Taken from "A BOOK OF WELSH BREAD" by Bobby Freeman.
"A rich, satisfying loaf with a thin, crisp crust, baked for special occasions"
The Recipe:
- 1lb/450g flour (unspecified, so I used Allinson's strong white bread flour)
- 1 teaspoon dried yeast dissolved with a teaspoon of honey in 1/4 pint of warm water
- 1oz/25g butter
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 7 fl oz/200ml warm milk
Rub the butter into the flour.
To the frothed yeast, add the beaten egg, the warm milk and the salt.
Warm the flour for a few minutes in the oven.
Make a well in the centre and add the liquid.
Mix with the fingers until a soft dough is formed. (The mixture was very wet, and I was sceptical from the outset, but persisted for a good half hour. The dough had sort of formed but was still very runny and sticky, so I gave it a quick knead on a floured board and called it a day.)
Knead well until the dough is nice and shiny and attractively yellow in colour.
Shape into a large loaf, insert into an oiled.floured and warmed tin and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours until twice the original size.
Bake in a hot oven for 30 minutes, then redu
ce to moderate for a further fifteen minutes.(This photo taken straight after kneading)
(This one after proving for 2 hours, just prior to going in the oven)(and this one fresh from the oven, mmm...)
