Paul Hollywood's Bread

I have been really enjoying making bread but have a tendency to make the same loaf over and over again which is a really tasty loaf. It is the Pain Ordinaire on Page 72 of Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno's book named Bread. Mike is now bored of my efforts which although very good has now become very ordinaire.

I have seen Paul Hollywood on television and seen some really good recipes in newspapers and foodie magazines where I have conscientiously cut out and stuck them into a scrap book and then forget about them! So I decided to try this book which was being pushed in the media. So I headed into Waterstones with Mike and he kindly bought it for me. I have to confess that I also saw Prue Leith's baking bible at the same time and it looks fantastic but I know I am pushing my luck if I buy another just yet but all bets are off after my Indian adventure. Watch this space.

The pictures look great and he also includes additional recipes which compliment the bread. The Beef Cobbler on page 80 could easily become tomorrow's dinner! He likes to use fast action dried  yeast and I prefer ordinary dry yeast so I have adapted his recipes accordingly and it will take a couple of attempts before I decide if this is a good thing or not.

The first recipe I have tried is the Bloomer on page 23 and I have to confess I put too much water in it as I was using a different jug and thought there was less water than there actually was so it resulted in a very wet dough and my bloomer instead looks like The Blob from the Steve McQueen film, though if that was all it took to get the delectable Steve McQueen to my door I would try and make it again and again. Certainly a bloomer but not of the type intended.

The proof will be in the eating and that will be at dinner tonight so check out the blog tomorrow for the results of the taste test.

The jury is therefore out with this one. I need to test a few recipes before I declare it a success or otherwise!