkshire puddings but I usually serve with a green salad or cooked green beans and a nice côte du Rhone.

Thanks for reading the blog, sharing, cooking the recipes and your comments.

It’s that time of year – the garden plot is producing in abundance. Courgettes (zucchini) are always reliable, productive and seemingly disease resistant, at least in my garden. Here’s a link to 50 Ways to Use Your Squashes for ways to deal with the glut that that often results. One of the easiest is to oven roast them. Roasting has the benefit of helping you use up what ever excess you have in the garden or the refrigerator, it’s low calorie and vegan.

The roast vegetables in the photo include two yellow courgettes, some cavolo nero, two slightly aged shallots and the last handful of cherry tomatoes. I always use courgettes in this dish and usually an onion or two. But I’ve also included broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, peppers, aubergines (eggplant) and kale as well. This dish is very flexible. I wouldn’t use crunchy root vegetables like carrots, celery and radishes but otherwise most vegetables will blend nicely. I hate beets (beetroot) so never put them in any thing.

I’ve included a recipe below but it’s for illustrative purposes. Improvisation is your friend with this recipe. Change up any or all of the ingredients and the spices.

Recipe

Ingredients

2 medium sized courgettes (zucchini) 300 to 500 grams

1 bunch of cavolo nero or kale

2 large shallots or 1 onion

10 cherry tomatoes

Toasted sesame oil or olive oil

1 teaspoon of chilli flakes

2 teaspoons of dried chives

Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 160C. Prep a shallow flat roasting pan – I use glass because it cleans well. Put a tablespoon of oil in the bottom of the pan.
2. Strip the cavolo nero off the stems and chop the leaves into 2 to 3 inch pieces. Place in the roasting pan.
3. Top and tail the courgettes. Cut in half, then split the halves. Cut courgettes into chunks and place in the roasting pan.
4. Peel the shallots or onions and slice into rounds. Throw into the pan on top of the courgettes.
5. Take the tomatoes off the stems and put in the roasting pan.
6. Drizzle another tablespoon of oil over the top of the vegetables. Sprinkle the chilli flakes and chives over the vegetables and top off with a twist of salt and pepper.
7. Place in the oven for 30 minutes. Give it a stir about half way through the roasting time.
8. Remove from the oven and serve. If you make extra, they are lovely cold or reheated.

Thanks for reading the blog, making the recipes and your comments and feedback.

Stuffed mushrooms are usually too fiddly and labour intensive for me; but big flat Portobello mushrooms are game changers for me. These are described as ‘stuffed’ but really these are layered with a savoury tomato mix, a layer of lightly sautéed spinach and topped with cheesy breadcrumbs. It satisfies my (perennial) craving for pizza.

The quantities in the recipe are flexible, if you’re keen on tomatoes and spice, go for it. Likewise spinach and the toppings. I used cherry tomatoes, you can substitute any fresh tomatoes, but I would core and seed larger tomatoes. Don’t use tinned tomatoes – too much liquid.

It’s easy to make this as a vegan dish – use olive oil and a vegan cheese substitute. Or omit the cheese altogether.

Key to success of this recipe is to sauté the ingredients for the stuffing and topping separately and combine or layer as per the instructions.

Let’s get cooking.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 large flat mushrooms, often called Portobello
• 250 grams cherry tomatoes
• 250 grams chestnut or white mushrooms
• Teaspoon of dried chilli flakes
• teaspoon of herbes de Provence
• butter or oil to sautè
• 500 grams fresh spinach (optional)
• 50 grams of high quality breadcrumbs
• 50 grams of Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• tablespoon of chopped chives

Instructions

1. Prepare a shallow flat baking dish, coat lightly with oil. Remove the stems from the mushrooms (often sold without them or with very short stems). Place the mushrooms, gill side up, in the baking dish.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan).
3. Remove the stems from chestnut mushrooms, chop fine. Sauté the chopped mushroom in butter or olive oil. Put to one side, wipe out the frying pan.
4. Halve or quarter the cherry tomatoes. Sauté in oil or butter until soft, crush with a potato masher, stir in the chili flakes and herbes de Provence. Combine with the chopped sautéed mushrooms, spoon the mixture over the Portobello mushrooms. Wipe out the frying pan (again).
5. Quickly and very briefly sauté the spinach. Spoon over the tomatoes and mushrooms.
6. Combine breadcrumbs, cheese and chives and top the mushrooms.
7. Cook for 20 minutes, check for doneness. Might need another 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

Thank you for reading the blog, following, cooking the recipes. Find me on Instagram and Twitter @mamadolson, please share photos of the recipes. Tag me so I can keep up.

