I'm back

After a over a month away I'm back on the blog. I've been moving house and fixing up furniture for the last month or so. 

I'm just exhausted!

Anyway so I'm in Melbourne, and I am having an absolute ball! There are so many places to check out here, I'm kind of going through food over load!

I've been getting into bread since arriving, not the flat type but the traditional loaf style.

I'm a bit sick of the whole contintental thing at the moment and have been really enjoying your average traditional loaf.

It seems to be making a bit of a come back too. Everyone went all exotic and now they want to go home!

Olive and herb bread.

So this is what I made the other day. I know what you're saying, 'another olive bread?' But this is different. It's a traditional take on it, and the bread base gave me a great texture. 

I'm blogging this recipe because I think it's adaptable to any flavour you like. You could make a banana or raisin bread as a sweet version, for example. Or something savoury, like a linseed or pumpkin bread. 

The skie's the limit!

I'm into working out a rule of thumb for things, as I'm not much of a recipe follower. I get bored, and sometimes I just want to use something up instead of throwing it out.

And we shouldn't throw it out. It's wasteful, ungrateful and completely unnecessary. We live with enough excess.

My policy on excess food is this: share it, freeze it, or turn into something else. 

It's not hard.

Ok, that's enough of a moral bashing when it comes to waste. This isn't what I'm about here. I'm guilty too, if not food then on other things.

I have so many shoes, for example. Do I need them? No!

I love shoes.

It's probably the only thing I would trade a meal for. That's terrible isn't it?  Oh well, that's me. Guilty.

Traditional Olive and Herb Bread

3 cups sifted plain flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

sachet yeast

1 cup warm water

1 cup green olives pitted and chopped

2 tbslp chopped fresh oregano leaves or whatever herbs you have in the cupboard.

Olive oil

A drizzle of milk

Mix flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in a large mixing bowl and add the water.

Knead until it's a smooth ball, be sure to collect the dough off the side of the bowl. You can do this on a flour surface or in the bowl, which is what I do to contain the mess.

Cover dough in olive oil put it back in the bowl, and leave to rise in covered in a warm place for 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.

Lining the loaf pan.

Grease a loaf pan with olive oil and dust with flour, or line it with baking paper or both.

I grease, dust then line the pan so that I have paper overhanging on the long ends. That way when it's baked I'm only detaching the short sides and lifting the rest out fairly easily.

In an deal world it should leave the sides of the pan when it's baked, but lets be realistic. When has anyone ever baked something that has just fallen out of the pan perfectly without needing to fiddle with a knife? This never happens to me so I use baking paper to minimise the fiddle.

After 1 hour punch the dough and add your olives and herbs. Kneed until mixed thoroughly. Place in your greased loaf pan. Brush some milk over the top. In my case, pour it over!

Cover once again and leave to rise for another hour.

Preheat your oven to 190C or 180C fan forced. 

Baked bread with a gold tinge.

Remove cover from the loaf and and place in the oven for 35-40 minutes. But keep an eye, every oven is different.

The bread is ready if you have a brown to gold tinge on top and it sounds hollow when you tap the bread in the middle.

Leave it to cool in the pan, then carefully turn it out onto a plate or chopping board. Cut thick slices and serve fresh or toasted with butter or your favourite cheese.