I am from Africa and now live in the northern hemisphere. I have so many recipes and books but I always reach for this one when I am feeling sad or lonely and missing my birth country and family so far away. It is not a recipe by me and in fact comes from a fantastic collection of recipes and stories... the book is: "FIG JAM and FOXTROT" by Lynn Bedford Hall. It is so incredibly easy and enormously comforting to make and EAT!! ENJOY!!!
4 cups white bread flour
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp instant dry yeast
4 cloves garlic, crushed
small handful of chopped parsley
2 pickling onions coarsely grated
100g calamata olives, rinsed pitted and halved
2Tbsp olive oil
3-4 Tbsps pine nuts
1 1/2 cups VERY WARM water but not boiling!
some fresh spigs of rosemary and a few pine nuts for topping.
Mix all the ingredients except the water, in a large mixing bowl.
Slowly add 1 cup pf the water and mix in. Batter will stillbe abit dry. Add rest ofthe water stirring quickly. Batter will resemble sticky chewing gum. You can add up to 2 Tbsp of water to make it sloppy enough without being wet. Have ready a round cake tin 22 x 7cm, first lightly oiled and then lined with baking paper. Scoop batter into tin and with the back of a wet spoon spread evenly around the tin. Press rosemary and pine nuts into the top, cover with a clothh and leave to rise for about an hour until batter has risen almost to the top of the tin. When puffed up and ready, bake on the middle shelf of the oven at 200C for 20 minutes then reduce heat to 180C and bake for another 20 minutes until nicely browned. Stand for 10 minutes, run a spatula round the sides and turn out onto a rack, remove paper. tear into big chunks with lashings of my favourite sea salt crystal butter and enjoy!
**** I have added things like pickled peppadews as well and also given this bread a herby cheese crust just before its finished baking...
its equally good with a nice hot soup or a gorgeous sping salad and a crisp glass of sauvignon blanc.
I cannot seem to finf my photo of my attempt but will add that as soon as I can locate it!
I have also done this recipe in those little individual flower pots and adjusted the baking time.
