I don’t think you can beat freshly baked bread straight from the oven… the smell gently wafting through the house reminds me of the Bisto kid adverts, just follow your nose to find the tasty treat. Bailey is a total bread monster and we have a fresh loaf most weeks in our household. With this recipe I have split the dough to make 2 separate smaller loaves, both our favourites at the moment. One half will be raisin and fennel bread, the other half sundried tomato, so 2 for the price of 1. You can just as easily make one large plain loaf. For ease, I use my Kenwood chef mixer with the dough hook on, but you could mix the ingredients together yourself..

INGREDIENTS

• 500g white bread flour
• 325 ml warm water
• 1½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp quick yeast
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 60g raisins
• 1tsp fennel seeds
• 60g sun dried tomatoes, chopped into small pieces.

1. Place the flour in the bowl, to one side place the salt and sugar, the other side the quick yeast. Start the mixer on the minimum setting and gradually add the water until all mixed with the flour for about a minute.
2. Increase the setting to level 1 for a further 4 minutes, adding the tbsp of olive oil for the last minute.
3. Alternatively, if you don’t have a mixer, make a hole in the centre of your flour and pour in the water, gradually mix together the flour into the water, add the salt, sugar and yeast and knead by hand for 5 minutes.
4. If you are just making one loaf, cover the dough in a bowl with either a lightly oiled cling film or a clean cloth/teatowel and leave in a warm place for about an hour (the dough should double in size). If making the duo loaves, split the dough in half, leaving one in the bowl you mixed it in, and the other half in a bowl that will allow for the rise of double in size. Mix your sundried tomatoes into one dough, and the raisins & fennel seeds into the other, and cover both with a tea towel or lightly oiled cling film.
   
5. After an hour/your dough will have roughly doubled in size. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for a few minutes. Shape the dough and place onto a baking sheet that has a layer of lightly oiled baking paper on it.
   
6. Cover with your lightly oiled cling film or tea towel, leave to rise in a warm place for 30 mins.
7. Bake in a preheated fan oven at 200 degrees for 30 minutes. 
8. Wait until cooled before slicing, the ingredients should run evenly through the bread.