Chocolate Chilli and Lime Bread

Yes, it's from the Green & Black's cookbook! (And no, I'm not being paid to make all of these recipes.) I haven't made bread from scratch since Food Technology lessons in year 9, when we made bread, and I really really wanted to do well so I could get a green slip. Green slips were like getting merits, but green and had stars on it. If you got a red slip, you were in trouble. If you got three green slips, you got something really cool and special.

Or maybe it was just a letter home. I forget.

Again this is something I made a while ago, and saving till now to post. It was actually quite a nice recipe, except for one teeny tiny small change I'd make next time:

As you can see, the book suggests serving with a seafood start such as smoked salmon. As experimental, or 'interesting', as I like to try my food, I think I'd have to draw the line at chocolate, chilli, lime AND salmon.

Montezuma actually make a chilli chocolate and lime chocolate bar, which I've not tasted. I would like to try it, just so I could sit and be all 'aaah so this is how it tastes', but then, as with the bread, I wish the lime would just go away and leave me to enjoy the chocolate on its own (same goes with the chilli).

I guess though that this would be the time to try new things, before I get old and my tastebuds go funny (does that happen?) and everything tastes like cabbage. Unless, of course, I'm making cabbage soup.

And even so, it's nice to make bread. It a great way to spend a day, not really doing anything. The smell of freshly baked bread is one of the best things about baking. It's like wandering around the bakery department of Sainsbury's, but in the comfort of your own home (and therefore not looking like a bit of weirdo).

I also tried to find some interesting facts on lime to post here, but I got nothing. The lime is a very boring fruit it seems. Chilli, on the other hand...I might save it for when I do that post on vodka chilli chocolates. I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about that!

But still, I have made bread from scratch, and I think that's a pretty good life skill to have.

Lesson learned today: How to make bread, of course :)

Chocolate, chilli & lime bread from the Green & Black’s cookbook (with slightly adapted method) Preparation time: 40 minutes Proving time: 35 minutes Cooking time: 20-25 minutes Use: 900g loaf tin 15g active dried yeast 25g brown sugar 400ml warm water 450g strong white bread flour 1 teaspoon salt 125g dark chocolate, minimum 60% cocoa solids, chopped 1 ½ fresh limes 1 dried red chilli pepper 50ml olive oil Mix together the yeast, sugar and 300ml warm water to activate the yeast. Set aside in a warm place for about 15 minutes. Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Add the chocolate and the zest of one of the limes. Thinly slice and chop the lime, skin on, and add half to the mixture with the juice from the other half lime. De-seed and finely chop the chilli pepper and add to the mixture. Add in the olive oil and mix roughly. Once the yeast has become activated and frothed up, add it to the mixture and mix thoroughly by hand. As a dough ball starts to form, use your judgment to add as much of the remaining warm water and continue to mix. The dough should be moist but not wet. If the dough becomes too wet, sprinkle in some extra flour to absorb the excess moisture. Continue to work the dough for 15 minutes. Place the dough on a floured baking tray. Cover with a clean damp dishcloth and leave in a warm place for at least 30 minutes to prove. Preheat the oven to 180C. Lightly oil the loaf tin with olive oil and put the dough in it, pressing and shaping, not too firmly. Cover with the dishcloth and leave to rise for another 30 minutes. Put the tin in the oven, and then turn off the oven and leave the tin in the oven to stand for a further 15 minutes. Then turn the oven on again and preheat to 220C and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn the bread out of the tin and tap the bottom with a wooden spoon – it should sound hollow. If it does, place the load on a wire rack to cool; if it doesn’t, return to the oven (without the tin) for a further 5 minutes.