Missi roti

I often write my blog entries under the assumption that no one looks at them. On many occasions, that’s probably true, but yesterday I got a bit of a surprise that not only made my day but also made me want to do more baking.

No idea how or why he saw it, but Richard Bertinet read one of my blog entries and posted a link to it on his twitter page! For those who don’t know, many of the recipes that I’ve done so far on this blog so far are by Richard Bertinet. Bring on massive hyperness on my part and messages to anyone I know that knows who Richard Bertinet is.

And, as I say, it also brought on an impromptu bit of baking. No yeast to hand, but I found a recipe for an unleavened bread called missi roti (unleavened gram flour bread) that I could start off and finish the following day. So that was lunch sorted!

It started with sifting together 250g gram (chick pea) flour (how handy that I’d thrown some in the shopping basket, for no particular reason, on our previous shopping trip) and 250g wholemeal plain flour. I then finely chopped 45g onion (and had to put just under half an onion in the fridge), 2 fresh green chillies (I chickened out and removed most of the seeds) and 2 tablespoons fresh coriander and threw those in the mixing bowl with 1 teaspoon ground cumin, ½ teaspoon ground turmeric, ½ teaspoon hot chilli powder and a very large pinch of salt (the recipe said “to taste”. I’m not in the habit of eating bread dough, so I thought this would be a bit difficult to judge by “taste”). This got mixed together which kicked up some great smells, although the chilli, coriander and cumin did remind me of my version of chilli con carne.

Next step, add enough water to bring together as a soft dough. The next lot of mixing kicked up a different smell... mostly chickpea. I turned it out of the bowl and kneaded it until smooth (my hands slightly tingling from the chilli), then returned it to the bowl, covered it and shoved it in the fridge for finishing the following day.

I occupied myself in the morning by walking to a well known supermarket chain (one that I worked at for a week and a half... don’t ask) to buy some raita to go with my roti. Should have set out earlier... lunch ended up rather late.

I turned the dough out onto a worktop and formed it into a sausage, which I cut in half. Each half then got cut into 4 and then formed into a ball. On a floured surface, I rolled each one out to a disc about 15cm in diameter... and yes, I cracked out a ruler for the first one.

Next, it was time to have lots of plates handy, 2 frying pans and saucepan containing 2 tablespoons of melted ghee. It was a good job that no one else wanted to use the hob. I put one of the pans on a high heat and used this for the first phase of cooking; a dry fry on each side for 1-2 minutes until slightly blistered.  The roti went from the pan to a plate and got brushed on each side with ghee, then went into the other frying pan (had to mess about with the heat with the first few, just like when making pancakes) to fry until crisp. Some wouldn’t sit flat and took a little persuasion... holding it with my fingers seemed a bit hazardous so they got squished with my flask instead.

The batch took a little time but they came out looking incredibly appetising, a nice vibrant mix of yellow from the chickpea and turmeric, green splashes from the coriander and chilli and the dark blistered bits from the frying. The flavour wasn’t quite as strong as I was expecting, but that may be my fault for chickening out with the chilli seeds. The flavour was a little reminiscent of onion bhaji... not surprising, what with the ingredients being very similar.

Not a bad impromptu bit of baking. Thanks for the tweet and the inspiration, Richard Bertinet!

Simplified recipe

Ingredients

250g gram (chick pea) flour

250g wholemeal plain flour

45g onion, finely chopped

2 fresh green chillies, finely chopped

2 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped finely

1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon ground turmeric

½ teaspoon ground dried red chilli (I just went for hot chilli powder)

Salt (the recipe said “to taste”. I’d give a guideline of teaspoon... I think)

Enough water to bring the ingredients together as a dough

Ghee, melted (for frying. If you don’t have any, use butter)

Method

1.       Sieve together the gram flour and the wholemeal flour. If you end up with a lot of bran from the wholemeal flour left in the sieve, just throw it in too

2.       Add the onion, chilli, coriander, cumin, turmeric, chilli powder and salt and combine thoroughly

3.       Add enough water to bring the mix together into a soft dough, then turn out onto a worktop and knead until even, which shouldn’t take too long

4.       Place the dough in a bowl, cover and leave to rest, for at least 3-4 hours at room temperature. Alternatively, do what I did and leave it to rest overnight in the fridge

5.       Once rested, turn the dough out and form into a sausage. Cut the sausage in half and then cut each piece into 4, so that you have 8 equal pieces of dough