This recipe was inspired by my baking teacher, Ma Baker. My son does not have much of a sweet tooth but he loves Biscoff. What is Biscoff? It’s a spread, like Nutella, but it seems to be lovely biscuits combined with butter and sugar to make a smooth paste. Once my son knew Biscoff Babka was a thing, I had to make it for him. I adapted this recipe from Astrid Field of the Sweet Rebellion. Her recipe is much more elaborate than mine with the addition of sugar syrup and a Biscoff cookie topping. Looks amazing but too sweet for my son’s tastes.

Babka is a traditional Eastern European dough, rich and slightly sweet with a swirl of filling through it. You can fill your babka with any sweet filling: Nutella, cinnamon, peanut butter, jam. And as it turns out – Biscoff. This recipe makes two loaves but you won’t be sorry that there’s extra. It freezes nicely but my experience is that it doesn’t hang around enough to need freezing.

The braiding and rolling instructions seem complicated but don’t worry if it doesn’t look perfect; no one but you will know what it was supposed to look like. Here’s a video on braiding babka, worth a watch before you start.

Let’s get baking.

Instructions

• 525 grams bread flour
• 10 grams yeast
• 50 grams brown sugar
• 50 grams white sugar
• 5 grams of salt
• 250 mls milk
• 100 grams unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 jar of Biscoff, 500 grams
  
• 1 egg for washing the dough
• 50 grams of butter to soften the crust after baking

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in the microwave. Combine with the milk and set to one side to cool for about 5 minutes
2. Combine the flour, sugars, yeast and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer. Mix well.
3. Beat the eggs with the vanilla, add to the milk and butter mixture. The mixture should be just warm or room temperature.
4. Put the dough hook on the mixer, start it turning at slow speed with the dry ingredients.
5. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture with the dough hook turning slowly. When the ingredients are well combined, increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 6 to 8 minutes.
6. Scrape the sides and bottom to make sure all ingredients are incorporated.
7. The dough will be relatively sticky so handle with care. Tip onto a well floured surface, form into a ball and place in a well oiled bowl. Cover with cling film or a shower cap.
8. Allow the dough to rise for 3 to 4 hours then refrigerate to continue rising. If possible, allow it rise overnight in the refrigerator but a minimum pf 2 hours to firm up the dough. It should have doubled in size.
9. Once the dough is ready, warm the Biscoff either in a bowl of warm water or in the microwave to make it easier to spread.
10. Prep your loaf pans – line them with parchment paper or you will have a sticky mess. Greasing the pans is not sufficient because some Biscoff will leak out and try to bond with your pans.
11. Divide the dough into two halves. Flour your worktop. I have a marble slab and an alternative if you have stone worktops is to lightly oil them with coconut oil or another relatively flavourless oil.
12. Pat or roll the dough into a 30 cm by 20 cm rectangle with the long side towards you. Cover the dough with half the Biscoff, leaving a margin of about a centimetre around the edges. Roll the dough carefully into a cylinder.
13. Cut the cylinder down its length, leaving about 5 cms at the top uncut. PInch the cut edges together to keep the filling inside. Braid the two pieces together by passing one over the top of the other and repeating. Try not to stretch the pieces as you’re braiding. Once the braiding is complete – compress the length so it fits in your loaf pan and place in the pans.
14. Repeat with the second half of the dough.
15. Lightly cover the pans with either a tea towel or a shower cap for the second rise of 1 to 2 hours. The dough will puff up but will not double in size.
16. Preheat the oven to 180C.
17. Beat the egg with a pinch of salt and generously brush the tops of the loaves immediately before placing inn the oven. Bake the loaves for 30 to 35 minutes
18. Remove from oven when golden brown. Brush the tops with butter to ensure a soft top to the loaves.
19. Cool and enjoy.
    
    

Thanks for reading the blog, cooking the recipes, sharing your photos and your feedback. Find me on Instagram and Twitter @mamadolson .

These cookies are the magical result of excess ingredients. I had a bulk buy of peanut butter that was approaching it’s best by date. And I always have plenty of rolled oats and chocolate chips – so they all came together in these cookies. I test my baked goods on a wide audience – from teenage boys and my gardeners to my fellow volunteers at Smartworks. And of course the Davinator, who’s never met a cookie he didn’t like. A European colleague said the taste of peanut butter was well balanced and didn’t overwhelm the other ingredients.

These cookies are quick and reliable – great if you realise after dinner you need to supply treats to the office the next day. My base recipe assumed American peanut butter (sweeter and higher in fat than European) and American butter (slightly lower in fat than European). I used a standard smooth UK peanut butter brand ‘Sunpat’ and unsalted butter. If you use organic or speciality peanut butter you may not get as smooth a dough because the peanut butter is less homogenised.

If you’ve preheated the oven and softened your butter – you can put this recipe together in less than 15 minutes, and each tray takes 12 to 14 minutes to bake. It makes about 36 cookies. You can make a double batch but it might challenge your mixer.

