Ingredients – for the bread

• Strong plain white flour – 300g (plus a little extra for kneading)
• Strong wholemeal flour – 300g
• Fine salt – 1 1/2 teaspoons
• Olive oil – 2 tablespoons
• Water – 350 m
• Fast acting dried yeast – 1 1/2 teaspoons

Ingredients for the glaze

• Rice flour – 2 tablespoons
• Cornflour – 2 tablespoons
• Caster sugar – 1 tablespoon
• Fast action dried yeast – 1 1/2 teaspoons
• Water – enough to make this into ‘wallpaper paste’ consistency – roughly about 100 ml

Method

1. Mix together all the ingredients for the bread into a sticky clump – and leave for 10 minutes
2. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough turns from a rough texture to smooth and shiny. This will be about 10 – 12 minutes
3. Alternatively, put into a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment and knead for the same amount of time (dough mixers don’t speed up the process, they just take the labour away)
4. Shape roughly into a ball and place back in the bowl (cleaned a little and oiled first)
5. Leave to proove until around doubled in size, this will depend on the temperature (anywhere between 40 – 120 minutes)
6. Test the proof is complete by pressing a finger lightly onto the dough – it should spring back and not indent
7. Tip out of the bowl and knock back
8. Reshape into two balls/cobs, making sure the dome is smooth and any pleats or folds are underneath
9. Lightly flour your baking tray or baking stone (I actually use a heavy duty large slate tile I bought from a tile merchant – this does my bread excellently and only cost a few pounds)
10. Place the cobs on the tray/stone and cover with a tea towel/cling film/plastic bag
11. Leave to rise again for about 30 – 50 minutes until not-quite doubled in size
12. While the second proof is happening, mix up the glaze: mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl
13. The consistency should be like wallpaper paste – whisk it a little and leave until the bread is almost prooved
14. Paint the glaze over the top of the cobs and leave them for another 10 minutes
15. Put your oven on to 200˚C fan / 230˚C conventional
16. Boil your kettle and put the oven proof dish in the bottom of your oven
17. When the bread and the oven are ready, open the oven, put the baking tray/stone in and pour the hot contents of the kettle into the ovenproof dish.
18. Immediately shut the oven door
19. Bake for 35 minutes until the top is dark brown and crackled and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped