Egg mayonnaise

This always-popular starter is simplicity itself. For a special occasion, use home-made mayonnaise. (See Recipe)

Serves 2

 

2 eggs

4 tbsp mayonnaise

paprika or cracked black pepper

Method:

• Prick the wide end of each egg with the tine of a fork. Put them into a pan of cold water and bring to the boil.
• Turn down the heat and boil gently for 6 minutes.
• Drop the eggs in a basin of cold (sea)water to cool them and stop them cooking further. This also reduces the chance of the whites going grey.
• When they’re cool enough to handle, peel the eggs and cut them in half, lengthways.
• Arrange each egg, cut side down on a plate. Spoon mayonnaise over. Sprinkle with a little paprika or cracked black pepper, if you like, to garnish.

If you have any lettuce, or spinach, the eggs look attractive arranged on some roughly-shredded leaves.

Stuffed eggs

These make a delicious lunch, with some bread and a salad.  However, when arranged attractively on a plate, they also make an excellent snack with drinks, or a starter.

Serves 2

2 hard-boiled eggs

1 tsp curry paste

1 tsp mayonnaise

Method:

• When the eggs are cold, peel them and slice them in half, lengthwise.
• Using a teaspoon, carefully remove the yolk and put it into a bowl.
• Add the curry paste and mayonnaise to the yolks and combine them to make the stuffing.
• Pile the stuffing back into the egg whites.

Variations:

• Use yoghurt instead of mayonnaise.
• Leave out the curry paste and use tomato purée instead. Season with salt and pepper.
• Leave out the curry paste and chop fresh herbs and mix these in with the mayonnaise, egg yolks and salt and pepper.
• Instead of curry paste, use hot sauce and a little extra mayonnaise or yoghurt.

Tortilla (Spanish Omelette)

In Spain, they sell slices of tortilla to take away and eat as a snack or for a quick lunch. It also makes a lovely and unusual starter, especially before a lighter main course. I should like to offer a vegan version of this, but so far am still struggling to find a decent recipe, and I don't want to use a processed product such as "Just Eggs", even assuming I could find it.  I am very unconvinced that a gram flour 'white sauce' is a substitute for beaten eggs.

Serves 4 as a starter, 2 for a light lunch

 

2 potatoes

2 onions

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

4 eggs

Method:

• Slice the potatoes and onions and chop the garlic.
• Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the vegetables. Cover and cook over a medium heat for about ten minutes, stirring every few minutes to ensure that everything gets cooked. When the potatoes are completely cooked, arrange all the vegetables in an even layer in the pan.
• Season generously with salt and pepper.
• Break the eggs into a bowl and beat them gently – just enough to amalgamate the yolks and the whites. Then pour the eggs over the potatoes and onions and tilt the pan to ensure that they’re evenly distributed.
• Cover, lower the heat and cook for a further 10 minutes or until the eggs are set.

Tortilla is generally eaten lukewarm, but is delicious hot, for lunch.

Pakora

These little, crisp savoury fritters make a delicious starter to an Indian-style meal. They can also be served as a snack or with drinks.

 

Serves 4 for a starter

 

1/4 cup gram flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp coriander

1/8 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp garam masala

1/8 tsp chilli flakes

1/4 tsp methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

1/4 cup water

a few drops hot sauce

2 onions

oil for frying

Method: 

• Mix the flour, salt and baking powder together. If the flour is a little bit lumpy, use a mini whisk. Stir in the cumin, coriander, turmeric, garam masala, chilli flakes and methi.
• Now add the water and mix to make a smooth paste. Add the hot sauce.
• Dice the onion and separate it into pieces. Add these to the batter and mix very thoroughly so that all the onion pieces are coated in batter.
• Heat a few tbsp oil in a small saucepan, wok or frying pan.
• When the oil is hot, test it by dropping in 1/2 tsp batter. This should instantly puff up and float on the surface.
• When this happens, drop in tablespoonfuls of onion-and-batter. They should be cooking so quickly that you will be lucky to handle more than 3 at any one time. Put one in, turn the second over, take the third one out using tongs or a perforated spoon.
• Put on kitchen paper on a plate and keep warm. Eat them as soon as the final one is cooked.

