Company in my Kitchen

Just a few more days and the holidays are over. It's been two weeks of staying up till night, relaxing, reading, long strolls with our dog Jente and of course cooking and blogging.

From next monday on I'm living the life of a 'working girl' again. That means early rising, traffic jam, long meetings but also............... laughing with collegues, meeting new contacts and learning new skills. If only a day had more than 24 hours!

But still a few days left with enough time for trying out new recipes. One of those recipes is the Italian bread of Maurice Chaplais (Country Bread by L. Collister and A. Blake). Served with olives and roasted vegetables it's a perfect meal.



Now, I'm looking at the picture Mob Dick will be a better name for this bread.


Italian Bread

• 450 gr. breadflour


• 1 tsp. salt


• 15 gr. vegetable fat


• 7,5 gr. instant yeast


• 330 cc. lukewarm water


• 1,5 tsp. dried herbs de Provence
  
  

Additional

• 30 gr. sundried tomatoes


• 15 gr. pine nuts


• 100 gr. Cheddar cheese, grated

Put the flour, salt, herbs de Provence and yeast in a big bowl. Rub the butter with your fingertips into the flour. Add the water and knead till you get a soft but not-sticky dough. Add water or flour if it's necessary. Knead it approximately 10 minutes and leave it to rise in a greased and covered bowl. This will take 30 till 60 minutes. In the meantime: soak and drain the tomatos and cut them in little pieces.

Add the tomatoes, nuts and cheddar to the dough and fold it als long is needed to spread them evenly through the dough. Put the dough in a floured banneton or form it to firm ball. Leave it one hour to rise until doubled in size. At the end of the rising time, you can preheat the oven at 400 dgr. F. (200 dgr. C.). Bake the bread in 25 - 30 minutes and leave it on a wire rack to cool down. You can eat this bread when it's still warm and the next day it's still very tasty.