6.       Form each piece into a ball and then press or roll out the dough on a lightly floured worktop to a circle between 15 to 20 cm in diameter

7.       Put one frying pan on a high heat and have another waiting on the hob. In the hot pan, dry-fry the rotis for 1-2 minutes on each side until slightly blistered

8.       Put the other pan on a medium heat. Brush the pan-fried rotis on each side with ghee and then place in the pan over the medium heat and fry on each side until crisp

9.       To serve, top with a little more butter and accompany with a glass of lassi

References

A Taste of Punjab, Lali Nayar, Merehurst, 1995

Bread shots

My friend was hosting a cocktails and canapés evening; I needed bread that would fit the bill. Needless to say, Richard Bertinet’s Dough provided me with a recipe. Even if using that book again does make me seem like a bit of a broken record. So, this time it was bread shots.

One olive decided it wanted to be an outy

It all started easily enough with a basic white bread; 500g strong white bread flour, 10g fresh yeast (rubbed into the flour), 10g salt and 350ml water, combined and kneaded until smooth and elastic. It then needed to double in size... the house was cold so, snuggling up to my wheat bag, it took about an hour and a half.

So, what to do with this bread now to turn it into canapés rather than another white loaf? Well, it got turned out onto a worktop and divided into 5. Each piece of dough then also got divided into 6. Do the maths... yep, that’s right, 30 pieces of dough were the result. Each bit got rolled into a ball and placed on a greased baking tray (a few looked a little ragged round the edges because they didn’t want to unstick from my fingers!) and were left to rest for 15 minutes. I then covered my finger in flour and gave each ball a good poke in the middle and filled each subsequent hole with a black olive (other filling suggestions from the book included pesto, good quality tomato puree flavoured with herbs or walnuts). I covered both trays and put them in a warm place to double in size again.

When the dough balls was looking nicely plump and almost ready, the oven got preheated to as hot as it would go, with a baking tray placed at the bottom. When the dough balls were all good to go, they went in the oven and some ice cubes got thrown on the preheated baking tray. The oven was quickly whipped down to 220°C (425°F or gas mark 7). I’d burned some cupcakes at college earlier in the week so, feeling a little paranoid, I put on a timer to tell me to check the bread after 8 minutes. They weren’t quite ready because they were colouring pretty well on one half of the tray and not on the other, so I span them round and gave them a little longer. Once golden all over, they went onto a cooling wrack. The book says to serve them warm, brushed with olive oil... but this didn’t seem quite practical as I had to get them to my friend’s house. So they just got cooled before being thrown unceremoniously into a sandwich bag.

They didn’t go down too badly at my friend’s party but I did bring quite a few home. I didn’t see this as much of an issue; all the more for me : )

Simplified recipe

Ingredients

500g strong white bread flour

10g fresh yeast

10g salt

350ml water

Whole pitted olives (or some other flavouring, such as pesto, good quality tomato puree flavoured with herbs or walnuts)

Method

1.       Put the flour in a bowl and rub in the yeast

2.       Add the salt, then make a well in the dry ingredients and add the water

3.       Bring everything together into a dough, turn out onto a worktop and knead or work until it becomes smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes)

4.       Place the dough in a bowl and leave in a warm place to double in size (which should take around 1 hour)

5.       Turn the dough out onto a worktop, divide into 5 and then divide each piece into six. Form each piece of dough into a tight ball, place on an oiled baking tray and rest for 15 minutes

6.       Flour the end of your finger, or the handle of a wooden spoon, and poke a hole in the middle of each ball. Fill the hole with an olive (or your other chosen flavouring) then cover and leave to rest until doubled in size again

7.       Preheat your oven to as hot as it will go and place a baking tray at the bottom

8.       Put the dough in the oven and throw some ice cubes onto the preheated baking tray. Turn the oven down to 220°C (425°F or gas mark 7) and bake the bread shots for 8-10 minutes until an even golden colour

9.       Brush with olive oil and serve warm

References

Dough, Richard Bertinet, Kyle Books, 2005

Oak Smoked Malted Bread

Still lacking bread inspiration. But I was stood in a supermarket looking at their flour range and happened to stumble across an oak smoked malted blend bread flour. It sounded pretty interesting so a bag went in the shopping trolley. It also happened to have a basic recipe under the label, which was what I followed.

