Dan Lepard's soy and linseed bread

[PhDlifeNeedsaNewLife]

as was printed in the grauniad/observer mag a little while back.

am making beeyootiful loaves with Andrew Whitley, so am not complete hamfist novice, but danged if I can get this one to rise!

does it work for you?

Have not tried the soy and linseed, but done some of the loaves in www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2007/nov/24/bakingguide
and I think the man is a genius. Will try this one soon and see if it works!

it has a very peculiar kneading pattern, not sure if this is part of the issue...

I've got that baking guide somewhere, def got to try more but loving my Whitley bread too much!

The kneading pattern does work. I love it - so little work, such great results. It takes time though, not effort - if I start the sponge in the morning, do the second stage around lunch time when I'm doing other things in the kitchen, then the kids can have freshly baked bread for tea. In fact try the potato and olive oil flatbread - another book I have says to do the stretching at least 1000 times, but this one's easy and utterly delicious. And the parsnip-rosemary-carrot bread is simply heavenly.

Do you recommend the Whitley book then? I've only got that baking guide, and a book from the library from which I've made successful breadsticks and less successful baps.

D'you have a recipe that involves kneading like this soy and linseed bread - 10 seconds kneading, 10 minutes' rest, x3??

I use an overnight sponge from the Whitley book and makes fab bread, but it does need a good ten minutes' solid kneading. Would recommend the book just for the sheer interest - you will learn a lot about bread!

All the recipes in the guardian baking guide uses this kneading pattern, I think. It works for us brilliantly. And the bread is not yeasty - but I guess it's the same with the Whitley recipes? Leaving it longer rather than using brute-force yeast. It's brilliant, isn't it? I will never bake Delia's recipes again. Apart from her pizza base ...

Here's the science bit about the kneading:
www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/nov/24/foodanddrink.recipes

ha, it's funny isn't it -

LOTS of what they say is basically the same, but Whitley is very keen on proper kneading (and I must say it did seem to make my bread rise better when I finally started giving it a good ten minutes). He also spends a good couple of pages pooh-poohing the "steam in the oven" business.

yes, longer rather than brute-force. though the soy and linseed bread does require a fair bit of fast-action yeast, and doesn't have the 'tang' of long-rise bread. I can't go back to the shop stuff now!

got a link to Delia's pizza base? haven't got a good one of those.

I wonder where my baking guide is....

Delia's pizza base

Baking guide I've almost turned evangelist about this. It's so easy and so nice. I've also done the cookie recipes, but not the rest. One day I shall do the puff pastry ...

There's also another bread guide in Waitrose magazine which kneads a bit differently but I haven't tried it. I quite like the idea of freshly baked baguettes for lunch ...

It's so easy to get so obsessed with this! There are worse things, I suppose.