RED ONION & APPLE

Red onion & apple loaf (adapted from Dan Lepard, Short & sweet)

* 1 small dessert apple


* 1 small red onion, finely chopped


* 75ml ale


* 175ml warm water


* 2tsp dried yeast


* 100g sunflower seeds


* 250g malted grain bread flour


* 175g strong wholemeal bread flour


* 1 tsp fine sea salt


Grate the apple into a bowl, peel and all, but without stalk or pips, then add the onion. Stir in the ale, water and yeast, add the seeds, flours and salt, mix and leave for 10 minutes. Lightly oil a worksurface, knead the dough for 10 seconds, then return it to the bowl and leave for 45 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, then place on a tray lined with nonstick paper. Cover with a cloth and leave to rise for an hour. Preheat the oven to 220C, cut a cross in the top of the loaf, bake for 20 minutes, then lower the heat to 180C and bake for another 20 minutes.

Many fundamental questions of craftsmanship versus mass production, the relationship of usefulness and beauty, the practical purpose of formal beauty in a commonplace object, and whether or not a single proper form could exist, were argued out among its 1,870 members (by 1914).