From the one and only Dan Lepard, a loaf to satisfy your cravings for a hearty sandwich bread, with the slightly nutty flavor of sesame seeds and a very subtle sweetness from grated carrots in the crumb. Very easy to make, very easy to love… You can find the full recipe on The Guardian site, by clicking here.
Here’s a little virtual tour of the process, starting with a quick preparation of your loaf pan. You might be surprised to learn that I am a complete disaster when it comes to using scissors. I cannot make a straight cut to save my life. So I was proud of my job here, although truth be told, it took me almost 15 minutes to do this.
You weigh your ingredients, and make a nice, smooth round of dough…
Thanks to the use of Rapid Rise Yeast (which is unusual for me, I normally go for the regular kind), you will end up with a shaped loaf that will threaten to escape its container, so make sure not to leave the house to run a few errands as the dough rises… 😉
The carrots are very evident in the dough, but they get baked into the crumb in a wonderful way. They won’t disappear, but you won’t feel any harsh bits of carrots as you bite into the bread. A very soft crumb, with a nice crunchy top given by the sesame seeds. Make sure to follow Dan’s tip on adding them: wet the surface of the slashed dough with a little water so that the seeds can stick better. He used black sesame seeds, for quite a dramatic look. I could swear I had black sesame seeds somewhere, but I could not find them, so I used regular, white seeds.
And I share with you a favorite lunch option: an open-faced sandwich made with this bread, slightly toasted, some smoked ham, and cottage cheese with enough salt and black pepper to make it all shine… Perfection, if you ask me!
I am submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting…
ONE YEAR AGO: Border Grill Margaritas
TWO YEARS AGO: Goodbye L.A.
THREE YEARS AGO: Vermont Sourdough
Bewitching Kitchen 
Sally: Que delicia!!! Ai quem dera ter varias fatias desse pao de cenoura para comer com requeijao!!! I think it’d also be great to make a sanduiche natural with this bread. Have a great Sunday!!!
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Rrequeijao! Que saudade! Por aqui so’ mesmo cottage cheese ou cream cheese, mas nao e’ a mesma coisa.. agora, se voce falar em catupiry, vou me debulhar… 🙂
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Had my hand out to click the ‘off’ switch when this arrived 🙂 ! Now, I am very definitely NOT a baker but this looks so good and so easy and has so many of my favorite ingredients and I honestly and truly can cut anything, including paper, straight 🙂 ! So am very definitely going to try!! Leave you with a smile: being born in N Europe and still having atavistic tendencies, ALL my sandwiches are open-faced and one like your photo is my usual brekfast with black coffee!
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See? This is a very easy bread, no need to turn the switch off 😉
I love open-faced sandwiches, I think the goodies are better appreciated, and the neat-freak in me likes the idea of going at it with a fork and a knife (silly, I know…)
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Huh 😉 ! One is supposed to eat ’em with a fork and knife!! Oh well, from a ‘peasant’ country[ies] and all that !!!! [my apologies, could not help myself!!!]. . . .
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🙂
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Wow! That is one amazing loaf of bread!
I can’t wait to try this one out and the olive and sumac variation sounds really tempting as well. Thank you for sharing this Sally 🙂 Your blog is my bread baking inspiration source
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Sawsan, I thought of you when I saw that variation on the site, that bread has your name written all over it! All recipes from The Guardian, at least the ones from Dan include a “now try this” which takes the basic recipe into a new direction. I really enjoy that site. You can browse countless breads in there, for the most part quite simple. I don’t think he includes sourdough in The Guardian, but I could be wrong.
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I think this sandwich idea is perfect for Miss A. She loves cottage cheese with a touch of salt. I never thought to make it into an open faced sandwich. So clever. I also like how the carrot adds some orange flakes to the bread. It looks like a happy bread. 🙂 And would you believe I actually made a bread again the other day. This time with kefir milk…and it worked! Rose and everything. Needless to say I was thrilled. A bit more practice and perhaps I’ll start experimenting with new flavors too. 🙂
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The first great bread is like the first olive coming out of a jar: all others will be easier and better!
Kefir milk bread… interesting…
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Oh Sally, that last photograph really got me! I shouldn’t have come here hungry. Now all I want is homemade bread piled on with toppings! This is such a unique recipe and one that I’m now eager to try. Thank you for sharing!
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Homemade bread is always wonderful, I wish I could bake more often than I do… 🙂
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You’re funny. I can’t do scissors, either. Beautiful looking bread!
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We should start a club with a membership and all… Scissors-Challenged, unite!
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That looks like a fun one Sally and I hate lining tins too and I never cut the paper straight (or I cut it too short or too narrow, and then I feel very very sorry for myself – I have been known not to make a recipe just because it calls for a tin to be lined with paper….) So congratulations! That looks perfect lining to me! I have some nice tins now that only seem to require a light buttering and a dust of flour and then the loaves just drop out and no paper required. I haven’t tried this one but you make it sound like a ‘must bake’. I am a big fan of the sprouted grain bread Dan Lepard did a while ago, did you ever try that one ?http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jun/20/sprouted-grain-seed-bread
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Joanna, this is music to my ears! I HATE recipes that call for the paper lining, and usually start moaning when I read that part. That is often enough to make me search for another one, but… this bread was impossible to resist.
I did not try the sprouted grain bread – there are quite a few of his recipes waiting on my endless list…. (sigh)
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Ah, Sally, I had to work through lunch today and you have no idea how much I want a slice of this *gorgeous* bread right now. Just look at those flecks of carrot and does your cottage cheese ever look perfect with this too… yum!
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Sorry you had to work through lunch… I am on a tough phase myself, but one of us has got to go home for lunch no matter what, due to dog-issues… 🙂
Hope you can relax a little in the next few days…
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Another incredible-looking loaf, Sally. The carrot streaked crumb looks delicious! So good to see I’m not the only one to like my cottage cheese sprinkled with pepper. I’ve had more than one lunch companion look at me like I was out of my mind when they saw my cottage cheese. I didn’t care then and don’t care now. It is simply the best and only way to eat cottage cheese. I can only imagine how good it would taste atop that open-faced sandwich of yours.
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John, I think cottage cheese and black pepper is a match hard to beat, of course the salt needs to be the mediator… 🙂 I simply cannot conceive of cottage cheese without those flecks of black pepper, promise of a nice subtle kick…
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