Stoneground Wholemeal Plait & Summer Salad

Binge-watching foodie series is bad news for someone who enjoys food, baking, and cooking; not sure which would be the correct order! My favourite shows currently are Masterchef and The Great British Bake-Off.

The theme 'Bread Week' sent my brain into overdrive; I wanted to bake, and eat everything, most of all spongy Devonshire Splits, but...that would have me overindulging as only two of us were at home. The guests checked out early Sunday morning and the neighbours were away.

Some things are best eaten on the same day, and a Devonshire Split is one of those!

What about soft spongy bread rolls? The same problem, they're not always soft and spongy the day after.

I settled on a healthier Stoneground Wholemeal and Chia Seed Bread but decided to use yogurt instead of water and add butter and an egg. This would give the bread a more spongy texture, still crusty but easier to slice, or break the bread as with this three-strand plaited ~~almost wreath~~ loaf.

The bread formed part of lunch today.

The big question was, did I have Yeast? I've been staying away from bread for a while now. Yay, there was a sachet of Yeast in the pantry, and the Best-Before date was still way off!

I used Eureka Mills Wholemeal Flour, Stoneground flour - The Artisan's Choice since 1998.

Our whole meal flour is flavourful with nutty undertones. During the milling process the whole wheat kernel is ground together with the flour, so the fibre and texture of the bran and germ are in everything you bake with it.

I adapted my standard wholemeal bread recipe to make this loaf, and it turned out exactly as I described earlier with a manageable crust and spongy inside. The yogurt gave the bread a really nice flavour, while the flour produced a great nutty taste.

Ingredients:

The Recipe

200ml Yogurt
100ml Hot Water
10ml Sugar
7 grams Instant yeast
50 grams Butter, melted
1 Egg, beaten
750ml Stoneground Wholemeal Flour
5ml Salt
100ml Chia Seeds
Extra 10ml Sugar

Beat yogurt, water, and sugar, and sprinkle yeast on top. Stir, cover, and leave for 10 min till yeast starts to froth. Add egg and melted Butter, and beat to mix. Mix dry ingredients together, make a well in the centre, pour liquids in, and knead by hand or electric mixer, using the dough hook. The dough is ready when gluten strands become longer and the dough is smooth and elastic. Form a ball, pat a little olive oil on top, cover, and leave in a warm place to proof till double in size. I use my Wonder Bag, a super considerate gift from my son, with a multitude of uses.

The magic of the Wonderbag. Handmade in South Africa, the Wonderbag is a simple, but revolutionary, non-electric slow cooker. After bringing a pot of food to the boil and placing it in a Wonderbag, the food will continue cooking for up to eight hours without any additional energy source. No battery, plug or fuel required - just simple heat retention technology.

It works wonderfully well for cooking beans and legumes, curries, soups, and a multitude of other foods that you can leave to 'slow-cook' while at work, with no fear of burning!

Back to bread baking!

Knock risen dough down, shape into a long sausage on an oiled surface, flatten slightly, cut into three strands, and plait. Carefully place into sprayed round baking pan, and shape into a kind of wreath. Leave to rise, brush with e little melted butter, and bake in a fan oven at 170°C (or regular oven at 180°C) for approx 45 minutes Remove from pan, and wrap in a tea towel. I placed Rosemary inside the tea towel which gave the bread a delicate flavour The smell of hot bread baking in the oven made me miss my man again; it would always draw him into the kitchen. He'd often eat it as is, or with butter melting into the bread! I'd be scolding him as he'd lather the butter on - like I did here;) I shared the loaf with my friend who Bonginkosi works for on a Monday, otherwise I'd be tempted to eat the whole loaf! A Tuna salad was thrown together just before lunchtime with whatever I could lay my hands on for a quick lunch for Cynthia and me.