Serve with a little yoghurt, seasoned with mint or spices, or with Indian pickle or chutney.

Variation:

• Try other vegetables, such as green pepper, courgette, spinach, or lightly-cooked potato. Or use plantain.

Toasted cheese sandwich

I no longer eat butter and dislike margarine, so if I want to make a toasted sandwich these days, I tend to fry it in a minimum of olive oil.  However, so far I've been unable to find edible vegan cheese in New Zealand, so, sadly, toasted cheese sandwiches now exist only in my memory.  

I'm still looking for a successful vegan "Cheddar cheese" recipe.  All suggestions gratefully received.

Makes one

2 slices bread

butter

Cheddar cheese or similar

• Butter the bread generously.
• Slice the cheese and fit it to the bread – don’t make the sandwich too lumpy or it will be difficult to toast and don’t let the cheese overlap the crusts because it will drip onto the toaster and start to burn.(This is much less of an issue if you 'toast' it in the frying pan) 
• Put the toaster over a medium flame and carefully place the sandwich on it. Don’t use too high a flame or the bread will toast before the cheese has started to melt. Depending on the size of both your bread and the flame, you may have to move it around to toast evenly. 
• When one side is done turn it over and toast the other side.

Variations:

• Cheese and mustard: make as above, substituting Dijon or your preferred mustard for the butter. If you don’t watch calories, you can use butter and spread the mustard on the cheese.
• Cheese and onion: add thin slices of onion with the cheese.
• Fried egg sandwiches are good at any time of the day, although this isn’t strictly a toasted sandwich.
• Peanut butter is good, and even better with a couple of slices of tomato.  Beware that the tomato can get extremely hot.
  
• Make them with banana skin bacon. Toast the bread on one side only and if you’re feeling particularly decadent, dip the untoasted side in the cooking oil before assembling the sandwich.  
• Any bean or nut spread will go well on a toasty.  This can also get extremely hot.
  

Savoury scone

Sometimes you want something more sustaining than a sandwich, but don’t want to eat out of bowls. A savoury scone can provide just what’s needed.

1 onion 

1 tbsp olive oil

 1/2 tsp sage 

1 cup flour

 2 tsp baking powder

 pinch of salt

 4 tbsp soft butter – OR 3 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup milk or water

• Dice the onion and fry it in the oil until soft. Put to one side
• Add the sage, baking powder and salt to the flour.
• Rub in the butter/oil, or mix it in with a fork until you have a coarse, crumbly mix.
• Quickly mix in the milk until you have a fairly soft, but non-sticky dough that you can handle easily.
• Knead this for half a minute and then roll it out on a floured board into a roughly circular shape. Alternatively, if you have an oven, roll out the dough and cut it into six or eight discs, using a glass or a scone-cutter.
• Put the dough in a frying pan over a flame tamer on a low flame. Cover and cook for 15 minutes or place in a preheated hot oven for 15 minutes.
• Turn out, cut into wedges and split each, buttering and serving it while it’s still warm.

Variations:

• Use some fresh herbs, if you have any available.
• Add 1/4 cup grated cheese to the flour before mixing the dough.Fry some diced Seitan chorizo with the onion.
• Add garlic to the onion, if you like./
• Spread some Marmite or Annie's Big Mix (or both!) on the scone.
• Instead of making scone dough, use Zebedee bread.

 

Welsh Rarebit

Sometimes known as Welsh Rabbit, but I can assure you this is a vegetarian meal.  Vegans can make the Vegan cheese sauce variation of Basic white sauce, and add the additional flavourings suggested below, or follow this recipe substituting grated Vegan cheese if you use it.  Welsh rarebit is a favourite in England for lunch or a light dinner.

 Serves 2

 

1 portion Basic White Sauce

1 cup grated cheese

1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce OR 1 tsp Dijon mustard

salt and pepper

2 – 4 slices of bread

• Make the white sauce.
• Reduce the heat, add the cheese, Worcestershire sauce or mustard and season with more salt and pepper, if you think it needs it.
• Keep the sauce warm while you toast the bread.
• Pour some sauce over each slice of toast and eat immediately.

Crispy fried chickpeas

These make a change from peanuts and can be as hot as you like!

