Bread, bread, bread, where would I be without glorious bread? Eating rice, potatoes or pasta, most likely. I do love my carbs.  Too much of them messes up my blood sugar and makes it difficult to run long distances (I recently discovered) but moderate amounts consumed with other foods, like oily fish, fresh nutrient rich vegetables or beans, is fabulous.  This recipe is based on the bread served in Anadolu Restaurant in Baku, Azerbaijan.  It is like a gigantic pita with deliciously savoury seeds on top.  In fact, that’s exactly what it is.

Ingredients

250g plain flour

150ml water

7g yeast

pinch salt

pinch sugar

1 egg, beaten

nigella seeds

sesame seeds

Method

Step 1: preheat oven to 180c.  Place yeast in a mug or bowl with about half the water (tepid) and the sugar.  Leave for 10 minutes.

Step 2: add salt to flour and mix through.  Make a well and pour in the yeast, which should have started frothing.  Start kneading, adding more of the water as you go.

Step 3: knead for about 5-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic – but soft! (If it’s not soft then it’s probably too dry.) Set aside for about 45 minutes to an hour to rise.

Note: you should leave bread to rise in a warm, slightly damp environment.  If I’m cooking, the kitchen usually takes care of the “warm” part; a damp tea-towel draped over the bowl will take care of the “damp.”  Another trick is to turn on the oven for a minute or two and stick it in there.  Just make sure you don’t forget you’ve turned the oven on…

Step 4: knock back the dough, which should have roughly doubled in size.  Separate into two, equal-sized balls and roll out into a long, roughly oval shape.  It should be thin, but not pasta-thin.  Hope that makes sense.

Step 5: place on grease-proof paper-lined baking trays and glaze with beaten egg.  Sprinkle  liberally with sesame and nigella seeds and stick in the pre-heated oven at 180c for about 7-10 minutes. Keep an eye on it; once it gets going, it will puff up like magic and brown fairly quickly which makes it easy to burn.

Step 6: remove from the oven and consume warm with any of the following: butter and cheese; curry; hummus; smoked mackerel pate; salad; soup; anything else that you can think of.