A fresh of breath air

As we drove to a wedding party on Saturday afternoon there was a smell in the car which was indescribable, it wasn't flatulence, it wasn't body odour, but it was in fact a strange form of halitosis. The smell lingered all day it could be smelt by people outdoors despite the strong gusts of fresh Devonian air. My girlfriend's dad could smell it outside the bedroom door the following morning and it followed me on the train all the way home on Sunday afternoon. As sulphouros vapour travelled up my gullet tainting the air, I had time to gather my thoughts. A pack of chewing gum and four rigorous tooth brushings later, I reflected on whether it was worth it and if I could do the dirty deed again. You may be thinking what could summon such a foul beast, well here is the recipe.

Try it if you dare!

I've been hankering to make this bread for a while after spotting it in the Baker & Spice book Baking with Passion. The author, Dan Lepard, really knows his stuff when it comes to bread. His version may seem a little labour intensive and it probably is. I made a slight adaptation, cutting a few corners, and speeding up the process. Garlic can be difficult to digest and it can recur on you, as it did in my case (for rather a prolonged period of time). But even if you can't handle that much garlic, tone it down a little, cos the results are worth it. I'd rather smell someone's garlicy breath than someone's dehydrated stench of a cake hole, even cigarette breath is more pleasant than bacteria ridden morning breath.

To go with the bread, I knocked up a salad with courgette shavings, black kalamata olives, vine tomatoes, parma ham, with a drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice. My friend Nick and I sat at the table and scoffed away not knowing the consequences. Oh how the ignorance was bliss.