Three Flour Bread

Method

• You will need: A big mixing bowl, a dough scraper or spatula and 2 loaf tins or a standard oven baking tray
• Dissolve the yeast and the black treacle in the water
• Weigh out the flour & add the salt and seeds into a big mixing bowl and mix well
• Add the water to the flour and mix well, using your hands. This will be very sloppy at first but will gradually form a sticky lump which you can turn out onto the table, making sure you get all the dough out of the bowl and off your fingers! This is where that dough scarper or spatula comes in to its own.
• Now use the heals and palms of your hands to knead the dough for about five minutes. Add a little more flour if it’s really too sticky but not too much. Wetter is better. Put the dough back in the bowl to rise to double its size – or put half of it in the fridge as above and the other half to rise
• To bake the loaves: Divide the dough into two equal lumps. Knock back each lump with as little flour as possible, Lightly flour the inside of the tins and put the dough in to the tins, pressing the dough gently so that it is flat and even on top. Leave to rise till double its size.
• Bake in a really hot oven – 220c – for about 25-30 mins; it should have a good brown crust on it when cooked. To check if it is: Using an oven cloth, quickly take a loaf out of the oven and out of its tin and tap it on the bottom of the loaf. It should sound hollow and clear… You will know when you do it what sound I mean.
• Leave the loaves to cool on cooling racks. Freeze one. Make yourself a cheese and pickle sandwich with the other.