Bread = Yum. Sun dried tomatoes = Yum. Onions = Yum. Hmmm, what if we were to put them together to make something magical.. Answer: this would happen…

Sun Dried Tomato and Onion bread

450g Strong white bread flour (Don’t use cream/plain/self raising, it won’t work, you need the gluten in this flour)

1 package dried/quick acting yeast. Thats 7g for those of you with non pre-packaged 🙂

1 tsp sugar

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 level tsp salt

330 mls warm water (Just tepid, not too hot!)

6 sun-dried tomatoes finely chopped (Alternatively, you can use a few handfuls of extra mature cheddar cheese for cheese and onion bread. If you’re into that sort of thing. And I am)

About half a small onion finely diced

Heres the plan man:

Take flour, sugar, salt and lob it in a bowl. Rub in the olive oil and pop in the yeast.

Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in your nicely warm water and give it all a stir until it comes together. Topple the whole lot onto a nice clean floured surface. Now here’s the fun part: It’s kneading time 🙂

Kneading. Think of this as your workout for the day. You need to spend a good 10 minutes kneading until you get a lovely elastic smooth dough. Then take a minute and appreciate its loveliness. When it’s all kneaded out, you want to put the dough back in a clean lightly oiled bowl and cover with oiled clingfilm/a clean teatowel (P.S. Using cooking spray oil for this is so handy) and leave in a nice warm non-draughty place for a good hour or so or until it has doubled in size. Oh the magic of yeast. One must love yeast and appreciate its ability to make lovely bread!

Nexsht: Back outta the bowl with your dough onto a lightly floured surface, punch the air out of it ( i.e. get rid of the CO2- pull up the sides, fold them over the middle and press down) and stretch it out . Then take your chopped tomatoes and onions and scatter them over the dough. Then fold it over a few times and give it a light wee knead to mix it up 🙂

Shape it into 2 loaves/multiple dinner rolls/whatever you feel like and place on an oiled tray that you’ll be cooking on, bearing in mind that each will double in size. Cover again as before and leave in a warm place until doubled in size again. More bread! Yumminess 🙂 Also, you want to give it a few light cuts with a sharp knife on top so it doesn’t just break up.

When your bread looks like it’s well on the way to doubling you may preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Place an empty tin on your bottom shelf – Moisture is important for baking proper bread and not just crust with a bit of bread in the middle, and so a few minutes before you put your bread in, pour a small cup or water into the pan – watch out for steam! So with the moisture the crust doesn’t get hard too fast, allowing a nice light bread as opposed to a heavy doughy one!

When it’s ready and the bread is ready pop bread in oven (I know, I know,  you never saw that coming did you!). Now depending on what you made, there’ll be different cooking times. E.G. my 2 long loaves of bread take about 25-30 minutes, rolls take 15-20. You’ll know your bread it done when you tap it underneath and it sounds hollow. Cool on a wire tray.

Try resisting yummy warm bread. Impossible. Enjoy, I suggest as an accompaniment to salad or some such light meal. Or on it’s own 🙂

Oh and did I mention you could totally drop the onions and tomatoes and

(A) Spread some pesto in there instead.

(B) Butter and fresh chopped rosemary

(C) Anything you desire.

This recipe rocks.