Farl Bread

I needed a bread to go with my Potato and Leek soup. The recipe for this loaf of English bread called Farl came from the Paul Hollywood book 100 Great Breads. This was a tasty bread and went quite well with the soup. It rose just fine, but I think I patted it down a bit too much on the final rise. Next time, I'll not pat down quite so hard.

Farl
Ingredients:
Scant 4 cups white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tbs salt
.75 oz active dry yeast
Scant 2/3 cup stick butter, softened
1 & 1/4 cups water

1. Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix for 4 minutes. Tip out onto a lightly floured counter and knead for 5 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and pliable. Let stand in the bowl to rise for 1 hour.

2. Line a baking sheet. Tip the dough out onto your floured counter and shape into a ball, then flatten into a circle about 2 inches thick. Put on the baking sheet and let rise for 1 hour.

3. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cover the top of the dough with flour and starting from the middle, make veritical slashes down the dough all the way round. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

We enjoyed ours sliced, toasted and slathered with honey butter.