SWEET POTATO BREAD

BY OLS GIFFORD

The Circus Sauce restaurant travels with Giffords Circus, and it’s quite a thing to be cooking in a wagon in the middle of a field. We’re always up early making dough for a range of breads – they are important to every meal. I created this bread [top right] because I have a thing for sweet potato. It helps keep bread moist and you can cook it until it’s a really dark colour, charred almost, giving it a brilliantly earthy flavour.

Makes 1 loaf INGREDIENTS

375g sweet potatoes, unpeeled and cut into chunks

2 x 7g sachets of dried yeast

375g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting 2 tsp salt

METHOD

1. Put the sweet potatoes in a saucepan of water, bring to the boil and cook for 10-15 minutes until you can easily prod a knife through them. Drain but reserve the cooking liquor. Put the potatoes back in the pan over a low heat to steam dry and let the cooking liquor cool to just warm.

2. Measure out 50ml of the cooking liquor and stir in the dried yeast. Leave for 10 minutes until the mix starts to go frothy.

3. Lightly mash the potatoes in a bowl just using your hands, add the yeast mixture, flour and salt and form into a dough. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 10 minutes, until soft and slightly elastic, then return to the bowl, drape a clean, damp tea towel over and leave for 30-40 minutes until the dough has doubled in side.

4. Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface and mould into a roughly oval loaf. Place on a flour-dusted baking tray and leave to rest for a further 20 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220°C/fan 200°C/ Gas mark 7. Use a sharp knife to score ridges in the top of the loaf. Fill a heatproof cup with water and place it on the lowest shelf of the oven to create some steam – this helps to develop a good crust on the loaf. Slide the baking tray on to the middle shelf and bake the bread for 20-30 minutes until the crust is quite dark and sounds hollow when you tap the base. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Giffords Circus Cookbook by Nell Gifford & Ols Halas (Quadrille)