Serves 2

1/2 cup dried chickpeas, soaked and cooked

1 tbsp coconut or olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp garam masala

3/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 to1/2 tsp cayenne, or to taste

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp dry mango powder OR 1/4 tsp kala namak (black salt)

 

Method:

• Drain the chick peas.
• Add them to a bowl and then add all the spices and mix well. 
  
• Heat the oil until it’s hot. 
• Tip in the spiced chick peas and fry until they’re crisp and golden all over.
• Add more salt if you want and serve.

Popcorn

It may seem silly to include a recipe for this, but not everyone knows how to make popcorn.  This assumes that you are using a fairly large pan.  Do it in two stages in a smaller one – two tbsp, when popped, will completely fill a 1 litre (1 quart) pan.

Olive oil to cover the base of pan
 4 tbsp popping corn 

 Method:

• Put a heavy-based saucepan over a high heat and pour in sufficient olive oil just to cover the base. 
• Drop two or three kernels into the pan and put the lid on. Use a flame tamer if your pan is a bit on the light side.
• When the kernels start to pop, add 4 tbsp corn and cover immediately. The corn should start popping straight away. With a decent quality pan, you should not need to shake it more than once or twice, and that is only to ensure that the kernels don’t get caught in the popped corn. However, if you smell burning, reduce the heat.
• When the corn has finished popping – be patient – immediately empty it into a bowl and season with Annie's seasoned salt. 

 Note: 

• Traditionally, people cook popcorn in a frying pan.  I never had any success with this until I bought my Spanish heavy, cast-alloy frying pan.  I now use this all the time, but for the previous four decades used saucepans, which is why I recommend this method.

Variation:

• Season with Parmesan cheese.

 

•   
  

Green olives with fennel

Olives are a good addition to a lunch of bread, cheese and some salad, such as tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce.  They are ahandy standby to have with drinks, but sometimes you want something a little more special than simple supermarket olives.  This is a great way of turning cheap and cheerful green olives into something more like a treat!

2 garlic cloves, sliced

2 tbsp sherry vinegar (See note)

375 g/2½ cups brined, green olives, drained

2 tbsp fennel seeds

1½ cups olive oil

3 fresh bay leaves - use dried if you have no fresh

5 small dried red chillies, sliced

1½ tsp grated lemon zest

 

Method:

• Put the garlic and sherry vinegar in a small bowl and leave to steep for 2 hours, then drain.
• Rinse the olives well, then spread out on a clean tea towel to dry.
• Dry fry the fennel seeds in a small saucepan over a medium heat for 1½ minutes, or until fragrant. Lightly crush them in a pestle and mortar or give them a quick whiz in a blender: don't pulverise them however.
• Put oil, steeped garlic, fennel seeds, bay leaves, chillies and lemon zest in a small pan over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until oil just starts to bubble. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
• Pour some oil mix into a 700 ml jar, add the olives and pour in the rest of the oil. Cover tightly and shake gently to mix.  Ideally, store them for 1 to 2 weeks, shaking occasionally so that they take up the flavours.
  

Notes

• I use white wine vinegar, because sherry vinegar is very expensive!
• A ‘standard’ jar of olives is about 200 g, drained weight.  I usually use this size, in which case I cut the recipe in half.

Chorizo (seitan)

 

 

This makes one sausage, about 170 x 30.    I worked out that it costs no more than a dollar for the vital wheat gluten.    Even if you add another dollar for the rest of the ingredients, this is a very cheap chorizo.    It tastes just like the real thing and the texture is very similar.    You can use dried flaked garlic instead of fresh and I reckon 1/2 tsp = 1 clove of garlic.    This is very hit and miss, however, because the flakes are big and the spoon is small!    I smash them up a little bit and the finished appearance is just fine.  Granules would do, but the chunks of real or flaked garlic look a little bit like the fat that you usually find in chorizo, so add to its verisimilitude. (See notes.)

I can’t recommend this recipe too much, if you like chorizo: it’s dirt cheap, it’s quick, it’s easy and it tastes amazing. It’s also great to have as a tapa when you have friends on board – vegetarian or otherwise.