Sorry about the stump. I forgot to

take a picture until almost all the

loaf had been eaten

I won’t bore you with the recipe up here because it’s pretty basic, but there are a few things worth mentioning. The dough didn’t need a lengthy bit of working because of it being unrefined, not something you’d ever get the elasticity of white bread with. It rose fine but didn’t have a hell of a lot of oven spring when I baked it, which has made me think I need to invest in a baking stone or a new loaf tin. The finished loaf didn’t have much of a firm crust and the flour didn’t have as much flavour as I was expecting from it’s fairly long-winded title. It wasn’t that expensive so I didn’t feel cheated in that respect, but it was a little disappointing.

Simplified recipe

Ingredients

500g oak smoked strong malted blend flour

1 ½ teaspoons salt

10g fresh yeast

2 teaspoons runny honey

330ml warm water

Method

1.       Put the flour and salt in a bowl and mix together

2.       Rub the yeast into the flour

3.       Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the honey and water. Bring everything together into a dough, turn out onto a work surface and work for around 5 minutes “until smooth”. Place in a bowl, cover and leave in a warm place to double in size (about 1 hour)

4.       Once the dough has risen, you can shape it. I made an average-sized loaf but you could cut it into 8 and shape into balls. Cover the dough and leave it in a warm place to double in size again (about 30 minutes)

5.       Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F or gas mark 6)

6.       If making a loaf, bake for 30 minutes. For buns, bake for 15-20 minutes

References

The label on Bacheldre Watermill Oak Smoked Strong Malted Bread Flour 

Moroccan Bread

Struggling for bread ideas. Been flicking through some recipe books that have been sat on the “recipe book bookcase” for a while without being used. I stumbled across this recipe in Moro: The Cookbook. I think it only had about 4 bread recipes in it.

Nothing particularly fancy about the making of this bread. It started with 300g strong white bread flour, 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds and a large pinch of salt in a mixing bowl. I made a well in all of this and poured in 10g fresh yeast that had been dissolved in a tablespoon of warm water, along with 225ml milk that I’d dissolved ¾ tablespoon of honey in. A bottle of olive oil was also sat on the side as it had been included in the ingredients list but at no stage was I actually instructed to use it. Aaanyway, I brought the mix together into a dough, turned it out onto a clean worktop and beat the crap out of it for 5 minutes until smooth and relatively springy. The bowl got a quick clean and dry before I put the dough back in, covered it with a tea towel and left it snuggled up to my warm wheat bag until doubled in size, which took a little longer than an hour due to the cold weather finally having arrived in my area.

Dough-growing over, it got gently turned out onto a floured work surface and cut into 4 pieces, and hopped over to the oven to preheat it to 180°C (450°F or gas mark 8). Hopping back to the dough, I shaped each piece into a ball. And next, I didn’t do quite what I think I was meant to. The book was a little... artistic with its pictures. By which I mean, they were pretty, but they weren’t that helpful. There was no picture of the bread I was making, although a little internet searching did turn up the same recipe with an accompanying picture. So, I rolled out the dough into circles... slight brain lapse meant that I rolled them out to 1.5 inches rather than 1.5 centimetres... and then followed the instruction to do a circle of crimp marks in the middle of each dough circle, which the picture showed looking a little like a sun. The book said this would restrict the rise of the dough... but I’m not sure whether I was meant to also push the dough down to achieve this effect. My not-quite-right dough went onto a lightly greased baking tray, and I then glazed them with a mix of 1 egg yolk and 1 tablespoon milk. Tip: it’s normally better to glaze before you stuff on the tray it’ll bake on because, if you get the glaze spilling onto the tray, it can stick down the dough and prevent it rising.

You might be able to tell from the pictures that I didn’t exactly have this problem. 15 minutes in the oven and I had some fairly mountainous buns rather than flatbreads, but with an impressive golden-brown sheen to them. I let them cool before hacking one open (dinner had been delayed and my brother and I shared one as a snack to tide us over). The bread was pale and soft, with a fairly random bit of bubble structure, and it had a mildly sweet flavour that was complemented nicely by the fennel.

Execution: not stunning. But still some tasty bread.

