Dare to bake bread

I know, I know.  Baking bread is either something you do, or you don't.  But maybe it's something you'd like to do, but you don't think you have the time, or the skill?

Come here - closer - are you listening?  I'm going to tell you a secret.  Ready?  Baking bread is easy.

Here's another one:  It doesn't take very long.

Especially if you do this recipe coming up.  It's for a basic focaccia.  I have used spelt flour, as it's extremely easily digestible by everyone.  I am gluten intolerant, but I can still just about get away with eating this.  Spelt, in case you didn't know, is wheat in it's ancient, non-effed-about-with form.  Whatever anyone says, there isn't a wheat which hasn't been genetically modified, because farmers have always, of course and justifiably so, made hybrids of this wheat with that grass to make longer stems for easier harvesting, or shorter, stouter stems for strength in windy areas etc etc and so forth.  Hence modifying its genetics.  Anyway - I digress.

So - this is done with spelt flour, but you can just as easily substitute with strong white bread flour, if you don't have issues with wheat.

You will require...

For the dough:
500g Spelt Flour or Strong White Bread Flour
Half a teaspoon of salt
A teaspoon of dried yeast
Two teaspooons of sugar
300ml warm water
One tablespoon of olive oil

For garnishing:
Olive oil
Sea salt
Rosemary

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, yeast and sugar.  Add the warm water and, using a table knife, mix together.

Oil your hands and bring the dough together to form a ball, wiping it around the edges of the bowl to gather up any loose flour.  Once all of the flour is mopped up into the dough, which should still be quite "craggy" at this stage, add the tablespoon of olive oil and squeeze and squelch the dough until all of the oil is absorbed.  There is no doubt a more technical term for the above.  Nerts.

Sprinkle some flour onto your (clean) work surface or board.  Now over to Number 1 Daughter (she's 9 - if she can do it, so can you):

As she says - stretch it out, fold it back, push it down, turn it through 90 degrees.  Repeat until the dough is silky smooth.

Oil your bowl to let the dough rise without sticking and return said dough to bowl.

Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warmish place until doubled in size.  This, depending on the dough, time of year, blah blah blah, may take an hour or two.  You can leave it in the fridge to rise overnight, if you really need to, but I feel kind of sorry for the dough, all cold in the fridge.  I am aware that this is not logical.

So that bit may seem like it's taking time.  And it is.  But you can go and do something else while it's doing it.  You can go to the cinema, go out for a meal, read the cat the riot act for getting the clean laundry all furry again, or go and wallow in the bath with a nice cold glass of white wine.  Good, eh?

Once the dough is twice the size, or thereabouts (don't get hung up on this - it won't matter if it's three times the size.  Spelt dough tends to rise like crazy), help it out of the bowl and on to a floured surface, and knock it back.

Aha!  Technical term alert!

That just means punch the air out of it.  Easy.  Just punch it or press down with your fingers until it is pretty flat.  Again, I usually feel a bit sorry for the dough at this point.

Now grab a roasting pan or, preferably, a shallow stoneware dish, oil it liberally with olive oil and place the dough into it.  Persuade, through the medium of stretching it with your fingers, the dough to cover the whole base of the dish.  Now prod down, using fingers (or if you have pretty, manicured nails the likes of which I dream of possessing, use a porridge stick or the end of a wooden spoon) to create a series of hollows.

Drizzle the surface, again liberally, with good olive oil, sprinkle with oodles of sea salt and dot with frequent tufts of rosemary.

Cover with a cloth and allow to rise for half an hour, while you heat the oven to 250c.

Bake in the oven for ten minutes at 250, then turn down to 200 for a further ten minutes.

Remove from the oven and eat while still warm, dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

My lot ate this with indecent haste.  I had to remove them bodily from the last small square in order to save some for dinner.  Mind you, they were right - though still delicious a couple of hours later, it was better hot, straight from the oven.  Which just goes to show, it's definitely one of those things which is worth making yourself, rather than buying it - even from the fabbiest deli or the most wholesome farmer's market.

Give it a go - baking makes you feel the BUSINESS!