This loaf is a favourite weekend recipe of mine, which is easily adapted to personal tastes and what you have in the cupboard. Sometimes I like to thoroughly mash the chickpeas for a smoother bread, and sometimes I chuck them in whole for a knobbly, crunchy texture. Delicious toasted or grilled with butter, or bacon, or an egg, or all three…

Makes 1 small loaf:

240g canned chickpeas (drained weight)
300g plain white flour, plus a little extra for kneading
a 7g sachet of fast acting dried yeast
a handful of chopped fresh rosemary
zest and juice of half a lemon, or a tablespoon of bottled lemon juice
1 large tomato, chopped into small chunks

Drain the chickpeas, thoroughly rinse them, and tip them into a large mixing bowl. Mash with a potato masher to loosen the skins, and pick them off as the chickpeas separate (not an essential step but definitely worth it if you want a smooth bread – if you’re leaving the chickpeas whole then don’t worry about this!)

Add the flour, yeast, chopped rosemary, tomato, and finely grated lemon zest (if using), to the chickpeas, and stir together.

Squeeze the lemon juice into a measuring cup and add lukewarm water to make up to 160ml of liquid. Make a well in the middle of the chickpea and flour mixture, and pour in half of the liquid, mixing together. Gradually add as much of the remaining liquid as you need until a soft, sticky dough is formed – but firm enough to shape. If it’s too sticky-tacky, never fear, just add an extra shake of flour and work it in.

Lightly flour your work surface, then tip the dough out and knead and stretch it for 10 minutes. Pummel the dough, pound it, mush your knuckles into it – it’s like a stress ball but much more satisfying! Pop the dough back into your mixing bowl, cover with a clean tea towel or cling film and leave to rise for 2 hours. This sounds like a long time but the end result is a gorgeous light loaf with a proper crust around it.

Knock back the risen dough (a fancy term for tipping it onto a floured worksurface and quickly shaping it a bit) into a rugby ball shape, and pop it into a lightly greased loaf tin, then cover and leave to prove for half an hour. A little before the end of the proving time, put the oven on to 220C to preheat.

Place the tin into the preheated oven and cook for 30 minutes until the bread is risen and golden. Remove the loaf from the tin and allow to cool on a wire rack.

‘Chickpea and tomato best brunch loaf’ recipe from A Girl Called Jack by Jack Monroe, available to buy here.

Jack Monroe. Twitter: @MxJackMonroe Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/agirlcalledjack

My new book, Cooking on a Bootstrap, is now available to order HERE.

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