Sage Derby

On the first Sunday in November I was still recovering from the exciting late night epic Halloween Gig that I had attended on the Friday. In order to help regenerate myself for the week ahead I headed out with my puppy to a local beauty spot that's a viewpoint from which you can see five counties on a clear day and is in within about forty five minutes' walk of my house. On the way there I bumped into a scatty middle-aged woman who said she knew of me (but did not know me personally) and started asking me for careers advice. All things considered when I returned home I was therefore I was in need of some food to pick me up after the long walk and being verbally tackled by the bizarre woman.

As winter was now definitely now with us I made something including some traditional winter ingredients and for me nothing says winter like bread filled with sage and onion. I also had another good reason to make this bread as I intend to make for it a chili chess night to be held at the house of two good friends of mine at the end of the month.

The album of choice was my recently purchased re-mastered CD of the Walker Brothers' debut album 'Take it Easy with the Walker Brothers'. This edition features a number of bonus tracks from singles and EPs released at the same time as the original album which add only good things to the excellent mix of original songs and inspired covers pervading the original record. Choice cuts include 'Make it Easy on Yourself'', 'Dancing in the Street' and their take on Bob Dylan's 'Love Minus Zero (No Limit)'.

The first job was to lightly fry for around ten minutes a diced white onion, six shredded sage leaves and a tablespoon of dried sage. The trick with frying these ingredients was to ensure that the onions went transparent but did not burn and that the sage was softened without burning. When the frying was complete I took the pan of sage and onion off the hob and left it to cool.

Next job was to make the dough and I did this by mixing fourteen ounces of white bread flour and a sachet of yeast in a mixing bowl before adding the sage and onion and gradually adding half a pint of water to the mixture. The trick was to add the water gradually so as to allow the dry ingredients time to absorb it and avoid the dough becoming overly sloppy. If you try this one at home do make sure you have some spare flour on hand if your dough comes out too wet at first.

Once the dough was dry but easy to manipulate I kneaded it by punching it hard in the bottom of the bowl and then turning it over and doing the same to the other side of the dough. It may help readers who try this recipe to imagine the dough is the face of someone you dislike so you put the required energy into kneading the dough together.

Once the dough was kneaded into a ball I left it in a warm place to rise for about an hour. I then cooked it on 190 degrees (200 for non-fan ovens) for twenty five minutes until it began to brown around the edges and I could pull a skewer out of it clean.

The results were satisfying; the richness of the bread coupled with the sage and onion served to make it taste like a really rich stuffing that you would serve with a roast dinner. I will definitely try and make this for the upcoming chili and chess night.

Like a big ball of stuffing- but tastier and richer.