It's been a while since a bread post. So, meet one of my favourite packet loaves. It's one of those ones that I fall back on if I have too much else going on to want to measure out the ingredients/missing one of the key ingredients or if I am lacking in inspiration.
Weirdly, this time, the loaf ended up with a strange crack in the middle and it hasn't risen properly - although I don't seem to be able to manage that with this one anyway. However, this is all aesthetics. The most important thing is the taste. This is absolutely packed with sunflower seeds. So much so that you couldn't manage a mouthful without encountering a handful. It's moist and it's very tasty. 
This is it. It doesn't come out with the sunflower seeds on the top - a bit of poetic license on the part of Rivercote - owned by Lidl.
The second loaf I'd like to tell you about was one I was really looking forward to. I had some new wholemeal flour - Mapledurham Watermill 100% wholemeal flour. We don't live too far from Mapledurham and visited during the summer for a food fayre. I included green peppercorns. My Dad used to be a bit of a breadmaker for a while and he used to make green peppercorn rolls. I'd ask him to make me some to take back to uni with me and freeze. I used the recipe from the side of my Sainsbury's wholemeal flour as I was short of white bread flour. It calls for 225ml warm water, 45ml of sunflower oil, 30ml of runny honey, 7.5g of salt, 500g of wholemeal bread flour and 7.5g of yeast. I added a good pinch of home-ground green peppercorns.
Let's start with the positives shall we? My favourite thing about this loaf is the way that it just slid off the kneading hook and left this lovely imprint on the bottom. No fighting with a fork to get it out.
Actually, in many ways, this is one of the most beautiful loaves I've made - with a top that looked handwrought. Unfortunately, it was incredibly dry. Really disappointing. I am not sure that the green peppercorn/wholemeal thing works. I've since tried out some white rolls and have to admit that they just don't stack up to those remembered ones. The quest continues.
I am a HUGE fan of Wessex Mill flour. So far as I can tell, our closest stockist (Fielders farm shop) is about eight miles away just off the A4. A distance that is a little far for popping in on a whim. It's also in a place that we don't tend to go all that often. I've tried the Onion, Six seed and Apple and Cinnamon flours before. The Onion bread is incredibly nice. Very light. Anyway, when we were at Churston farm shop, I saw that they had some Onion bread flour and this -
Sadly, the result was about as bad as the previous effort in my opinion. It had a slight taste of burnt about it. The husband seemed to like it and Little D enjoyed it too but for me, it just wasn't right. I think I probably should have waited and added the raisins later in the process. I probably also didn't need to run it through the white bread option on the breadmaker. I still have enough flour for a second batch but I think I'll put it off for a little bit - I've just got rid of the end of the last loaf with a trip to the ducks...
So, my Friday evening has been spent making the recipes in my most recent Spicery pack - Baigan Bharta, Chana Chat and Vegetable Thoran. It's also been spent making rolls with green chilli. It's probably going to end with having a good old nosy around Wessex Flour Mill's website to see the products I haven't seen before. I'm dreaming of sourdough again... I also may have spent some of this week considering which spice rack I'd like for my birthday.
Have a good weekend one and all and if you know any good vegetarian recipes/breadmaker recipes, please sling them my way.
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