sun-dried tomato bread

It was pleasing, after the bread-failure of late January, to have a bread success. Now that I've seen a successful bread-rising, I'm pretty stoked - it sort of bubbles, and when you punch it down it really does deflate! This is all very exciting.



Lots of people offered advice, which was awesome. This is how I made it this time, but I will probably add some more tomatoes next time.

sun-dried tomato bread

ingredients
2 and a bit cups of plain flour
2 teaspoons of instant yeast
2 teaspoons of caster sugar
1 shake of salt
1 cup warm water
a small handful of sundried tomatoes, cut small
some dried rosemary

method
Sift together the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Make a well in the middle, and pour in the warm water.

Because the water shouldn't be too hot, I boiled water and then left it to cool for ages before adding it to the dry ingredients.

Mix together, then on a lightly floured surface, knead for ten to twelve minutes, adding a little more flour if necessary. Leave to rise in an oiled bowl, covered with a tea towel or similar. It will rise and rise! I left it for about two hours.

After two hours, punch the dough down. Ridiculous but true! It just deflates. Flour your surface and knead the dough, adding the sun-dried tomatoes. You may need to add more flour if there is too much oil in the tomatoes. Shake in some dried rosemary.

Brush a pan with oil from the sun-dried tomatoes. Shape the dough into a round, and place on the tray. Glaze with a little more oil or some milk, and bake at 190C for about forty minutes.