When you mix this, try to use up every bit of the dough in the sausage so that you leave a really clean bowl. Make sure your tools are clean, too. Gluten and glue have the same root, etymologically, and any dough can be a nightmare to clean up, because it sticks to your cloths and scrubbers. However, using up all the dough eliminates this issue: soaking will get any remaining dough off the bowl, should you miss some.

 Makes one sausage, approx 150x 30

 

3 tbsp chickpea flour

5 cloves garlic (See Note)

2 tsp smoked paprika

1½ tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

1/2  tsp salt

1/4 - 1/2 tsp chilli flakes (See Note) 

60ml water

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp tomato purée

1 tbsp soy sauce

½ tbsp red wine vinegar 

1/2 cup vital wheat gluten (60g)

• Peel the garlic then chop it roughly. Chorizo usually has chunks of white fat in it and chunky bits of garlic give a similar appearance.
  
• Add the chickpea flour, garlic, paprika, onion powder, pepper, salt and chilli flakes to a large bowl and mix them together.
• Now add the water, olive oil, tomato purée, soya sauce and vinegar, one at a time, stirring after each addition.
  
• Now add the vital wheat gluten. Begin mixing with a knife or spatula until just combined without overworking the dough.  You will probably need to finish by hand: it's not necessary to kned the dough, just mix everything thoroughly.
  
• Put the trivet in the base of the pressure cooker and add 1/2 cup of water.
• Roughly shape the chorizo into a log that will easily fit in the pressure cooker – about 150 x 50 mm. It doesn’t have to be perfect because the cracks and crevices will disappear during cooking.
• Wrap it in foil or baking parchment, twisting the ends tightly. Place the wrapped chorizo into the pressure cooker, bring up to pressure and cook for 10 minutes. Let the pressure come down gradually.

 

While warm the chorizo stays fairly soft, but it goes harder as it cools, and if left overnight, ends up with a texture very similar to the real thing.  It keeps well wthout refrigeration: up to about a week, as long as it isn't in too moist an environment.

 

 

 

Notes

• If you prefer, you can use dried garlic flakes.  These are really too big, but if you smash them up a bit with a pestle and mortar (or in a blender), after cooking, they end up looking like the fat in a 'real' chorizo.  If you are very patient, you can break them into smaller pieces.  Soak the pieces in a little warm water before using them.  You can also use dried garlic granules, but they are much more even in size and don't look quite as nice.  Use 2 1/2 tsp garlic flakes, or 1 1/4 tsp garlic granules.
• I like my chorizo quite hot, so use 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
  

Annie's Seasoned Salt

Most people enjoy salty food, and sprinkle it generously over their chips, popcorn, fried tomatoes, etc.  Unless you have, or are susceptible to high blood pressure, there's not much to say against this habit, however, adding a few herbs and spices brings salt into an entirely different realm of condiment.  There is also a school of thought that reckons herbs and spices have properties that enhance your gut health (as well as tasting delicious) and can be included in our quest to eat a widely varied diet, which is often no mean feat on a small boat with ditto income.  Anyway, I recommend that instead of buying seasoned salt, you make your own.  It's a lot cheaper, for a start.

This recipe is for a modest amount because some of the ingredients are susceptible to damp and tend to absorb moisture and go hard.

7 tbsp salt 

1 tbsp dried, minced garlic 

1 tbsp ground black pepper 

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp ground cumin 

1 tbsp oregano 

2 tbsp celery salt or 1 tbsp celery seed 

1 tsp dried chilli flakes or 1/2 tsp cayenne

Note:

• For a finer mix, you can put everything into a spice grinder, if you have one.  In which case, you can use whole peppercorns and cumin seeds, which will make an even better seasoning!  Mix it up in another bowl and then grind a tablespoon or so at a time.

Basic bread

In case you haven't read the Page about Bread, I’d better introduce you to the oddly-called Vital Wheat Gluten (vwg). This works as a bread improver, particularly with wholemeal flour. Apparently the insistence on kneading one’s bread for a long time is to ‛activate’ the gluten, which takes longer in whole flour than in white. If you add 1 tbsp vwg to 1 cup flour, it makes the dough more ‛stretchy’. I have vwg on board for making seitan, which we’ll explore a lot more thoroughly on another page, so have started adding it. It does make a difference, but it is far from necessary. Thus in the following recipes it will be shown as optional.

