Easy home made rosemary rye bread

Last week, I mentioned my need for a few little calming rituals, like my coconut chai tea. My brain is particularly whizzy at the moment (hence, I went to my first yoga class this week - and loved it), and if I’m up really early, I quite like to go downstairs, say hi to the dog and have a little potter in the kitchen. At the moment I’m a bit obsessed with baking bread - I tend to bake two loaves at a time, using my standard, lazy recipe (which doesn’t involve any kneading at all). I’ve mentioned before that rye is really good for you - I don’t make 100% rye bread, which we find too strong, but when mixed with white flour, this is our absolute favourite. Another bonus of home made bread is that it lasts ages when compared to shop bought, which seems to go mouldy very quickly. This particular recipe has rosemary added, which is surprisingly delicious. Here’s how to do it:

Easy home made rosemary rye bread

400g strong white bread flour

325g rye flour

2 x 7g packs fast action dried yeast

1 tbsp salt

4 tbsp golden caster sugar or honey

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

4 tbsp rapeseed oil

About 500ml warm water

So firstly, combine the flours, yeast, salt and sugar and rosemary and pop them into your mixer bowl. In a jug, just mix the warm water and the oil together, then with the mixer going, pour in the warm water. This dough is very sticky, but don’t be concerned as you won’t be kneading it at all. Just leave the mixer going for five minutes, occasionally stopping and scraping it down.

Next, just take the mixer bowl, cover it loosely with cling film and put it in the airing cupboard, or somewhere else warm, for at least an hour (but actually my best bread came after I forgot it for the whole morning) until it’s really bubbled up and at least doubled in size. I tend to do my second rise in the kitchen, which takes longer as it’s not as warm, but I think bread that’s had a second, slow rise is both tastier and easier to digest.

Next, with floured hands, knock the dough down and shape into two loaves. Pop them on a baking tray that you’ve liberally sprinkled with extra rye flour. Again, allow to rise for about an hour or until the loaves have really puffed up.

Then, just bake for 35 minutes at 190 degrees C/gas 5. If your oven’s a bit uneven, you might need to turn it around halfway through.

This bread is perfect for sandwiches, marmite and cheese on toast, cheese and pickle and - our all-time favourite avocado, pesto and mozzarella toasties. You heard it here first!

Rosemary rye bread with cheese and pickle