Black Bread

Ingredients:

3 tsp dry blood (ask a butcher or check online retailers)

200ml/3/4 cup warm water

500g/2.5 cups bread flour (+ extra for coating)

10g/2 tsp salt

200g/3/4 cup sourdough starter

50g/2.5 tablespoons honey

Method:

Mix the dried blood with the water and whisk to a smooth consistency.

Put the flour and salt into a large bowl and mix together. Add the starter and honey and slowly add the blood solution and mix together to form a dough. You can add more or less water depending on how your dough feels. I find it varies slightly every time.

Tip out onto your worktop and knead for around 10 minutes.

Roll your dough into a ball, and dust with a little flour. Put it into a bowl and cover loosely with a damp cloth, to stop it drying out. Place somewhere warm.

Leave to prove for 3-4 hours, until the dough has roughly doubled in size.

Tip your dough back out onto your work surface and carefully deflate it by poking it with your fingers. Divide the mix into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and coat with a little flour.

Place onto a baking tray, that has been dusted with flour, and leave for another hour or to prove again.

Heat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius and cook for about 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven, the rolls should sound hollow when you tap them on the bottom.

These can also be cooked in the dying embers of a fire.

Leave to cool fully before serving with butter.

Sourdough crumpets

Ingredients:

• 200g sourdough starter

• 20g bread flour

• 1 tsp honey

• 1 tsp salt

• butter

Method:

Mix the starter, flour, honey and salt in a large jug or bowl. Cover with a wet cloth or tea towel and leave to prove for about an hour.

Heat some butter on a low heat and, once hot, add the batter to the pan in large spoonfuls, using one spoonful per crumpet.

Cook for around 5 minutes, flip and fry for a further few minutes, until golden in colour and cooked through.

Taken from my book ‘Eat like a Viking!’ Available now on Amazon 

Saxon bread

Ingredients:

• 780g bread flour (plus a little extra for coating)

• 10g salt

• 26g honey

• 250g sourdough starter

• Warm water

Method:

Put the flour and salt, into a large bowl and mix together.

Add the honey and starter and slowly add enough water to mix together to form a dough. It needs to be workable, so as not to stick to your hands too much, but too dry and it will fall apart. You can add more or less water depending on how your dough feels. I find it varies slightly every time.

Tip out onto a work surface and knead for around 5-10 minutes.

Roll your dough into a ball, and dust with a little flour. Put it into a bowl and cover loosely with a damp cloth, to stop it drying out. Leave to prove for at least several hours, but overnight is ideal.

Sourdough takes longer to develop than bread made with shop bought yeast, but benefits from the extra time, as it develops a better flavour. The loaf should increase in size.

Tip your dough back out onto your work surface and carefully deflate it by poking it with your fingers.

Shape your dough into a loaf, and dust with a little flour. Place onto a lightly flour dusted oven tray and prove for another hour.

Heat your oven to its highest temperature.

Cook for 10 minutes before dropping the temperature to 200 degrees if the crust is looking pale, 180 degrees if the crust is noticeably browning, and 170 if it seems to be browning quickly. Cook for a further 40 mins.

Remove from the oven, the loaf should sound hollow when you tap it on the bottom.

This can also be cooked in the dying embers of a fire, just divide the dough into small rolls first, rather than a loaf.

Leave to cool fully before cutting.

Taken from my book ‘Eat like a Viking!’ Available now on Amazon

Sourdough starter

A sourdough starter is a simple way of making bread without using shop bought yeast, instead you rely on naturally occurring yeasts.

This is great for making Rye bread and Sourdough. It gives an amazing flavour to the bread.

You can use any flour to make your starter.

One way to get a starter is to acquire a bit from somebody you know that already has some and just maintain the feeding cycle. Its easy to make your own starter, using naturally occurring yeast from the air in your Kitchen. You will need a large container, I use a container designed for holding a bag of flour, but have also used large kilner jars.

You will also need flour and warm water. I don’t tend to measure what I add but you are looking for a thick batter, so around 50/50 works well. Give it a good whisk, cover loosely and set it aside – Don’t forget it is going to be fermenting so don’t clip your lid on.

After a couple of days you should see signs of fermentation, tiny bubbles, like the image at the top of the page. If you smell it, it should be taking on a sharp, almost vinegary smell.

Add some more flour and water, whisk and set it aside again. Remember that your starter is now a living thing, so, like you, it needs feeding and watering regularly, I do it every couple of days.

You can remove some of your starter, as you wish, which makes a great opportunity to bake some bread with it! Wait a week to 10 days for the starter to establish properly before trying to bake with it. If you are unable to feed your starter for a period of time, stick it in the fridge. It should keep without being fed for about a week.

Taken from my book ‘Eat like a Viking!’ Available now on Amazon