It’s worth noting, before going any further, that if the ambient temperature is over 25°C (about 80°F), you can use water straight from the tap – or the sea. This helps reduce one possible cause for your bread not rising properly.

Incidentally, flour varies in how much water it will absorb, so you can’t really make any hard and fast rules here. However, I’ve never found that the amount in this recipe is too much. It’s really quite messy and unpleasant to have to add more water to the dough once you’ve started mixing it by hand.

I find the best way of ensuring the water is the correct temperature, when the ambient temperature is below 20°C, is to boil ¾ cup water and mix it with ¾ from the pump

3 cups wholewheat flour 

1 tsp salt 

1 tbsp instant dried yeast 

1½ cups warm water, at no more than 45°C (110°F) 

½ tsp sugar/honey 

3 tbsp vital wheat gluten

• Put half the flour (and the vwg) into a large bowl. Add the salt (sweetener) and dried yeast and mix. Add the water and mix everything together into a smooth batter.

• Gradually add the rest of the flour, half a cup at a time. Before it’s all incorporated, you’ll have to abandon your mixing tool and get down to it with your hands. After a few minutes, you should have pleasantly yielding dough that isn’t particularly sticky. If it is, or you can’t roll it easily into a ball, add a little more flour.

• Once it comes away cleanly from the side of the bowl, gather it all together in a ball, flatten it out and roll it into a sausage. Put this into a well-greased (or oiled) ‘2 lb’ loaf tin. Flatten it down and leave it to rise until it’s about 25 mm (1 inch) above the sides of the tin.

• The dough is susceptible to cool draughts and I reckon that the best way to protect it’s to put your mixing bowl over the dough, if it’s large enough or put it in the oven. (I used to put it in a large, polythene bag: if you have one, it might be worth saving just for this purpose.) When your loaf has risen above the tin and is nicely domed, light the oven and cook it at a Moderate heat for about 40 minutes.

• Shake the loaf out of the tin and rap the base with your knuckles. It should (as they say in all the best cookery books) sound hollow. Equally to the point, it should be an appetisingly brown colour and smell delicious.

• Put it on a wire rack and try to leave it for at least 20 minutes before slicing it: warm bread doesn’t cut very easily. Usually, however, at least the crust gets cut off not long after it comes out of the oven!

Additional tips: if the bread doesn’t rise it’s usually for one of two reasons. Either the yeast has gone stale or the water was too hot. Made with cold water, bread will eventually rise, but if the water is too hot you will kill the yeast, so err on the side of coolth.

In cold places, put your loaf in a sunny spot or cuddle it up with a hot water bottle. Alternatively, put it in the oven and use a small oil lamp or pilot light to keep it warm.

Use 1½ cups seawater instead of fresh water and salt. This will not make the loaf too salty.

If you have plenty of time, you can get an even better-textured loaf by mixing in two-thirds of the flour and then leaving the batter to rise for about 20 minutes. This is also a good way of ensuring that your yeast is OK, if you have any doubts. (If the batter doesn’t start to rise, add new yeast.)

‛2 lb’ loaf tins vary in size. If your loaf seems a little undersized, use 4 cups flour (4 tbsp vwg) and 2 cups of water. The other ingredients can stay the same.

The Perfect Ovenless Loaf

For years, I tried to create perfect frying pan bread. It had to be easy to make, not too fuel-hungry, with a proper crust and of a shape that can be cut into suitable slices for toast or sandwiches. Finally, after more than a quarter of a century of experimenting, I discovered how to make the perfect, ovenless loaf.

To make this paragon of loaves, you need the following:

• a frying pan  
• a ‘1 lb’ loaf tin 
• a stainless steel bowl that will fit over the loaf tin 
• a trivet

The frying pan has to be heavy or else it will warp, and a simple cast-iron or alloy frying pan is the best for this. If your frying pan has a laminated base, experiment carefully to ensure that ‘dry frying’ won’t damage it.

If you don’t have a deep stainless steel bowl, buy one. You’ll find it endlessly useful – for making the bread dough, if nothing else.

The trivet can be the one that came with your pressure cooker. If you don’t have one, use half a dozen large nuts (as in nuts and bolts!) to keep the loaf tin away from the frying pan.

