However, I had a four day weekend this week so managed to squeeze in some (admittedly not as much as I had planned) time in the kitchen.
I have been meaning to give bread another go for a while, since I documented my first attempt on here a while back, but I gave up bread for July (it will go down in history as "no-bread July," it's like "no-shave November" just a bit more niche!) so I thought it best not to try and attempt to bake it, and tempt myself into falling off the wagon.
But, as we said goodbye to July and August crept in and I was free to eat, and bake, bread again! So,on Friday that's finally what I did; spurred on by this weeks bread episode of The Great British Bake Off.
I wanted to bake something other than the plain white loaf that I have tried before and wanted to do something that involved shaping the dough, so I chose a cheese and onion tear and share loaf recipe from my Great British Bake Off book.
After only one previous attempt I already felt more confident handling and needing the dough than I did last time, and was able to prepare the dough for its first proving easily enough. When it had proved I needed to divide it equally, (I got a calculator and scales out and everything as I've seen how badly different sized buns go down on The Great British Bake Off) flatten each section, fill with a cheese and onion filling and gather up into a bun shape. I placed all the buns in a honeycomb structure and left them to prove again. Before they went in the oven I sprinkled the top with cheese, then sat back and let the smell of fresh bread fill the house.
I was more than happy with the results, they tasted great and didn't look too shabby either. Bread really is time consuming, you need to set aside a whole afternoon, but for me it's one of (if not the) most satisfying things to bake.
Later that day, to further cement my status as queen of the kitchen I made a chicken risotto for dinner - look what made a perfect accompaniment.
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