Pencil and Fork

This recipe for multigrain bread is made with quark, a curd cheese popular in Germany. The addition of the quark to the bread dough gives a loaf that is quite moist, with a subtle tangy flavour. I used malted flake (granary) flour, and added wheat bran and pearl barley for an extra dimension of texture.

Ingredients (makes one loaf):

• 250 g (8.8 oz; 1 cup) strong white bread flour
• 300 g (10½ oz; 2⅓ cups) malted flake (granary) flour – you could use any multigrain flour here
• 80g (2.8 oz) pearl barley
• 20 g (0.7 oz) wheat bran
• 300 g (10½ oz) quark cheese
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil (or other lightly flavoured oil)
• 15 g (½ oz) dried active yeast (or 30 g (1 oz) fresh yeast)
• 100 ml (3⅓ fl oz) warm water

Dissolve the honey in the water, and add the yeast. Leave it for ten minutes to allow it to get frothy. Meanwhile, mix together the flours, wheat bran and pearl barley. Make a well and pour in the yeast/honey mixture. Mix together to make a sticky sponge. Cover this and leave to ferment for about half an hour.

Add the quark and oil to the batter and stir well. It makes a very wet dough, which is a little tricky to wok with. On a floured work surface, knead the dough for about ten minutes, until it becomes firmer and more elastic. Put the dough in a bowl, cover with a damp tea towel (or cling film) and leave to rise in a warm place for a couple of hours, until it has doubled in size.

Knock back the dough and shape it into a loaf. Cover and leave to rise again for another hour or so. Again, it should be getting on for double in size.

Bake the loaf for 30-40 minutes at 220°C (425°F/Gas Mark 7). The cooked quark loaf should sound hollow when tapped.