Simplified recipe

Ingredients

300g strong white bread flour

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

Pinch salt

10g fresh yeast dissolved in 1 tablespoon warm water

¾ teaspoon honey

Around 225ml milk, but you may need a little more

1 egg yolk and 1 tablespoon milk mixed, for glazing

Method

1.       Put the flour, fennel seeds and salt in a bowl and mix together

2.       Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the yeast/water, honey and milk. Bring the ingredients together into a dough, tip out onto a work surface and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Return to the bowl, cover and leave in a warm place to double in size

3.       Preheat your oven at 180°C (450°F or gas mark 8)

4.       Turn the dough out onto a floured worktop and divide into four. Form each piece into a ball and then roll it out to about 1.5 cm thick (not 1.5 inches, like I did. Lack of brain engagement there). Imagine a smaller circle in the centre of each dough circle and, using your finger and thumb, pinch and push down the dough around 9-12 times to make a sun-like pattern (this is meant to restrict the rise of your dough to make the finished bread more flat)

5.       Brush the dough circles with the egg and milk glaze and then place on a lightly-greased baking tray

6.       Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and they give off a hollow sound when tapped

References

Moro: The Cookbook, Sam and Sam Clark, Ebury Press, 2001

There’s nothing as disappointing as an uncooked muffin

I’ve not baked any bread since last Tuesday. This is starting to feel like a long time. Must be time for another bread then.

I was told about a new cooking series on TV called The Fabulous Baker Brothers. It’d completely passed me by until my friend mentioned it but I caught up with the episodes and decided to try one of their recipes; English muffins with spinach.

So far, unimpressed.

First thing, I got all my ingredients out ready. This included 30g butter and 2 teaspoons sugar (type not specified... helpful...), which went into a saucepan over a low heat for the butter to melt. I then measured out 300ml milk. The recipe specified using a teaspoon of dried yeast, which I replaced for 10g fresh yeast. I also had nutmeg and spinach handy, and weighed 450g strong white bread flour out into a bowl with a large pinch of sea salt.

So, butter melted, the instructions were to add the milk and then to add the yeast. Ok so far, but then the instruction was to add the spinach to allow it to wilt. Problem; spinach won’t wilt in tepid milk and I was a bit dubious about heating the milk past this stage as it already had the yeast in. So instead of wilted spinach, I had essentially salad-ready spinach that had been drenched in milk. This not-quite right mixture got a few shavings of nutmeg added to it and then the whole lot was poured into the dry ingredients. Now, the recipe specified to mix in a freestanding mixer on half speed for 10 minutes. Great... but what if you haven’t got a freestanding mixer? (And just ignore for the moment that I do own one) The suggestion was that the dough needed a lot of kneading, as normally 5 minutes in a mixer is sufficient for a bread dough. But no indication of what the dough should look like when the kneading is over. So I kneaded by hand for a bit past 15 minutes, which resulted in an incredibly elastic and almost gooey dough, before putting the dough aside to rise. And, again, the recipe fell down, succumbing to my pet peeve of not specifying what the dough was meant to look like at the end of this period and instead settling for a time scale of 30 minutes.

It got set aside for 30 minutes, with me grumbling a little. When I returned to it... well, it looked pretty much the same. I dusted my worktop with semolina and turned the dough out, then stretched it into a rectangle about an inch thick. The top got dusted with semolina too and the dough then got cut into rounds. They went into a hot, dry pan and were cooked until browned, flipped over half way through. Ominous sign; little to no spring off the bottom of the pan.

Out of the pan and a little cooling later, I hacked one open. It hadn’t looked promising at any stage of this bake and the results continued the theme. The dough had bubbled and there were air pockets, but the stuff around the air was still dough. The whole batch was completely inedible. It felt like a waste of ingredients, but the best place for them was the food waste bin.

Conclusion? I’m fairly sure I over-worked the dough. I remember thinking at one stage that it had got to a nice, coherent consistency where I would normally stop kneading, but the vagueness of the instructions made me think that it needed quite a lot more working than it did in reality. A warning to all recipe-writers out there; if there’s a hole in your recipe that can lead to disaster, I will find it.

Test? Try again soon, but this time with less kneading.

References

http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/tv-show-recipes/the-fabulous-baker-brothers-recipes/eggs-benedict-with-spinach-muffins-recipe

Tanduri Roti

And I thought pizza dough was easy. Today I gave roti a go, and this is probably the simplest bread I’ve ever made. Made all the simpler because it only had 3 ingredients; wholemeal flour, salt and water. No yeast.

