Where have I been?

The dearth of posts in recent weeks has been as a result of the hectic run-up to Christmas and a holiday I took to relax after a busy year. I have spent the last two weeks in Zanzibar soaking up the sun and trying to forget how cold it was in England (this is me silhouetted against the pure white sands of the east coast, paradise).

Unfortunately all this galavanting around the globe left me with little time to bake bread and no access to the internet for blogging (as if I even thought of it!), but on my return I am straight back into the fray, and the new Nikon Coolpix L15 will provide some beautiful shots of the baking process to help you along. I haven't decided whether to re-post or just bake, photo and go back to the original posts to add them; this might be better for new arrivals to the blog.

So the first thing I baked back in Blighty was based on the baps recipe I posted previously as a simple bread, but this time I formed it into a bloomer by taking it after the first rising and forming a round, folding in the 'corners' to hold the loaf together and then rolling up and coating with sesame seeds for a nutty flavour (leave the seam-side down).



Slashing the top just before baking allows more rising as the crust doesn't restrict its movement; make the slashes with a very sharp knife (preferably razor blade) and in one quick movement across the bread, really quick, otherwise it just gets caught up in the dough.