Our bread is really nothing special. Its only homemade.

Bread was the main course for Jesus’ last supper. Bread has existed since the beginning of time – for obvious reasons. Its cheap, easy to make and made the right way – some of the most delicious thing you can put in your mouth.

In 2009 when we arrived in Kathmandu we realized that not only was good quality bread impossible to get – the lousy bread available was so expensive that we had to come up with a solution. Not only is breakfast the most important meal of the day. And after coffee – bread is the single most important item: and it has to be plentiful.

And more important – we want Tings to be a place where people get a chance to meet fellow travelers. And the only chance our guests get a chance to meet each other, share stories and/or connect is during breakfast. So together with our flowers, art & music the smell of bread from the kitchen create the ambiance we

You can get wheat flour almost all over the world – also in Nepal. So since I have made bread my whole life, it took me less than an hour to find decent local flour, instant yeast and teach our Nepalese & Tibetan kids (from a hundred years old rice culture) to make Northern European quality wheat bread.

My only two challenges were to re-design the bread recipe to the high altitude (the fermentation takes longer in > 1.800 m) and to show our local kids how the western style oven works.

They have now been doing it for more than 15 years 🙂

The secret behind our breakfast bread

Farinhas Paulina Hortas is worth a visit – especially if you travel with kids.

30 years ago when we visited Portugal for the first time you got good bread, made from local quality flour and made from regional recipes. But due to the competition from the supermarkets cheap bake-off-bread the local traditional bakers has been forced to close down. And the flour producers have been forced to lower the quality to meet the price point dictated by the big chains. The same development we had been through in Northern Europe 20 years before.

So the situation in Lisbon is more or less the same as it is in Kathmandu. The bread is bad and expensive.

The “craft bread wave” is way behind Northern Europe. But something is happening. thanks to chains like Copenhagen Coffee Lab and Gleba – it’s now possible to buy crafted bread – but to prizes neither we or our guests will pay for.

Unlike Nepal where the quality of the flour was doubtful, we knew that quality flour existed. Our problem was that it was impossible to find. It wasn’t easy because those who made craft bread didn’t want to share their supplier’s contact details. That only provoked me to a more intensive research – after a few weeks I managed to get a photo of a bag of flour in a craft bakery – with name and contact details to Farinhas Paulina Hortas – a small mill 40 min drive from us.

They are the secrets behind our bread. Or breads – we also make Whole Grain Rye Bread and Focaccia, Bagels, Sandwich Bread and French Crepes.

Paulina has all the types of flour you can dream of. And they have seeds, flakes & grains and a good yeast.

We don’t mind sharing their contact informations. We actually suggest guests with kids who wants to do something different to visit them. You can read about it here.

This is how we make the bread.

Bread is really nothing special – especially not if you have been doing your own for a lifetime and every morning for the last 15 years.

So when the first morning a guest almost hugged me and asked for the recipe I flushed a little. When that happened again a few days later I thought someone was making fun of me…

After a couple of months and after having mailed 20 recipes to guests around the world I decided to make this blog version.

The bread we bake in the morning is started up the previous morning 24 hrs before. But the total hands-on-time is a maximum 15 minutes for one to three breads at a time.

Here is how we do it (I always make two breads – but the recipe is for one)

Tings Lisbon's breakfast bread recipe - step 1 — **STEP 1 - INGREDIENTS**: 600 gr wheat flour, 15 gr yeast (the amount depending on the quality of the flour), 500 ml COLD water & salt (I like salty bread and use around 1 table-spoon) – olive oil for the Dutch ovens

Tings Lisbon's breakfast bread recipe - step 2 — **STEP 2:** Mix the salt in the flour. Dissolve the yeast in the cold water

Tings Lisbon's breakfast bread recipe - step 3 — **STEP 3:** Mix in the dissolved water/yeast in the flour/salt

Tings Lisbon's breakfast bread recipe - step 4 — **STEP 4:** Stir loosely for a minute – until the flour is dissolved. The dough is very wed

Tings Lisbon's breakfast bread recipe - step 6 — **STEP 5:** Put the dough in a plastic box with enough ‘space’ for the dough to grow (to around dbl amount).

Tings Lisbon's breakfas bread recipe - step 1 — **STEP 6:** 10 min after you started preparing the bread – place the wet dough in the fridge and leave for 24 hr.

Tings Lisbon's breakfas bread recipe - step 7 — **STEP 7:** Take a Dutch Oven and grease with olive oil – be generous ;.) Place the in the oven WITH THE LIT ON – (around 220 C depending on the mood of your oven – EACH OVENS HAVE ITS OWN PERSONALITY)

Tings Lisbon's breakfas bread recipe - step 8 — **STEP 8:** After 5 minutes – take out the Dutch Ovens and put (or rather pour) in the dough

Tings Lisbon's breakfas bread recipe - step 9 — **STEP 9:** Place the Dutch Ovens in the oven WITH THE LIT ON for around 30 minutes. THEN remove the lit and leave for 10 – 15. minutes more (until the bread feels ‘solid’ with a crunchy surface)

Tings Lisbon's breakfast bread recipe — **STEP 10:** After around 45 minutes in total the bread is finished – should cool down before eating. NOTE: Our bread is NOT perfect - but its super the following day – AND excellent for toasts from day 3!

Why we all should make their own bread.

The bread is very easy to make. It takes a maximum 15 minutes to make the bough. And while it bakes you can take a shower, do the dish washing or kiss your partner.

The bread is super good. And gets better the following days. On day 3 (if it lasts so long) its excellent for toasts. Or if you cut the left over in cubes and fry in a good olive oil you hav the best croutons for your gazpacho

Finally – the bread is very cheap: Each bread is around 1 kg. The ingredients cost around 0.50 € pr. bread. You need an ordinary household oven and a Dutch Oven (we bought ours in IKEA for 50 €).

The Bonus: It’s very relaxing to make your own bread. But to see it grow, smell its delicious fragrance and see how happy your friends & family get when they eat it, is something very, very special.

Enjoy the fun and send me a photo of your own homemade wonders.

Thomas