Made with love – bread from the Beach House Restaurant, Oxwich

During these challenging times of lockdown, many people have turned to bread-making for all sorts of reasons. After all, there’s nothing like the aroma of freshly-baked bread in the kitchen to give a feeling of comfort and reassurance.

We’re big bread-eaters at Bayview, Oxwich, and with the three girls at home, we’ve taken to DIY bread as a shared challenge! Our favourite bread, when times were normal, was that at our local, Michelin Star, Beach House Restaurant, here on the edge of the bay at Oxwich. We miss the fabulous laverbread bread (our youngest, Alice, could eat a whole loaf to herself!); we miss the friendly staff; we miss the innovative recipes created by proud Welshman and Chef Patron, Hywel Griffith, whom you might have seen on Great British menu earlier this week, winning the Wales section of the competition. Llongyfarchiadau, Hywel!

Hywel, has been kind enough to share his special recipe for his signature laverbread bread that graces every table, on his blog at www.beachhouseoxwich.co.uk . Just in case you haven’t seen it, we know he won’t mind us reposting it here. So, diolch Hywel.

The recipe will give you a taste of Gower’s coast and seaweed and a reason to sample what’s on offer at Beach House Restaurant when things get back to normal. As regulars there, that can’t come soon enough for all our family. Especially little Alice

'Hywel’s Laverbread Bread Recipe'

We use 1/2lb tins for the bread here at Beach House but you can use whatever size you prefer. This batch will make approximately 12 mini- loaves which are great for dinner parties and are suitable to freeze.

Ingredients
350g water
1g dried yeast
275g extra strong bread flour

Method
Mix all ingredients well, cling-film bowl and allow to prove overnight, the dough will triple in size and then fall slightly. The mix should be like a thick batter at this stage.

More ingredients
1050g extra strong flour
24g salt
5g dried yeast
271g ice-cold water

Method
Place all ingredients in a bowl with a dough hook, mix on a slow speed for 1 minute, add the starter dough then continue to mix for 30 minutes on a slow speed.

The dough by this stage should be springy, damp to touch but not wet and sticky and have a slight sheen to it. Cover with cling-film and allow to prove to twice the size in a cool environment (not in the fridge but not somewhere hot or in direct sunlight).

More ingredients
300g laverbread
250g giant oats
cold water

When the dough has doubled in size, tip out on to a floured bench and knock the dough back.

For the 1/2lb tins take 185g of dough and pin out to 1cm thick. Place a layer of laverbread over the dough and fold. Brush with the cold water and roll in the giant oats. Place into the greased tins.

Once all dough is used, cling-film the tins lightly to allow to prove –once again in a cool environment. The dough will prove over double in size.

Bake at 210C for 14 minutes.

Chef’s tip
When placing the bread in to bake, throw some water into the base of the oven to generate steam. This is what gives the awesome crust to the bread.

If you have frozen the loaves, once defrosted, bake for 3-4mins in a 160C oven to reheat.

Pictures and recipe copyright The Beach House Restaurant