Made the carrot soup for Mike’s lunch today (I’m back on the diet and had something different), and some tomato flavoured rolls to go with it using the sparkling water loaf recipe from a few days ago.

This time I used the same ingredients as for the stripped back loaf
450g value self raising flour, 13p
450ml sparkling water, fridge cold if possible, 4p
2 tsps baking powder, 5p
half tsp salt
Plus 70g tomato purée, Asda, 200g, 39p
I used 70g, but I think twice as much was needed, so 140g, 27p

Total cost using 140g, 49p. Made 6 large rolls of 120g each. So 8p a roll. Could be made in smaller tins to yield more, smaller, rolls.

Now, you can either use a 2lb loaf tin as before, or use a 6 hole muffin tin as I did this time, to make something that can be used as a roll. This recipe makes a batter, not a dough, so you need something that will shape it as it bakes.

Whichever you use, grease it thoroughly. I poured in a drizzle of veg oil to each muffin hole and used a silicone pastry brush to push it into every corner, including around the lip of each hole. Prepare your baking container(s) now as you need to get the fizzing mixture into it as soon as possible after mixing in the sparkling water.

Sieve the flours, baking powder and salt together. Make sure they are well mixed together. It’s worth sieving here to get a bit of extra air into the flours. Mix in the tomato purée, smooshing it around with a spoon until it as incorporated as you can get it.

I stuck my nose in at this point and thought that it smelled tomatoey, but as it turned out, it could have done with some more.

Add the sparkling water to the flour mix in one go and mix just enough to incorporate, like a muffin. The water will fizz enthusiastically, but we want as much as possible of that fizz to stay in the mix.  Tip the mix into the prepared loaf tin or divide between muffin holes, and leave on one side for half an hour. Don’t nudge or knock the tin in this time, it will rise a bit.

After 20 minutes, heat the oven to 180C fan, 200C conventional, 400F, gas mark 6.

When the half hour is up, the mixture will have risen a bit. Put the bread in the hot oven and bake for an hour if in a loaf tin, or 45 minutes for the muffin tin version. Leave in the tin for a few minutes to firm up, then cool on a wire rack. Check your loaf if in a tin after 45 minutes. It may be ready, or it may need longer.

Loaves are best left until completely cold if you can, then slice. Freeze any not eaten on the same day to keep it fresh. We tried the rolls straight out of the oven, crusty and hot, nom nom. They were delicious!

the verdict

The rolls were beautiful, flecked with red, crusty on the outside, light on the inside. But they didn’t taste of tomato very much at all. I used the same proportion of tomato purée by weight as I do for the tomato scones, but I think it probably needs twice as much as that to get a noticeable flavour.

I’m very pleased with the experiment today. Next one will be using gluten free flour. I’ll use just an ordinary gf flour that you can get in many places, Doves Farm brand. I don’t want to make it complicated. My aim is to create something that’s easy, cheap and uses common ingredients. Will it work? It’s a bit of a holy grail, gluten free bread. Maybe this is expecting something unrealistic then? So watch this space and we’ll find out together.