Bread of Wine

Another part of the Bank Holiday Sunday Cooking Project was to make some homemade bread. I was partly inspired by the tale of a former judge, which he told at a Rotary Meeting somewhere in the North. He had started his working life as a Master Baker,careful how you pronounce that, before studying law at night school as a mature student, qualifying as a solicitor and then blossoming into a judge. Apparently, although I never recall this when I was before him, he had his baking certificates displayed in his Court next to his legal qualifications.

On the player was Roy Orbison's final and best album "Mystery Girl" which has a host of star collaborations including production by Jeff Lynne and writing credits from Bono and the Edge on the hypnotic and wonderful title track. The album took me back to days playing cricket in the countryside for a local village team as a ten year old and listening to the album on a tape in my Dad's battered old Fiat Uno as he transported me to and from the cricket ground.

The Ingredients for this pleasant bread were as follows:

14 Ounces of Wholemeal Bread Flour.
1 Teaspoon of Yeast.
10 Fresh Rosemary Leaves.
A quarter of a pint of Bordeaux White Wine.
A teaspoon of Nigella Seeds.

The Method was as follows:

1. Stir the Flour, Yeast and Rosemary Leaves together in a mixing bowl.

2. Gradually add the White Wine stirring it in slowly and then combine all the ingredients together until they form a soft ball that can be easily manipulated.

3. Knead the dough together into a flat circle.

4. Leave to rise in a warm place for an hour.

5. Top with the Nigella Seeds and then bake in the oven for twenty-five minutes on Gas Mark 6.

I served this bread with some Unsalted Butter and it was a perfect adjunct to the Beetroot Soup my parents had for starters and the Provencial Stew that was the main course and the subject of last week's blog post. Would the retired judge and former baker have been proud of this bread? I have a feeling perhaps the answer would be yes.

Side of bread- some of the bread freshly out of the oven and festooned with Nigella Seeds.