carmelised red onion

is that not possibly the best blog title? because carmelised red onion has to be one of the best things ever. sweet and sticky with an onion tang - excuse me while i wipe up some drool...

so the other weekend when i was looking for baking inspiration, the john whaite recipe for rosemary and carmelised onion fougasse jumped straight out at me. after all it combined those beautiful onions with that other pleasure: bread. the recipe is actually available on his website if you fancy recreating this one yourselves.

in my version i substituted the rosemary for lemon thyme, as i was using this for another recipe so that probably changed the dynamic a bit but nothing major.

so on to those onions...

 

 

 it's times like this i really wish photos could convey smell!

so soft, a beautiful colour and flavoured with balsamic vinegar

it's been a long time since i've made bread, so it was very satisfying to get my hands on some dough and give it a good knead. i forget how therapeutic it can be (especially when envisaged as the person/task that is grating on you...)

 

 

shaping these rolls (although feel that term is a little underwhelming for what they are) was slightly fiddly - i can see that a dough scraper would have come in use here (hello christmas list...). but i persevered with my knife (probably making a load of scratches on my mum's worktop, whoopsie) to get the beautiful leaf shape.

 

the recipe states to spray water in the oven when you place the bread in to bake. having no spray bottle around, besides those containing antibacterial spray, i skipped out this step. which was quite possibly a mistake as the bread was a tad on the dry side - so next time i will do as i am told! i think maybe also they could use a little wash, maybe just a bit of milk? i feel mine just look dull compared to john's!

mine (above) and john's (below - just in case clarification was needed!) - something to work towards!

 

 all concerns over the appearance of the bread were soon forgotten as i tore off chunks and spread butter on them.

the flavour is really great from those slow cooked onions. it's such a great feeling making your own bread and it made monday's packed lunch far more interesting.

let me know if you try and make these yoursevles - i'd love to hear how you get on!

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bread baking red onion fougasse homemade blog
love,
nen
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