Savoury Breads

Savoury breads are great fun to make, extremely delicious and provide scope for inspiration. They can be made either by using a flour rich in flavour or by adding savoury ingredients to the dough. Rye flour is a popular flour to use for this purpose, examples including the traditional German and Dutch pumpernickels which are made entirely from rye flour. Because rye flour does not contain gluten, however, it makes a rather dense, heavy bread and is therefore best used with varying proportions of a strong wheat flour. Other flours to use in savoury breads include barley flour which also has a low gluten content and pro duces a bread with an earthy flavour; cornmeal, with its lovely golden colour, and malted wheat flour which has a sweet, nutty flavour and adds a certain gooeyness to the bread.