Warm bread, fresh from the oven – there's nothing quite like it. With dinner parties firmly back on the agenda, more of us are making our own bread to woo our guests.
Prep the dough, stick it in the oven 30 minutes before they arrive, and tear and share while warm, with lashings of butter.
We’re rather partial to the nutty flavour of granary bread, so have used Great British Food Award-winning Wessex Cobber Bread Flour from Wessex Mill, which combines wheat, rye and malted barley. Barley extract in the mix helps it to rise, improves its keeping quality, and enhances the taste. And a brush of it on the outside, just before our buns have finished baking, gives them a glorious sheen.
The rolls will stick together at the sides, but that’s part of the joy – tearing them apart and relishing the fluffy edges. All you need is really good butter on the side.
Ingredients (makes 10-12)
- 500g malted grain flour
- 1tsp fine salt
- 7g dried quick action yeast
- 1tbsp butter
- 350ml warm water
- 2tbsps barley malt extract (plus extra for brushing)
Method
1. Combine the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Rub in the butter. Make a well and add the warm water and barley malt extract. Stir and leave for 10 minutes. Knead until bouncy.
2. Place in a greased bowl, cover and leave somewhere warm to rise for an hour.
3. Line a large roasting tray and set the oven to 220C.
4. Tip the dough onto a floured surface and split into around 12 even pieces. Roll into balls, ensuring the seal is underneath, and place into the prepared tin. Cover and leave to rise for 30 minutes.
5. Pop in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. Brush with barley malt extract, sprinkle over some seeds and pop back in the oven for another couple of minutes.
