Granary Loaf

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •900g (2lb) loaf tin
• •Large mixing bowl
• •Wire cooling rack
• •Clean tea towel or cling film

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix the dough

   Tip the flour into a large bowl. Add the yeast on one side and the salt on the other. They get along eventually, but it's kinder to introduce them slowly. Stir the malt extract and olive oil into the warm water until the malt has loosened, then pour it into the flour. Bring it together with a wooden spoon, then with your hand, until you have a shaggy, slightly sticky dough.

   Warm water means just warmer than your finger. If you can't feel it, that's about right. Hot water kills the yeast before it has a chance to do anything useful.
2. 2

   Knead until smooth

   Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for ten minutes. It will start out rough and tacky and slowly turn into something smooth and elastic that springs back when you press it. Granary dough never goes as silky as a white loaf, the wheat flakes see to that, but you'll feel the change in your hands when it's ready. Trust your hands.

   Resist the urge to add more flour. A slightly sticky dough makes a better loaf. Keep your hands oiled if it's fighting you.
3. 3

   First rise

   Oil a clean bowl and turn the dough in it so the surface is lightly slicked. Cover with a damp tea towel or cling film. Leave it somewhere warm for about an hour and a half, until it has roughly doubled in size. There's no rush. A slow rise in a cool kitchen makes better bread than a fast one near a radiator. The dough will tell you when it's ready: poke it gently and the dent should slowly fill back in, but not all the way.

4. 4

   Shape the loaf

   Tip the risen dough onto a lightly floured surface and knock the air out with the heel of your hand. Don't be precious about it. Shape it into a fat oval and tuck the edges under so the top is taut and smooth. Drop it into a greased 900g loaf tin, seam-side down. It should fill the tin about two-thirds of the way up.

5. 5

   Second rise and top

   Cover loosely and leave for another forty-five minutes to an hour, until the dough has risen above the rim of the tin and looks puffed and proud. While you wait, heat the oven to 220C/200C fan. Just before it goes in, brush the top with a little milk and scatter the malted wheat flakes over so they stick. A few will fall off in the oven. That's allowed.

6. 6

   Bake until deep gold

   Slide the tin into the hot oven and bake for thirty to thirty-five minutes. The loaf is done when the top is a deep, glossy mahogany and it sounds hollow when you tip it out and tap the bottom. Your nose will know before the timer does. The kitchen will smell of toasted wheat and warm honey.

   If the top is darkening too quickly, lay a sheet of foil loosely over it for the last ten minutes. You want a deep crust, not a burnt one.
7. 7

   Cool before cutting

   Turn the loaf out of the tin and set it on a wire rack. Now leave it alone for at least thirty minutes. I know. The smell is unfair. But cutting into a hot loaf squashes the crumb and lets all the steam out at once, and a granary loaf rewards patience. Cut a thick slice once it's cooled, butter it generously, and call it lunch.

Chef Tips

• •Buy proper granary or malted brown bread flour, not regular brown. The malted wheat flakes are the whole point. If your supermarket doesn't stock it, a good baker often will, or order a bag online and keep it in the freezer.
• •Malt extract is worth tracking down. It's that sticky, dark, treacly stuff that smells like Marmite's gentler cousin. Honey works in a pinch, but malt extract gives the loaf its proper depth and a slightly chewy crust. A jar lasts months.
• •If you want a softer crust, wrap the cooled loaf in a clean tea towel for an hour. If you want a crisper one, leave it bare on the rack. Both are right, depending on what you're going to do with it.
• •Granary makes the best toast you'll ever eat. Cut it thick, toast it dark, and put real butter on it while it's still hot enough to melt the butter into the holes. That's breakfast settled.

Advance Preparation

• •The loaf keeps well wrapped in a tea towel or paper bag for two to three days. Don't refrigerate it, that just makes bread stale faster.
• •Slices freeze beautifully. Cut the cooled loaf, wrap the slices in pairs, and freeze for up to two months. Toast straight from frozen.
• •If you want a slower, deeper-flavoured loaf, do the first rise overnight in the fridge instead of an hour and a half on the counter. Bring it back to room temperature before shaping. The cold rise gives the malt a chance to really come forward.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 65g)