Roti is a type of unleavened bread eaten in Punjab (I made it to accompany a curry) and is traditionally cooked in a tandoor oven. No tandoor in my house, but the normal oven and some preheated baking trays seemed to work just fine.

I sieved 250g plain wholemeal flour into a bowl with a pinch of salt and then worked in enough water to bring it into a soft “but not sticky dough”. This stayed in the bowl, was covered with a damp cloth and left to rest for about half an hour while I got on with my curry.

After this resting time, I got the dough out, divided it into 4 and formed each bit into a ball. These balls went back into the bowl, covered again and left to rest for another 10 minutes.

I floured my worktop and rolled out each ball into a circle about ¼ inch thick. Meanwhile, 2 lightly greased baking trays went into the oven while it preheated to 220°C (425°F or gas mark 7). When the oven was ready, the dough circles went onto the baking trays and cooked for about 10 minutes until they’d browned slightly and puffed up.

I think my roti may have puffed up more than they were meant to, but I was still impressed with the results. Having never done an unleavened bread before, I was little worried that they’d be completely solid, but this definitely wasn’t the case and the roti proved a good vehicle for my curry. Definitely one I’ll be doing again.

Simplified recipe

Makes 4

Ingredients

250g plain wholemeal flour

Pinch salt

Water, to bring the dough together

Method

1.       Sift the flour in a bowl and add the salt

2.       Add enough water to bring the flour together into a soft “but not sticky dough”. Leave the dough in the bowl, cover and rest for 30 to 45 minutes

3.       Take the dough and divide it into 4 even pieces. Shape each piece into a ball, place back in the bowl, cover and rest for another 10 minutes

4.       Lightly grease 2 baking trays and place them in the oven, then preheat at 220°C (425°F or gas mark 7)

5.       On a floured worktop, roll each ball of dough out into a circle of around ¼ inch thick

6.       Place the dough discs onto the preheated trays and bake for 8-10 minutes “until they are lightly browned in places and a few bubbles appear” (not quite like mine, which puffed up like pitta breads. May have let them cook a little too long...)

7.       If desired, brush with a little ghee (clarified butter) before serving

References

A Taste of Punjab, Lali Nayar, Merehurst, 1995

Same dough, another bread: tomato, garlic and basil bread

I had a bit of dilemma when trying to decide what bread I wanted to do this week. Flicking through Richard Bertinet’s Dough, specifically the olive bread section, I think most of them appealed. So, instead of doing 1, I’ve ended up doing 3.

Today, it was tomato, garlic and basil bread. I was drawn in by the colourful picture that accompanied this one and the promise of some punchy flavours. But it did require a bit of leg work.

First, I needed to dry out the tomatoes. I think you could probably use 100g of good sunblushed tomatoes instead, but the recipe came with instructions for drying out your own. A 250g punnet of cherry tomatoes got halved (if you use larger tomatoes, quarter them) and placed on a lightly oiled baking tray. They were sprinkled with salt, pepper, a teaspoon of caster sugar and a generous load of fresh chopped rosemary and thyme. They then went into an oven preheated at 100°C (about 200°F or well under gas mark 1) for about 2 ours until they looked a bit shrivelled. Maybe not as attractive as before, but now with concentrated flavour.

The garlic also needed roasting. I peeled 20 cloves of garlic and preheated the oven at 180°C (350°F or gas mark 4). I then grabbed one of our shiny-new oven-proof saucepans and put 5 tablespoons olive oil, 25g butter and a teaspoon of caster sugar in it. It went on the hob on a random temperature because the book didn’t specify one, only that the butter needed to melt. Butter melted, the garlic cloves went in and were swooshed around in the mixture until coated. The whole thing went in the preheated oven for 25 minutes until the garlic cloves were completely soft. Despite frequently reminding myself not to be an idiot and pick the hot metal handle of the pan up without an oven glove on, I managed it at the final hurdle. So, the garlic cloves cooled in the liquid while my hand went under cold water... Another truly magnificent burn to add to the collection...

The dough was the next step, and that was simple enough as I’d actually remembered all the quantities from last time; 500g strong white bread flour, 20g coarse semolina and 15g fresh yeast (rubbed into the flour), combined with 10g salt, 320g water and 50g olive oil. This was combined with the handle of a wooden spoon (right hand still clutching an ice pack wrapped in a tea towel) until it came together as a dough, which was then turned out onto a clean work surface and worked until smooth and elastic (during which exercise, I perfected the one-handed knead). It went back into a mixing bowl and sat in a warm place for an hour.