For the ovenless loaf, you need about two-thirds of the Basic Bread recipe, ie

2 cups wholewheat flour 

½ tsp salt 

1 tsp instant dried yeast 

1 cup lukewarm water, no warmer than 45°C (110°F) 

½ tsp sugar/honey2 tbsp vital wheat gluten

• Make the dough, following the instructions for basic bread, and then put it into a standard, greased, ‘1 lb’ loaf tin. 
• Put the trivet in the frying pan and stand the loaf tin on it. Cover the whole lot with your bowl and let the bread rise.  
• When it’s ready to cook, put the frying pan over a moderate heat and cook for 45 minutes. If you smell burning, reduce the heat, if you can’t smell baking bread, increase it. 
• After the requisite time, turn out the heat and remove the bowl. Leave the loaf to stand for a few minutes and then shake it out of the tin.

That’s all there is to it! And I think you’ll find that it never lets you down, as long as your yeast is fresh and your water isn’t too hot. And of course, the paragon of seagoing loaves, will be made with sea water.

Sadly, I have to add on caveat. My Origo, alcohol cooker doesn’t seem to provide enough heat for this to cook properly.

Therefore I have written a post on the Acceptable Ovenless Loaf for those of us who can't achieve perfection.

Longevity bread

 

If you haven’t made bread before, please read the recipe for Basic Bread, which goes into more detail about temperatures, rising, etc.  If you don't have an oven, follow the directions for: The Perfect Ovenless Loaf

I call this ‘Longevity Bread’, because it has so many good things in it that you should live forever! I reckon that all whole grain bread is good bread, but this has extra goodies, which the pundits would have you believe are health enhancing. There’s every chance, of course, that none of the ingredients actually do make any difference to your health, or risk of cancer, or whatever, but as they won’t do you any harm and because the end result tastes very good, this is a recipe that I use a lot. As you must have access to the Internet to be reading this, I’ll let you look up all the health benefits of the ingredients yourself.

The extras are: pumpkin seeds sunflower seeds, flax seeds (linseed), black and white sesame seeds and hemp seeds. I make up a large batch at a time in the proportion of 2:2:1:1:1:1.

2 cups wholewheat flour 

2 tbsp vital wheat gluten 

1 tbsp instant dried yeast 

1 tsp salt 

½ tsp sugar/honey 

½ cup of mixed seeds 

• 1½ cups water no warmer than 45°C (110°F) 
  

• Put 1 cup of flour (and the vwg) into a bowl, yeast, (sweetener) and salt. 
• Add the seeds and mix everything together. 
• Add the water and stir well until you have a smooth batter. 
• If you have plenty of time, allow this batter to rise for 20 minutes or so. This seems to lead to slightly better-textured bread. 
• Gradually add the rest of the flour, half a cup at a time. Before it’s all incorporated, you’ll have to abandon your mixing tool and get down to it with your hands. After a few minutes, you should have pleasantly yielding dough that isn’t particularly sticky. If it is, or you can’t roll it easily into a ball, add a little more flour. 
• Make a ball of the dough, flatten it out and roll it into a ‘sausage’. Put it in a greased ‘2 lb’ loaf tin and smooth it down. Cover and leave to rise. 
• Let the dough rise in a warm place for as long as is required. It should have doubled in size and be above the sides of the loaf tin when fully risen. 
• Bake in a Moderate oven for 30 to 40 minutes. When you take the loaf out of the tin, it should ‘sound hollow’ when you rap it with your knuckles. 
• Put it on a wire rack to cool. 

Variations:

• Use seawater instead of fresh water and salt. 
• Alter the seed mix to suit your own preferences. 
• Add coarsely chopped nuts. Hazelnuts are particularly good; walnuts are a bit dominating; Brazil nuts will give you your selenium allowance, which is something that is deficient in a lot of soils and therefore diets.

Cheese bread

 

The following is a lovely, crusty bread recipe, which tastes delicious and goes very well with soup or salad. I suggest making a smaller loaf than usual – ‘1 lb’ – because you will probably eat most of it at one sitting, although the fat from the cheese means that the loaf should keep well.

If you’ve never made bread before, please read the recipe for Basic Bread, before making this one. If you don’t have an oven, follow the directions for The Perfect Ovenless Loaf.

