I found a local organic wholewheat flour produced in the Delta valley at a nearby food market, Old Country Market (Goats on the Roof), located in Coombs, a rather quirky little town. They actually do have a couple of beautiful goats living on the roof of the market.

The original recipe can be found here, but there are plenty of other websites that also feature this recipe. I find it useful to take a look at quite a couple of different sites before trying a recipe and I also read users comments to see what elements they found problematic, not that I had any issues with this recipe.

Ballymaloe brown bread was The Ballymaloe House Hotel’s version of Doris Grant‘s no-knead bread, introduced in her book “Your Daily Bread”.  This is a very no-fuss bread, it is a no-knead recipe so it does not take much time.

The bread tasted great and stayed fresh until we finished it off. It is great for sandwiches at work.

I am going to use this recipe again, the only thing I will do slightly differently is putting my oven slightly lower than specified, however I think this more a problem with my oven than the actual directions.

I made a couple of changes to the original recipe by using a less cheese so the bread was slightly healthier. I also decided to use finely chopped sauteed onions instead of the jalapenos and I added some dried herbs to the flour mixture.

If you are a cheese lover this bread is a must. This was the second bread recipe I tried and it was pretty simple to complete and resulted in a very tasty bread. We used it for sandwiches for our work lunch for most of that week, it remained fresh for as long as it lasted.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 3/4 cups plus 150ml of warm water (luke warm to the touch)
• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
• 4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 small finely chopped sauteed onion
• 1 cup of grated Cheddar
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1 small egg, beaten with a pinch of salt

I started of by sauteing  the finely chopped onions in a small bit of olive oil. You can use vegetable oil if you prefer. Once the onions was soft I removed it from the pan and placed it in the fridge so it could cool down. Next I started my bread mixture.

Stir together yeast and 150ml of warm water in a small bowl; add the sugar and stir; let mixture stand until foamy for about 15 minutes. (If it does not foam chuck it out and try another packet of yeast)

In a mixing bowl add 3 3/4 cups of flour and salt. Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the yeast mixture and stir from the center outwards. Now add the oil while continuing to stir and then slowly pour in the water. I do a bit at a time and then I stir the mixture. Continue until the water has been added and a soft dough forms. Once all the water has been incorporated focus on beating your mixture a bit faster for an about 3mins. Add onions, 1 cup of Cheddar, and 1/2 cup  finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and mix until combined.

Now it is time to knead the bread, scrape dough out of the bowl onto floured kitchen counter or work surface. Be sure to clean your kitchen counter thoroughly before you knead bread on it.  Make sure to flour your hands and if dough becomes sticky dust with flour. The extra flour will get incorporated into the dough. Once done kneading place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with cling wrap. Be sure to place it in a warm area and let the dough rise for about 2 1/2 hours. You can also refrigerate it over night.

Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and gently form into a roughly 11- by 8-inch rectangle with floured hands. Fold dough in thirds with floured hands (dough will be sticky), pressing along seam of each fold to seal.

Place the dough, seam side down, in an oiled 9- by 5-inch loaf pan. Cover the pan loosely with some cling wrap and then place a clean tea towel over it and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until dough completely fills pan and rises above it slightly, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.

Position the oven rack in the middle position and preheat oven to 200°C. Brush the load with the egg. Bake until the bread is golden and sounds hollow when tapped on bottom. It takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from pan to test for doneness. Cool completely on a wire rack.