Time to combine the ingredients. I turned the dough out onto a well-floured work surface and sprinkled the top with flour, then spread it gently into a large rectangle; the book suggests 25cm by 35cm. Also worth noting that it was positioned like a “landscape” picture... this will become significant later. After the top of this got dimpled with my still-smarting fingers, the tomatoes were spread over and pressed into the rectangle, followed by the garlic and then by a generous handful or basil leaves.

And time to attempt the artistic bit. The dough got folded like a letter, and outside third folded onto the central third, and then the last third folded on top of these to create a smaller rectangle. I pushed it down gently with my fingertips to push the bits of flavour a little further into the dough. The open ends were tucked in to close up the holes. This long rectangle then got cut across into 3 smaller rectangles, and I did a bit more tucking so that the central piece had one open and one closed end. I had 2 lightly-oiled baking trays to hand and the rectangles got transferred to these before being manipulated so that the closed end faced down and the open end faced up, exposing some of those colourful contents. These then got covered and went to rest in a warm place for another half an hour.

10 minutes before needed, the oven went on to preheat at 220°C (425°F or gas mark 7). Once the dough had had its resting time, it went in the oven for 20 minutes until golden. It went onto a cooling wrack and I brushed it with olive oil while it was still warm.

It was a few hours later when I gave the dough its test chomp. I have to say I’m not convinced by using the garlic cloves whole, as the ones in my bread that were left exposed got a little bit cremated. On the plus side, the tomatoes and basil added little pockets of flavour and texture and the bread itself was soft and moist. If I was to make it again, I think I’d try a different approach with the garlic.

Simplified recipe

For the tomatoes

Ingredients

250g tomatoes (cherry tomatoes halved, larger tomatoes quartered)

Salt and pepper

1 teaspoon caster sugar

Fresh rosemary and thyme, chopped (or herb de Provence)

Olive oil, for greasing

Method

1.       Preheat an oven at 100°C (about 200°F or well under gas mark 1)

2.       Lightly grease a baking tray

3.       Arrange the tomatoes on the tray, skin side down, and sprinkle with the salt, pepper, sugar and herbs

4.       Bake in the oven for around 2 hours until dried

For the roasted garlic

Ingredients

20 cloves garlic, peeled

5 tablespoons olive oil

25g butter

1 teaspoon caster sugar

Method

1.       Preheat the oven at 180°C (350°F or gas mark 4)

2.       Put the olive oil, butter and sugar in an oven-proof pan or dish and heat this on the hob until the butter has melted

3.       Put the garlic gloves into the pan and coat with the oil and butter, then place the whole thing in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the garlic is soft throughout

4.       Allow the garlic to cool in the cooking liquid

5.       Remove from the pan and place on kitchen paper to remove the excess oil

To make tomato, garlic and basil bread

Ingredients

1 quantity olive bread dough (see http://doughdiaries.blogspot.com/2012/01/one-dough-two-breads-soup-bowls-and.html), rested in a warm place for 1 hour

100g dried tomatoes

20 cloves roasted garlic

A generous handful of basil leaves

Method

1.       Carefully turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface. Lightly flour the top of the dough and then use your fingertips to push it into a rectangle about 35cm by 25cm. It should be positioned like a landscape painting in relation to where you’re stood

2.       Place the tomatoes across the rectangle and gently push them into the dough. Do the same with the garlic and the basil leaves.

3.       Imagine that the rectangle is split into 3 columns. Fold one of the outer columns into the centre, then fold the other outer column on top of these other two

4.       Gently push the dough down with your fingers to work together the dough and other ingredients. Tuck in the two open ends

5.       Cut the dough horizontally to make 3 small rectangles. Tuck in the end of the central rectangle so that you have 3 pieces of dough with one open end each

6.       Lightly oil a baking tray (you might need 2) and place the dough on the tray with the closed end down and the open end facing up. It’ll take a bit of gentle manipulation to get it to sit with this open end properly facing up

7.       Cover the dough and leave it to rest for 30 minutes

8.       Preheat your oven to 220°C (425°F or gas mark 7)

9.       Once the dough has rested, place it in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown

10.   Brush with olive oil while still warm, then leave to cool completely

References

Dough, Richard Bertinet, Kyle Books, 2005