I created this bread recipe to test how high a dough can rise if the baker can control her impatience and let it sit for a while. I found out that with regular all-purpose wheat flour, the bread dough will triple its size in just over half an hour, and double in only 15 minutes. What resulted was a perfect bread: fluffy and soft on the inside, with a crunchy crust on the outside, and lots of taste, thanks to olives, basil, sun-dried tomatoes, and cashew nuts.

Here’s what I used:

• 4 dl oat milk
• 11 g dry yeast
• 7-8 dl wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dark syrup
• 1 dl toasted cashew nuts, chopped
• 1 dl sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped
• 1/2 dl olives, chopped
• handful of fresh basil, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• a few tablespoons sunflower seeds
• coarse sea salt

First, I warmed the oat milk to 42 degrees Celsius, a little warmer than my hand. I mixed the syrup and salt with the oat milk. Then, I mixed the dry yeast with 4 dl flour in a big bowl, and then poured the milk mixture in the bowl too. Now, I stirred this with a spoon for a few minutes, until the dough was very gooey.

Now, I added 2 dl more flour, and kneaded the dough with my hands for a few minutes. Then, I added cashews, tomatoes, olives, and basil to the dough, and kneaded until they were thoroughly mixed in. Now, the dough seemed a bit too sticky, so I added 1-2 dl more flour, and kneaded until the dough didn’t stick to the sides of the bowl anymore.

Then I wrapped the bowl in plastic wrap, and placed it in the kitchen sink I had filled with warm water. I went for a walk, and when I came back after 35 minutes, the dough had tripled in size:

Now, I poured some flour on the table and took the dough out of the bowl. Then I patted it with my hands to get rid of most of the air inside. I folded the dough a few times and then patted it again, and then molded it in a rectangular shape to fit my 28 cm long and 14 cm wide bread pan. I greased the pan with a little olive oil, and placed the dough in it. I then repeated the rising process (put the pan in warm water covered with plastic wrap), and in about 15 minutes it had doubled in size:

Now, I brushed the bread with some olive oil, sprinkled the sunflower seeds and some sea salt over it, and baked it in 200 degrees Celsius for 27 minutes. Then I removed the bread from the pan, and let it cool for a while. Most of the sunflower seeds fell off when I took the bread out of the pan - I should have been more careful.

This bread keeps well, we stored it in a paper bag and two days after baking it was still delicious. It didn’t get crumbly like some home-baked (as well as store-bought) breads do, and could be very thinly sliced.