No bread is an island

...entire of itself. (With apologies to John Donne!)
I live and breathe breadmaking. I’m an evangelist who would like everyone to make his or her own bread. I want to demystify breadmaking and show it as the easy everyday craft that it is. To this end I endeavour to make my recipes as simple and as foolproof as I possibly can.

I call my blog 'No bread is an island' because every bread is connected to another bread. So a spicy fruit bun with a cross on top is a hot cross bun. This fruit dough will also make a fruit loaf - or Chelsea buns or a Swedish tea ring...
I'm also a vegan, so I have lots of vegan recipes on here - and I'm adding more all the time.

Tuesday, 27 March 2012

VEGAN SCHIACCIATA CON L'UVA (Gluten free)

Ingredients:
200g cornmeal
100g sultanas 
2 dsps sugar
2 tsps gluten-free baking powder
150ml (plus) water
Good splash of olive oil 
Plus a handful of seedless grapes, halved.

Method:
1. Put the oven on at 200C and line a baking tray with baking parchment.

2. Place dry ingredients in mixing bowl and stir a couple of times, using a spatula or table knife.

3. Working quickly (the baking powder starts to react when it meets the water.), add sufficient water to bring it together as a dough - I found I'd used 162.5g (my scales are divided into 25g segments - the pointer was just halfway between two markers!)

4. Place on baking parchment and roll or push the dough out into a circle about 2cm thick. Cover with the grapes and place in the oven for about 20 minutes

5. It's ready when a skewer comes out clean.

The term ‘Two harvest bread', comes from the fact that the sultanas are from last year and the grapes from this. (If you soak the sultanas overnight in wine it becomes ‘Three harvest bread' and the wine now becomes a dessert wine!)

The bread has an unusual texture - it seems a little grainy when you first pop it into your mouth, and there is a slight 'metaliccy' taste.

But I had some last night and found myself going back several times for another nibble, which is a good sign!
I had a chunk for breakfast, split and spread with apple puree. It was very acceptable.

(I'm certain you could make this into a pizza dough by leaving out the sugar and fruit. I'd be tempted to brush the surface with oil before putting on a tomato topping.)



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