Self-isolating at home? Bake your own bread!

Cooking is like painting.... You fill the canvas with colour and create something beautiful! My own version of Smorrebrod with garlic and (homegrown) thyme butter, vine tomatoes, chestnut mushrooms tossed in miso paste, balsamic fried onions, dried wakame and shichimi, orange marmalade and black olives..

Smorrebrod is a Scandinavian open sandwich. I tried this in Denmark a few months ago, but having made this a million times at The Taj Mahal Hotel, making this was extremely nostalgic.

Smorrebrod traditionally has "Rugbrod" or rye bread, but this is a homemade bread I baked the same day!

Without much adieu, here's the recipe!!

Ran out of bread?? Bake one on your own!!

Bread flour/Refined flour 500gm
Yeast 7gm or 1/2 tbsp
Salt 1tsp
Sugar 1tbsp
Oil 1tbsp
Water 300ml
Poppy seeds a handful

Divide the water quantity in half. Add sugar+yeast in one and salt in the other and dissolve. Wait for the yeast to turn frothy so you know that it is effective.

Take the flour on a table top or a bowl and make a well in the centre. Slowly put both the mixtures in the well.

Starting from the outermost layer of flour, keep adding the flour to the mixture so that the well doesn't break and you are able to mix the flour with the water.

Once done, knead the dough well. This will take about 10 minutes. Use the end of your palm to stretch the dough, this will activate the gluten in the flour.

Finally incorporate oil into the dough and knead again a bit more until it becomes soft and elastic Dust some flour on the surface to ensure it doesn't stick. If you press a finger into it, it should spring back a bit.

Now transfer the dough to a large bowl and leave it to prove for an hour. Make sure to cover the bowl.

After an hour the dough would have risen double its original size. Knock it back by gently kneading it again. At this point, you can either make it into a loaf or divide it into smaller balls for buns, and then cover the dough again with a damp cloth or in a bowl and leave it to prove for another 40-45 minutes.

After 45 mins, don't knock back the dough! Preheat the oven to 220 (Fan) settings. Transfer your dough to an oiled baking tray. At this point, you can put some poppy seeds/sesame seeds on the top of the dough.

Give it a milk wash.

Bake it for 15-20 minutes. Then another 15 minutes on 200. Take it out and let it cool completely. Remove it from the baking tray and place it on a rack. When it cools down, wrap it up in a cling film for it to stay soft.