Soup and Bread

Dinner tonight ; I made a simple but nice soup and home made bread.

Homemade bread is so easy to make. I guess with me, since I have done it more than 500 times by now, I don't really use a recipe, I just throw in a few things and see what comes out. The base however should be the following;

Water 600 - 700 ml (37 degrees)
Yeast (1 sachet dry yeast or fresh 1 packet)
Honey (or other sweet component) 1 tablespoon
Salt 2 teaspoons
Plain flour

I mix and match with this. Use whole meal flour or other flour, mix them, use some oats, add a bit of olive oil, less salt if less water, add some sunflower seeds, play with what you have in the cupboard....

Get a big bowl out. Pour in water and quickly add yeast. Stir. Quickly add honey and salt. Stir. Add flour until makes dough. Leave to rest....

Note that dough is 'alive' and it should be treated with care. Love. What you do and it will show when gets out of oven...:)
It is utterly important to let the dough rest under a clean teatowel for let's say an hour first. Needs to be in a non drafty area!!!!

Then work with the dough (with some more flour) until workable (not too long) - form 2 loafs and put on tray on baking paper. Tea towel on top. Rest for at least 45 min.

Put oven on 200 degrees so ready when the 45 min are up. Put in oven for 20 - 30 min depending on oven. Lower temp to 150 and keep baking 'until ready' in my case was 30 min at 200 then 10 min on 150). If you are unsure quickly take bread out and 'pat' on back of bread. Should sound 'hollow' when ready. Leave to rest and cool down. Yum!

Soup;
Fry 1 chopped onion and one chopped garlic in olive oil on low heat until transparent. Do not burn, soup will then be destroyed...
Add 2 chopped carrots and potatoes to your liking ( for 2 people). Fry for a few min then add boiled water to cover and a vegetable stock cube. Stir. Season. Add herbs you like - today I added ground chili, smoked paprika and thyme (mostly thyme).
Cook on lowish heat until veg all soft.
I then put it all through the blender for a different texture. Reheat if needed.

Put some Worchestershire sauce on top if you like.

Serve with fresh bread....

Good luck!!!

Sent from my BlackBerry® from Optus