Homemade wheat and spelt bread with pesto and vegetable topping

Bread

Mix both types of flour and place in a bowl. Make a well in the center and crumble in the yeast. Add a quarter of the lukewarm water and sugar. Mix the yeast water with a small spoon, stirring in a little flour from the edge. Wait 15 minutes until the yeast starts to bubble.

Add the remaining water and salt and knead everything into a moist, homogeneous dough. Brush a large bowl with a little Roast Olive Mild. Pour the dough into the bowl. Cover the bowl with an oilcloth and leave to rise in a warm place for a total of 90 minutes. Stretch and fold the dough after 30 and 60 minutes. To do this, grab the dough in the middle with wet hands, pull it up and let it down again. Turn the bowl 90 degrees, pull it up again and lower it. This strengthens the gluten structure of the dough.

After the rising time, flour the work surface and carefully remove the dough from the bowl. Dust the top of the dough with flour too. Work the dough into a round shape on the work surface. Place in a well-floured proofing basket with the end of the dough facing upwards. Cover with an oilcloth and leave to rise for another 30 minutes. If you don’t have a proofing basket, you can line a bowl with a linen cloth. Flour the cloth and place the dough in it to rise.

Preheat the oven to 240 °C top/bottom heat. Preheat a cocotte (cast-iron pot) with a lid in the oven. Cut the baking paper to the size of the base of the pan. Carefully turn the risen dough out of the proofing basket onto the baking paper. Pour the batter into the cast-iron pan and bake with the lid closed for 35 minutes. Open the lid and bake the bread for a further 15-20 minutes.

If you don’t have a cast-iron pot, you can also proceed as follows: Preheat the oven. Place a baking dish on the bottom of the oven. Line a baking tray with baking paper and also preheat. Remove the baking tray from the oven after preheating and carefully turn the bread out of the proofing basket onto the tray. Fill a small cup with water. Put the bread in the oven and pour the water from the cup into the baking dish. Be very careful when doing this, as hot steam is produced. Close the oven door quickly. Release the steam from the oven after 35 minutes (again, be careful when releasing the steam!) and bake the bread for a further 15 minutes or so. Remove the bread from the pan and leave to cool on a rack.

Our topping ideas

Cut 3 slices from the bread. Spread pesto rosso on the first slice and arrange the tomatoes, mozzarella, rocket and capers on top.

Spread the cream cheese on the 2nd slice. Arrange the cucumber slices and top with pesto genovese. Decorate with pumpkin seeds and sprouts.

Spread the 3rd slice with pesto calabrese. Serve with lettuce and peppers and garnish with olives and sprigs of thyme.