First off, let me preface this post by making a number of excuses, of the type that my boyfriend warned me never to engage in when I first started this blog. (Your readers aren’t interested in why you posted late, or not at all- don’t apologise!) See, I felt fine on Sunday night. Just fine- I’d gone to the farmers market, made and bottled some homemade ketchup, re-read the third Harry Potter book for approximately the 8th time in my life, and been over to my sisters for cake.
Unfortunately, Monday morning was another story. My first thought (before even opening my eyes) was my throat hurts. Followed closely by holy crap- this really, really hurts. Of course, I wasn’t about to let a stupid little virus get in the way of my day on Mondays I attend an upholstery course in the mornings, buy groceries for the week, sort out blogging plans for the week ahead, and bake my weekly bread.
Luckily the bread Id planned to make could hardly have required less effort, hailing as it does from Nigella Lawson, patron saint of the lazy domestic (I do hope she wouldn’t be offended by that line). Nigella- her books and food- has always comforted me somewhat, so baking up her Lazy Loaf was perhaps fitting for a day spent under the weather. A dense, oaty bread, this is hardly baking at all: there’s no kneading, no proving and no punching- you don’t even need to preheat the oven.
The bread it makes? It’s chewy, fruity, nutty and ever-so-slightly sweet. Definitely a power-packing, get-up-and-go kind of loaf. Which is of course, just what I need now that I’m (mainly) over my virus, and trying to catch up with regular life again.
Lazy Loaf
adapted from Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson
- 200g muesli with oats, fruit, nuts and seeds (you could always make your own by mixing these things, but it sort of defeats the purpose)
- 325g whole wheat bread flour
- 2 tsp. instant yeast
- 2 tsp. flaky sea salt (if using regular fine salt, reduce to 1 tsp.)
- 250ml milk (whatever percentage you have around- I used semi-skimmed)
- 250ml warm water
- 2 Tbs. honey
- Mix together the muesli, flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl or jug, mix together the milk, water and honey. When the honey has dissolved, pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until the mixture is thick and porridge-like.
- Pour the batter into a 2lb silicone loaf tin, or a greased and floured tin of another material. Place in a cold oven and turn heat up to 110°C/230°F. Leave for 1 hour.
- After an hour, turn the heat up to 180°C/350°F and let the loaf bake for another 45 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing.
Hi there! I’m new to your blog and I love it 🙂
I love the name of this bread “lazy loaf!” It’s one of the foods that can define you we feel 🙂
Hope you feel better!
Hello. Found your blog through BYW class….I love it, lots of yummy recipes and great photos!!
Wow, this sounds so doable and delicious! Hope you feel better soon!
looks so good! I dont really care for museli on its own, but this looks like a perfect spot for it.
Hi Ele,
I made this with some of my homemade granola (Barefoot Contessa) mixed with rolled oats and it turned out great! Yummmy! Thanks for posting it.
V :o)
Hey, this does look really tasty and very, very easy. Great–thanks for the recipe. 🙂 I have been trying the no-knead bread and it’s been going rather well so far. It’s so easy as well.
First time to your blog and really enjoying it. Funny – I woke up with that same throat thing today, too….oh well. Guess its time for some Lazy Bread. I hafta to be honest – I am NO good in math and conversions —any chance of posting in non-metric measurements? Hope you’re on the mend soon!
Great blog, love all the recipes, you have me baking bread most days. Shop bought just not the same. Thanks for all the chat too.
Hi Ele,
A friend just sent me this link after hearing you on Radio 4 (you must be getting a lot of e-mails like this right now). I work from home in a glorified shed at the bottom of my garden in S.E. London and spend a lot of time resisting the urge to wander in to the house and flick through a cookbook instead of knuckling down. Feeling very excited by your recipes and your approach to cooking but also frustrated that living in a less well off area it’s difficult to walk round the corner and find decent produce. Every apple in my local Sainsbury’s is flown in from Chile or S. Africa! Any suggestions on where to shop?
cheers
Caroline
Caroline, hi! So nice to hear from you. I know what you mean, sometimes it can be very difficult to find the right ingredients to re-create what you find so inspiring in books/on TV. I’m also in SE London (Blackheath) and find that my best bet is the farmer’s market. I also do weekly shopping at the supermarket but try not to buy to much produce there, because as you say it’s mainly foreign. (I sometimes think that people “spying” on my shopping cart must think I eat no vegetables at all!)
My approach is to err heavily on seasonal- even supermarkets will have UK strawberries, rhubarb and spring greens right now. Soon they’ll have lots of nice local apples, too. In the winter, I eat lots of leeks (love them!), broccoli and carrots. Obviously, if there’s stuff that’s NEVER going to be “in season” here then I have no problem buying imported (bananas, for instance). It’s often somewhat of a trade-off, and I don’t try to be a saint!