There is nothing like a spot of toast with a cup of tea, if you’re a bit peckish one afternoon. And there’s also nothing like a round of peppery black pudding. I could eat it every day, on its own, with breakfast, lunch or supper. I get the impression it is a little underrated as a food, let alone a snack.
So if you’re into making bread, I hope you have a go at trying this out. It’s so simple. The different textures of the hot and soft freshly toasted bread and crispy pieces of peppery black pudding, lathered in some lightly-salted butter is a five minute slice of heaven on a plate. Especially with a cup of strong tea. Darjeeling I suggest.
Ingredients:
500g Strong white flour
7g fast action dried yeast
1/2 tsp salt
20g sugar
300ml luke warm water
Chopped pieces of cooked black budding (quarter crescents of sausage slices will do).
Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and make a small well in the centre. Then bit by bit, add the water and start to mix it together, bringing flour in from the sides of the well to form a soft dough. Add a little more water if the mix is to dry to come together. Likewise, add a little more flour if the dough is too sticky. When the dough has made one piece, tip it out onto a floured surface and knead it for ten minutes or so.
Oil a bowl large enough to contain the dough with some room to spare and into this place the dough and cover with a damp cloth. Leave the bowl in a warm place to let the dough rise. When it has doubled in size, tip it back on to the floured surface and ‘knock back’ the dough to take some of the air out.
At this point add the black pudding. Now – if you prefer a more consistent mixture of black pudding through the bread and not chunky spots, then by all means go ahead and crumble the black pudding pieces beforehand. Re-form the dough into a shape you are happy with making sure that all the black pudding is well distributed through the bread. Place it on a greased baking tray for another 30 minutes, covered with a tea towel to let the dough prove.
Bake in a pre-heated oven on 200° and bake for 20 mins before lowering the heat to 180° for another half an hour. Tapping the base of the loaf will tell if it is cooked; it should sound hollow.
Leave on a wire rack to cool.
When ready, cut, toast and serve with salted butter. An amazingly comforting snack. ~
eat. sleep. cook. repeat 