Caramelised Onion and Chilli Bread

Making your own flavoured bread by hand is so rewarding.  This flavour combination works particularly well, the sweetness of the caramelised onion with the slight heat of the chilli...delicious.

This is really good served with cheeses, cold meats or hummus...or just munched on it's own still warm from the oven is good too!

Ingredients

500g Strong White Flour

1 heaped teaspoon Salt

340ml Warm Water

2 teaspoons Caster Sugar

15g Dried Active Yeast (or 1 sachet Fast Action Dried Yeast)

2-3 tbsp Olive Oil

2 large or 3 medium Red Onions, thinly sliced

1 Red Chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

1 tspn Sea Salt

1 tbsp Sugar

Half a tspn Smoked Sweet Paprika (Pimenton)

• Tip the flour into a large bowl and stir in the salt.
• In a measuring jug, measure the water then stir in the 2 teaspoons of sugar and the yeast.  Leave this for a few minutes until frothy (if using fast action yeast you do not need to leave it) then pour it into the flour and mix together with a fork.  When all the flour has been incorporated into the dough tip it out onto a lightly floured work surface.
• Knead the dough for a good 10 minutes, stretching and folding back repeatedly until you have a smooth, bouncy dough.  Put this back into your lightly floured bowl, cover with cling film and leave it to rise for 1 - 2 hours until more than doubled in size.
• To make the caramelised onions put 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a pan and tip in the onions and the chilli.  Put the heat on low and add the sea salt, sugar and pimenton.  Stir it all together to combine then leave it to slowly sizzle on the lowest hob heat you have for 40-45 minutes stirring occasionally.  If, towards the end of the cooking, you feel that it is starting to catch a bit on the bottom of the pan, splash in some water.  This will prevent it from burning and help to achieve the gooey consistency of caramelised onions.  When sweet and golden brown take the pan off the heat and transfer the onions to a bowl to cool.
• Take your now risen dough and squash it down to knock out the air.  Put it back onto the work surface and flatten it out slightly.  A spoonful at a time, add the cooled caramelised onions to the dough, kneading it as you go to incorporate it all...it's a messy job!  When you have a ball of dough with all the caramelised onions incorporated into it, lightly oil a baking sheet and put the dough in the middle of it.  Set aside for up to an hour to rise again, preheat the oven to 210C (fan).
• When your dough has doubled in size again, bake it in the preheated oven for 25 minutes until dark golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped underneath.  Transfer to a board or rack to cool.