Bread

Nothing is more satisfying in the kitchen than baking your own bread. And, if you've never done it before, it's easier than you think and never fails to impress your friends! This is a herb bread, so I could incorporate some garden ingredients, but you could just as easily leave the herbs out or add any other flavourings you fancy.

I use several 'proves' (allowing the bread to rise) in this recipe, which gives the bread a lighter, finer crumb, but this isn't as necessary if you're using the recipe for a foccacia or a pizza base. Another thing I find makes life easier, is to buy a large container of dried yeast, rather than the little sachets, and store it in the freezer. Ours has kept for at least six months this way.


Herb bread

Bread:
4 cups plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
1 pint tepid water
2 tbs dried yeast
2 tbs sugar
1 tbs salt

Herb mix:
A handful of mixed herbs, such as thyme, sage, rosemary, chives, oregano, etc.
2 cloves of garlic (unpeeled)
1 pinch of crushed dried chillies
3 tbs olive oil
1 pinch salt

Make a well in the centre of a pile of flour. Carefully pour the water into the well and sprinkle over the yeast, sugar and salt.

Use a fork to work the flour into the water, continue til the dough comes together, so your hands don't get gooey when you stick them in.

Knead the dough with your hands, turning and pushing it into itself and adding extra flour as needed, til your ball feels smooth and silky and springs back when you poke it. This should take about ten minutes. Form it into a neat ball and score a cross in the top with a knife.
Place the ball in a large, floured bowl, cover with a tea towel and set in a warm place. Leave to prove for 45 minutes to an hour, til the ball doubles in size.

While the dough is proving, tear your herbs and place in a mortar and pestle with the garlic, chili, salt and oil. Pound to combine (you can easily remove the garlic skins once the cloves have been crushed), until the oil takes on the vibrant green of the herbs.

Remove the dough from the bowl and 'knock it back', meaning punch the air out of it. Knead in the herb mixture til well incorporated and, again, form into a neat ball, score the top and leave to prove til it doubles in size again.

Knock the dough back once more and halve it. Shape each half into a loaf (I plaited one and left the other plain) and place each in a floured loaf tin. Leave to prove again for another 20 minutes before baking in a hot oven for around 30 minutes or until the loaves have browned lightly and sound hollow when you tap them.
Serve with good butter.


From the garden: herbs, garlic.

Put the kettle on

Hi there. By now Aldrum has given you a rather thorough tour of the garden and you must be parched!

How about a cuppa?

Something both refreshing and relaxing - peppermint tea should do the trick. It just kinda makes everything right in the world.

I've found the flavour of organic peppermint tea to be so different to ordinary peppermint tea bags, far more mellow, it made me wonder what they actually do to the non-organic stuff. But of course they sell organic tea by the gram and it costs a fortune.

So how hard could it be to make my own? Not very, I discovered, now I have free, fresh and organic peppermint tea whenever I like!

We picked up a peppermint plant at St Andrews market.

Several months later it has taken off and every few weeks I'm able to borrow a few of its bright green shoots to make some tea.

Here's what I do:

• Snip off a couple of handfuls of shoots and remove leaves from the stems.


• Wash really well in a salad spinner and spin off as much water as possible.

• Set in the sun for a few hours to dry some more.


• Place leaves in a paper bag, loosely closed and put bag in a warm place (mine is next to our hot water system in the laundry).

• After about a week the leaves should be dry and brittle to the touch (like Autumn leaves).

• You can either grind these up manually - with your hands or in a mortar and pestle - or, to get a more even leaf size, blend them in the bowl of a stab mixer.


• Store tea in a dry, airtight container.
  

• Put a teaspoon of the leaves in an infuser and steep in boiled water for five minutes to enjoy!