2 cups wholewheat flour 

2 tbsp vital wheat gluten 

½ tsp salt 

1 tsp instant dried yeast 

2 tbsp olive oil 

½ tsp honey/sugar 

1 cup lukewarm water 

¾ cup grated cheese

• Put half the flour and the vwg) into a large bowl. Add the salt, dried yeast (sweetener) and olive oil. Stir in the water. Mix them together into a smooth batter. 
• Add the cheese. 
• Gradually add the rest of the flour and knead the dough for a few minutes. Roll it into a sausage and put this into a well-greased (or oiled) ‘1 lb’ loaf tin. Flatten it down and cover. 
• Leave the bread to rise until it’s about 25 mm (1 inch) above the sides of the tin. 
• When your loaf is ready to cook, light the oven and cook it at a Moderate heat for about 30 minutes.
  

To enjoy this loaf’s flavour at its best, eat it warm. 

Variations:

• Use seawater instead of fresh water and salt. 
• If you have an oven, you can also use this dough to make up to 8 individual rolls.
  

Herb bread

The following is a simple bread recipe, which tastes delicious and goes very well with soups such as mushroom or leek. I suggest making a smaller loaf than usual – ‘1 lb’ – because you will probably eat most of it at one sitting. If you’ve never made bread before, please read the recipe for Basic Bread, before making this one. If you don’t have an oven, follow the directions for The Perfect Ovenless Loaf.

You can use fresh garlic, if you prefer, but the flavour of the dried seems to permeate the bread more effectively than does fresh.

2 cups wholewheat flour 

2 tbsp vital wheat gluten 

½ tsp salt 

1 tsp instant dried yeast 

2 tbsp olive oil 

½ tsp sugar/honey 

1 cup lukewarm water 

1 tsp dried, minced garlic 

1 tbsp Annie’s Mixed Herbs

  

• Put half the flour (and the vwg) into a large bowl. Add the salt, dried yeast, (sweetener) and olive oil. Stir in the water. Mix them together into a smooth batter. 
• Add the garlic and herbs. 
• Gradually add the rest of the flour and knead the dough for a few minutes. Roll it into a sausage and put this into a well-greased (or oiled) ‘1 lb’ loaf tin. Flatten it down and cover it. 
• Leave the bread to rise until it’s about 25 mm (1 inch) above the sides of the tin. 
• When your loaf is ready to cook, light the oven and cook it at a Moderate heat for about 30 minutes.
  

To enjoy this loaf’s flavour at its best, eat it warm. 

Variations:

• Use seawater instead of fresh water and salt. 
• If you have an oven, you can also use this dough to make up to 8 individual rolls.

Olive Bread

This is a full-flavoured bread, good with soups and salads. The following recipe makes a ‘1 lb’ loaf.

If you’ve never made bread before, please read the recipe for Basic Bread, before making this one. If you don’t have an oven, follow the directions for The Perfect Ovenless Loaf.

2 cups wholewheat flour 

2 tbsp vital wheat gluten 

½ tsp salt 

1 tsp instant dried yeast 

2 tbsp well-flavoured olive oil 

½ tsp honey/sugar 

1 cup lukewarm water 

12 black olives, stoned and quartered 

 

• Put half the flour (and the vwg) into a large bowl. Add the salt, dried yeast, (sweetener) and olive oil. Stir in the water. Mix them together into a smooth batter. 
• Throw in the olives, pour in the oil and mix well. 
• Gradually add the rest of the flour and knead the dough for a few minutes. Roll it into a sausage and put this into a well-greased (or oiled) ‘1 lb’ loaf tin. Flatten it down and cover it. 
• Leave the bread to rise until it’s about 25 mm (1 inch) above the sides of the tin. 
• When your loaf is ready to cook, light the oven and cook it at a Moderate heat for about 30 minutes.
  

To enjoy this loaf’s flavour at its best, eat it warm. 

Variations:

•  Use seawater instead of fresh water and salt. 
• If you have an oven, you can also use this dough to make up to 8 individual rolls. 
• Use green olives, stuffed olives or a mixture. This can result in a particularly attractive loaf. 
• Serve with olive oil instead of butter.