Caraway and fennel bread
My husband and I recently enjoyed a little getaway a deux. Our kids, when they’re not sniggering, refer to these trips as ‘romance weekends’.
We stayed at La Fosse, a restaurant with rooms in Cranborne, a quiet and lovely Dorset village in the glorious Cranborne Chase. There’s nothing swank about this little guest house, as owners Mark and Emmanuelle have resisted the urge to go all Farrow & Ball chic, if you know what I mean. La Fosse has the down-to-earth charm of a French table d’hote: there are books and games to play in front of the wood burner fire in the sitting room, homely sofas and bits and bobs the couple have collected on their travels. It’s delightful. And so is Mark’s food.
La Fosse is famed for its award-winning cheese board, which is devilishly good. But of the many delicious things we ate that weekend, I came away thinking about Mark’s wonderful homemade caraway and rye bread. I’ve been making sourdough for a year or so now, but have only just started to experiment with flavours. And this flavour combination is magic.
Not everyone is interested in making sourdough, as the feeding and tending of the starter is a little bit of a commitment. So I first made this as a sourdough loaf, and then made another batch simply by replacing the sourdough starter with yeast. It works really well. I’ve added an extra layer of flavour by using fennel seeds as well, which makes a very full-flavoured loaf. If you prefer your bread a little less punchy, use half the recommended quantities of seeds. The perfect way to eat this bread is with other robust flavours, like rollmops, or plain and simple with terrific butter (try making your own by following my recipe in the Telegraph). My absolute favourite is with good smoked salmon, a spoonful of natural yoghurt and some chopped capers. It makes your mouth dance.
Caraway and fennel rye bread
- 250g rye flour
- 250g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
- 10g fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
- 40g treacle
- 250ml - 400ml water
- 7g fast-action yeast or 300g sourdough starter
- olive oil, for oiling
Whisk together both the flours, the salt and seeds. Stir the treacle into 250ml water.
If using the sourdough starter, place the starter in a large mixing bowl and stir in the flour mixture with a large spoon. If you using yeast, sprinkle the yeast over the flour mixture and mix well. For both methods, gradually add the water, stirring as you go, until everything is well combined. If using yeast, you will need to add about 150ml more water. If you are using sourdough starter, the amount of extra water you need to add will depend on the thickness of your starter (in fact you might not need to add any). You need to end up with quite a sticky dough.
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead well for a few minutes. Only add as much flour as absolutely necessary to knead the dough while keeping it sticky. Place in an oiled bowl, and repeat the kneading twice more every 15 minutes. Cover with oiled cling film and set aside somewhere warm for about 1 1/2 hours.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface and gently flatten with your fingertips of knuckles into a rectangle. Fold the top and bottom edges over each other, and then fold in the sides the same way and shape into a ball. There’s a fabulous video showing you how to do this on Carl Legge’s website by clicking here. Tuck
Set aside, covered, in a floured banneton or lightly oiled bowl for about 2 1/2 hours. Thirty minutes before you are ready to bake the bread, set the oven to its highest setting (230°C), slide a baking sheet or, ideally, pizza stone inside and place a tray of water at the bottom of the oven. When the oven is hot, remove the baking sheet or stone, lightly sprinkle it with flour, and quickly tip out the dough seam-side down. Bake for about 45 minutes - the bottom should sound hollow when tapped - and set aside to cool before slicing.
