Flowerpot Bread

I love bread. I don’t mind what type it is, what’s on it or what’s in it as long its coming my way and coming my way fast.

I regularly bake white loaves for sandwiches and, toast in the morning, big Italian focaccia bread for big Italian food nights with friends and simple rolls for picnics.

The smell of bread alone makes me think of home, especially my mum kneading a mountain of dough.!

Leftover unused flower pots from the cottage garden + love of bread = flowerpot bread

Ingredients

650gr of strong white bread flour

1 sachet of dried yeast (7grs)

1tsp of sugar

1tsp of salt

2tbsp of olive oil or melted butter

400ml of warm water

4 x prepared flowerpots (4inch high ones for 4 loaves but bigger if you want bigger loaves!) (oil them well on the inside with vegetable oil and put them in cold oven. Turn the oven on to 200o/c. When the oven has reached 200o/c turn it off and leave until cold)

Method

1, Sift the flour into a large bowl and stir in the sugar, salt and dried yeast. Stir in the olive oil/melted butter

2, Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the warm water and mix together with your hands to form a ball

3, Turn onto a clean floured worktop and knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic.

4, Place into clean, oiled bowl and cover tightly with clingfilm. Place in a warm place for 30-40mins until the dough has doubled in size

5, Take the dough out of the bowl and knock the air out of it and knead for a further five minutes.

6, Portion the dough into quarters and place into the prepared flowerpots (see above). They should fill up a little over half way, maybe with some dough leftover. Don’t overfill or they will balloon over the edge. Put the flowerpots filled with dough into large polythene bags and return to somewhere warm for another 30 minutes or until risen again.

7, Put into a hot oven (200o/c) for 20-35 minutes depending on flowerpot size. Be careful when removing the pot as they will be really, really hot!