No-knead quick brown bread

Busy busy busy.  Yup, that’s how it’s been around here lately.  It feels like I am trying to blog myself to an early grave…!  Just in case you haven’t been following the story, here’s why:

I spent the whole of November taking part in NaBloPoMo, the challenge where bloggers undertake to write a post a day all through November.  Those of you who are familiar with my usual relaxed posting schedule will understand what a challenge this was for me.  But I did it!  Together with fellow Saffers Charlotte and Gill (well done, guys!) I soldiered manfully on and I am pleased to say I posted full and complete posts and didn’t really have to resort to filler posts.  In any event, it cleared up one question in my mind:  I’ll never run out of things to say on this blog – only time to say them 🙂

Just as NaBloPoMo finished and I thought I could relax for a day or two, the WTSIM #11 roundup rolled around.  Topless tarts here, topless tarts there… It looked like a house of ill repute at Chez Cooksister, I tell you.  And to make my day, my webmail provider managed to mangle their user interface so badly that it was down all weekend and I could not get to any of the e-mails.  Aaaarrrgh.  But the round-up was finally posted and if tarts are your thing, then then this is the round-up for you.

And then I thought I could get a day or two of rest & relaxation but noooooo, Pim asked me and Johanna to co-ordinate the UK prizes for Menu for Hope, the annual global food blogger fundraising campaign.  I’m never one to turn down charity work, plus I found out that all the funds we raise are going to be allocated to the UN World Food Programme’s school feeding sheme in Lesotho, a little kingdom in the middle of South Africa.  How could I say no… so it was back to the keyboard, pretty much uninterrupted for the past week or so.  But after a spectacularly late night last night, the full UK prize list is up today – hurrah!  Take a look – and do buy a few tickets, especially to win an original CookSister photo 🙂

Oh yes, and somewhere in there I became (I swear) the last food blogger on earth to join the wonderful Foodie Blogroll – check it out at the bottom of my sidebar.  It’s the brainchild of Jenn, The Leftover Queen and seems to be the absolutely authoritative list of food blogs in the world.  Hello to anyone who found me via that!

So not much time for cooking then.  But man cannot live by blogging alone, and here’s the worlds quickest & easiest brown bread courtesy of my dear, reprobate friend Paul.  According to him, this bread is:

“the easiest, quickest and most reliable way of getting compliments without having to take anything off!”

Now how can you argue with that!

PAUL’S QUICK BROWN BREAD (makes one small loaf)

Ingredients
3 cups of self-raising wholewheat flour (or 3 cups plain wholewheat flour, 3tsp baking powder)
1/2 tsp salt
1 can of beer
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbst butter
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Method

Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Grease a small loaf pan and pour the mixture in. Pour 2 Tbsp of melted butter over the top and bake at 180C for 1 hour.  Allow to cool slightly before slicing – if you can wait that long! The bread is moist with a nice crunchy crust and I love the sweetness that the sugar gives.  It’s a little crumbly once you start slicing, but why not abandon slices and just break off chunks?

Paul adds: “Of course, you could also add grated cheese, raisins, nuts or the Health Seed mix you can get at the earth-child, sandal-wearing, colonic-irrigating health stores.”

Gotta love a man who’s in touch with his inner bread-making earth-child!