Wheat bread

You can smell the flavor of freshly baked bread even before you take a bite. There was a small bread shop in Klostergatan in Lund; a small town where we lived in Sweden. The aroma of bread making was so heartwarming and irresistible that I think in the few years we lived there, bread was the main carbohydrate part of our diet; even overtaking rice. Its the yeast that you add, that helps produce these aromatic smells during baking.

Wheat flour- 3 cups and 1/4 cup for dusting

Water - 3/4 cup

Milk - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 2 Tbsp and 1 tsp
Olive oil - 4 Tbsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Yeast - 1 and 1/2 tsp

Take 1/4 cup lukewarm water, add 1 tsp sugar and yeast. Mix well. Set aside to rise, 10 minutes.

Combine flour, sugar and salt.

In a separate bowl, add milk, oil and remaining water. Add this to risen yeast mixture.

Add wet ingredients to flour mix, adding little by little, mixing well with a spatula. You will get a very wet dough, which starts pulling from the sides of bowl. Allow dough to rest, 5 minutes.

Place dough on a lightly floured work surface, Knead gently, 10 minutes (lift, spread and throw or stretch and pull). You will get a very loose, soft dough; not sticky. Cover it with a wet cloth and set aside to rise in a warm place, until it doubles in size, 1 hour.

Gently deflate dough. Shape and place in greased loaf pan. Brush with milk. Cover with wet cloth and and let dough rise until doubled, 45 to 60 minutes. Brush with butter.

Preheat oven to 200 C. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Allow to cool in pan.

Recipe from Anu Garg