Fig and toasted hazelnut wholemeal bread Makes 2 oval loaves

Ingredients

100g blanched hazelnuts

350g strong organic wholemeal bread flour

350g strong organic white bread flour

8g yeast (dried)

10g sea salt crushed

about 500ml lukewarm water

1-2 tsp olive oil for kneading

150g soft dried figs

2 baking sheets lined with baking paper

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Tip the nuts onto small baking tray and toast in the oven for 6-8 minutes till golden brown. Don’t let them burn. Leave to cool then chop roughly.

2. Put the flours, yeast, and salt into a bowl. Mix well. Gradually mix enough lukewarm water to make a soft but not sticky dough (may need more or less than 500ml). Leave the dough in the bowl, uncovered, for five minutes so the flours can become fully hydrated.

3. Rub a teaspoon of oil onto your hands, then punch down the dough to deflate it. Turn it out onto a lightly oiled surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and stretchy.

4. With kitchen scissors, snip the woody stalks from the figs and cut each fig into 8. Scatter the figs and toasted nuts over the dough and knead for a couple of minutes until evenly distributed.

5. Cover the dough and leave to rise for up to an hour

6. Punch the dough down, divide the dough into 2 pieces and shape into an oval. Set on the lined baking sheet. Cover with oiled cling film (or put in plastic bag). Leave to rise until doubled in size. Towards the end of this time, preheat the oven to 220 degrees.

7. Uncover the loaves, snip the tops four times each, bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 190 degrees, and bake for a further 20 minutes until the bread sounds hollow underneath.

8. Transfer to a rack to cool.