Squash, apple, date & rosemary rolls
fuss-free baking, the only kind of baking for me
I’m up before the sun, as is now the way. I potter around the kitchen, with the murmurings of Radio 4 for company, a cup of tea for warmth. I roast the squash as I gather and weigh ingredients. Dry goes in one bowl, wet in another. I mix, I shape, I bake. As the oven hums, life admin is attended to, more tea is brewed, and the sun wakes up, although it is nowhere to be seen.
This is my kind of baking. The kind that comes together in the time that it takes to go from ‘Thought For The Day’ to a politician squirming under the pressure of being asked a straight-forward question. The kind that has just enough process to pull my mind away from racing thoughts, but only just. The kind that involves rolling up my sleeves to experience the joy of patting shaggy, ever so slightly sticky dough, but is neither akin to a workout at the gym, nor fussy in shaping specifics.
This is my kind of bake too. A coarse, knobbly crumb, with as much fruit, in various forms (roasted, fresh, and dried), as it can hold. A perfect vehicle for butter. A perfect thing to eat with shards of salty cheese, chunks of apple or pear, and a handful of toasted nuts, perhaps.
