Muffin Bread

I live in a country where there is no decent sliced bread.... I kid you not.

Forget wholewheat, multigrain, granary, farmhouse, or even pappy white nonsense. There are some packaged loaves but nothing like the variety found in the UK and for some reason they're always really small slices. perfect for sandwiches for The Borrowers perhaps but not much else...

So homemade bread it is these days, and what better than Muffin Bread in the mornings...

If kneading till your muscle sore and weary isn't your bag then this is the bread for you... It's a stir in the bowl and bung it in the oven job..

Ideal for those of a more lethargic nature... not that I would know anything about lethargy or laziness... ahem.

Want the recipe?

Here you go...

• 3 cups of all purpose
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon of instant yeast
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
• fine semolina, to sprinkle in pan

Put all the dry ingredients into a big bowl.

Heat the oil, water and milk. It needs to be  much hotter than you would usually have for something yeasted but not so hot that you wouldn't be able to put your finger in it.

Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and stir vigorously for about a minute.

Lightly grease your loaf tin and sprinkle semolina all over the inside to give a light coating...

Put the dough into the tin, and level it off... this dough is really soft

Leave it to rise till the loaf just peeps up over the top of the tin then bake it in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes.

Like all bread it's done when golden and sounds hollow on it's bottom.

It's wonderful toasted, but my brood have also used it freshly sliced with cheese too...and topped with with scrambled eggs.... they're fairly happy experimenting with different combinations... this just might keep them amused for longer than the average breakfast food.

Other than bread, what have we done today?

Well, we woke up FIVE minutes before the children had to leave for school... which is where the muffin bread actually came in very handy this morning...  with numerous slices swiftly buttered and dutifully doled out to sleepy, bleary eyed children as they exited the house to munch en route.

Then it was the usual kerfuffle of cleaning the Algerian dust and grime off of everything... helped of course by tea and toast at an appropriate interval...

Then a trip out to visit a friend and get some laundry done whilst showing her how to make Croissant Brioche.... you can see her lovely efforts here mashallah 

And then back home to make probably the speediest Biriyani for 10 that I have ever attempted...

Oh, and we had an earthquake today....

Try the bread... and don't forget to let me know how much you LOVE it inshallah

Kate
xxx