All the flavours of spring in every bite of this asparagus and sun dried tomato bread along with tangy tomatoes, melty vegan cheese and aromatic basil!

I’ve often mentioned how one of my very favourite kitchen things is to make homemade bread.  NOTHING beats the smell nor the satisfaction of a beautiful loaf that you’ve toiled over.  Bread machine recipes have their place and for years we used one at least once a week.  Setting it to make the loaf in time for breakfast.  Can you imagine that being the first thing you smell as you wake?  But I’m a little addicted to bread – evidenced by the fact that when I made this asparagus and sun dried tomato loaf Phil and I just stood at the counter carving off chunks and devouring it warm.

So when the bread machine finally packed up we consciously didn’t buy another one.  If we wanted homemade bread we’d have to get up to our elbows in dough and make it ourselves.  And whilst homemade bread IS easy it’s also quite time consuming simply because of the proving.

But OH.MY.GOODNESS it’s worth it!!  In my pastry chef days, one of the hotels I worked at liked to have a different flavour of bread each day.  There were many times a guest would be staying for more than one night and thus dining in the restaurant more than once – so a different flavour of bread made their meals a bit more unique.  I used to love experimenting with flavours – adding fruits, nuts, cheeses, herbs and anything else I could scrounge from other parts of the kitchen!

So this asparagus and sun dried tomato bread really takes me back to those long hot kitchen days – but in the best way of course 😉

Even though the asparagus is technically cooked within the dough, I’ve pre-blanched it to make it a little less chewy.

The sun dried tomatoes and basil just add to that wonderful Mediterranean vibe we’ve got going here.

And melty vegan cheese.  OMG.  As  you cut you get little pockets of it that just ooze while the bread is still warm!

If you’ve never had a go at your own homemade bread, it really is much easier than you might think.

There’s something almost primal about it.  Getting back to our kitchen roots when everything was made by hand and from scratch.  Taking the most basic of ingredients and turning them into something that’s one of the ultimately most satisfying comfort foods.

However if you’re still a little unsure about all that kneading and proving involved these are some great homemade bread recipes that cut out that part with some clever ingredients.  They also might give you a ‘taste’ and make you feel more comfortable making your own:

Kombucha Bread – a light and delicious loaf with a lovely flax seed crunch and all the benefits from gut healthy kombucha!

Rye Bread – dark and slightly malty this bread is SO easy to make.

Herbed Beer Bread – wonderful flavour with alcohol free beer and fresh aromatic herbs.

All our homemade bread recipes freeze really well too, so not one single slice needs to go to waste 🙂

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