Let’s get baking.

Prep steps

• Preheat oven to 175C (160C if fan)
• Line baking trays with parchment or silicon – you can recycle the trays but if you have enough trays, it’s good for them to be completely cool when you drop the cookie dough on them

Ingredients

• 110 grams rolled or porridge oats (not instant oatmeal but otherwise tolerates most types of oats)
• 125 grams plain white flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 115 gram unsalted softened butter
• 125 smooth peanut butter
• 100 grams caster sugar
• 110 grams brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 175 grams chocolate chips (your choice, milk, dark, semi-sweet, white)

Instructions

1. Combine the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Stir well.
2. Put the butter and peanut butter in the bowl of your stand mixer and beat on medium speed until smooth. Give this as long as it needs to be lump free and uniform texture.
3. Beat in the caster sugar, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until well blended.
4. Add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture, about 1/3 at a time and beat until incorporated.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips.
6. Drop by generous rounded tablespoons onto the cookie sheets.
7. Place in the oven for about 13 minutes. If you have two or more sheets in the oven rotate them half way through the cooking time.
8. Keep an eye on the first batch – if they spread out promptly take no further action. If they don’t spread out in 2 or 3 minutes, pull them from the oven and tap the top of each dough ball with a metal spoon to encourage them to flatten. If necessary for the first batch, then squish subsequent batches before you put them in the oven.
9. They will turn golden brown – move to a wire rack or laid out tea towels to cool immediately. Try to let them cool before eating – burning the inside of your mouth with a cookie is an embarrassing injury.

Thank you for reading the blog and trying the recipes. Please share photos of your baking and tag me @mamadolson on Twitter and Instagram.

Happy baking.

I’ve been searching for a whole grain loaf that is wholesome, tastes great and is relatively easy to make. Essentially, a loaf that behaves like white but is better for you. The Davinator has eaten a lot of experimental bread over the last couple of months but I’ve finally settled on this recipe. It has a manageable number of ingredients, a reasonable number of process steps and doesn’t result in carnage in the kitchen. It about 60% whole wheat, 40% white and that’s a good balance between health and taste.

You can eliminate the sunflower seeds and the rolled oats and still get a very good loaf. Use your sweetener of choice, ordinary brown sugar will do if you don’t have maple syrup or honey. Use a vegan friendly sweetener and you have a vegan loaf. Let’s bake.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 360 mls warm water (40-42C), just warmer than body temperature like a baby’s bath
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 30 grams of sweetener (molasses, maple syrup, agave, honey, brown sugar)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 10 grams flaxseed or linseed meal
• 300 grams whole wheat flour (the finest grind you can find, often call ‘whole wheat pastry flour’)
• 240 grams white flour (bread flour or all purpose flour) plus extra for binding the dough
• 15 grams sunflower seeds, raw or roasted
• 12 grams rolled oat

Instructions

1. Combine warm water, yeast, maple syrup. Whisk and leave for five minutes to give the yeast a start.
2. Put salt, flours, flaxseed in the bowl of your mixer. Add in the yeast mixture and combine to form a shaggy dough.
3. Put the dough hook on, beat for a minute. If you don’t have a stand mixer with a dough hook, knead the dough in the bowl until well combined.
4. Take a look at the dough, if it’s pulling away from the sides, stop. If not, add more flour and give the dough a few turns until it is pulling away from the sides of the bowl.
5. Transfer the dough to lightly greased bowl, turn it to coat. Cover with plastic wrap or a shower cap. Let it rise at room temperature for two hours – it should be close to doubled in size. If you’ve got time and the inclination, throw it in the fridge for another hour or two. It develops the flavour but it is not necessary and I’ve forgotten this step more times than I’ve done it.
6. Prepare your loaf pan (I’m a fan of lining pans, not greasing them but choose your method).
7. Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface. Make a hole in the dough – pour in the oats and sunflower seeds. Give the dough 20 turns on the work surface, it will give you a better quality crumb and distribute the add in through the dough. Make a loaf shape, place seam side down in your prepared pan. Cover with a shower cap or a tea towel. Let it rise at room temperature for an hour.
8. Preheat the oven to 220C (425F). Place a metal roasting pan on the bottom rack of the oven and have a cup of warm water ready.
9. When the dough and the oven are ready, slash the top two or three times (I cut mine with kitchen shears). Put the dough in the oven, throw the water in the heated pan (creates steam and gives you a good crust). Bake for about 30 minutes, should be 90C inside with a firm top crust. Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then tip out to finish cooling. Cool completely for best results before slicing.

We have found this the perfect every day whole grain loaf good for toast and sandwiches.

Thank you for reading the blog, baking the recipes and commenting. Happy baking.