01st Mar 2021
There’s nothing like a slice (or two) of homemade brown bread. Enjoy a good slab with a piping hot cup of tea, or with a delicious lunchtime soup or as an open sandwich. Food writer Lesley Tumulty, who trained at Ballymaloe, shares a foolproof recipe.
Ballymaloe Brown Yeast Bread
Ingredients
- 450g stoneground wholemeal flour
- 25g fresh yeast
- 425ml warm water
- 1 tsp black treacle
- 1 tsp salt
- Sesame seeds
Method
Advertisement
1 Pre-heat oven to 230ºC/gas mark 8. Put flour and salt into a large bowl.
2 Sponge the yeast in 150ml of tepid water with a teaspoon of treacle, and leave in a warm place for the yeast to become active (this should take about five minutes).
3 Add the remaining water to the yeast and treacle mixture and stir well.
4 Pour this into the dry ingredients and mix with an open hand, drawing the flour from the sides of the bowl. Mix until you have a wettish dough and pour into a lightly oiled 2lb loaf tin. Sprinkle the top of the dough with sesame seeds.
5 Put the tin in a warm place for about 45 mins, at which point the dough will have risen to around twice its original size – it should be just peeping over the rim.
6 Bake for 45-50 minutes or until it looks lovely and brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
Advertisement
Tip: Remove bread from the tin about 10 minutes before the end of baking and put it back in the oven to crisp all around.