commitment bread

i can’t actually remember how but i stumbled across it, but i found pip’s bread recipe here. i have been making bread for awhile now, but unlike pip i use a bread maker to do the heavy kneading (one of the downsides of computer use – rsi – means kneading by hand is not for me). i have been experimenting with lots of different type of bread. two favourites so far have been honey and oat bread and muesli and date loaf. for the honey and oat, i am pretty lazy, and just let the bread maker do the whole thing – i put the ingredients in and press the buttons and walk away. easy as pie (well, easier actually). where as the muesli and date loaf does require a bit more effort. i only get the machine to do the kneading, and then i pop it in a proper bread tin for the second rise and bake it in the oven. but its not much harder to make.

but pip’s bread in our house it is referred to as ‘commitment bread’ because you have to commit two days to make it. you do the starter on day one, and then wait until day two before you actually make the bread. it has quickly become the ABSOLUTE favourite in our house now. i am a bit of a wholemeal bread fan though, so today i thought i would replace 1 cup of the flour with wholemeal, just to see how it goes. mmm wholemeal…i also put a bowl of water in the bottom of the oven, to make extra crunchy crusts. it turned out pretty damn good, chewy on the inside and crunchy on the outside.

but one of my favourite things about this commitment bread is the imprint from the tray i cooked it on: