Le Pain Rustique

It’s not unusual to find me refining my culinary skills at some time during the weekend and today I took to baking this loaf.
Our main meal of the day was straightforward enough — roasted gammon with Lyonnaise pototoes, carrots and parsley sauce. It was while this was under way that my bread was taking shape.
I have to admit cheating slightly and using a bread machine rather than mixing the dough by hand, but my successes are improved one hundred percent by using the machine. I have had my mishaps trying to automate bread making this way as well — once even the end result was so brick hard that even the birds rejected it.
But today’s Pain Rustique aux C
éréales, described on the packet as an authentic rustic French breadmix, is something else and I cannot wait till it has cooled sufficiently to be able to slice into it.
My weakness is that freshly baked is difficult to resist and I know that by Tuesday, if it is as tasty as it looks, I will need to be getting the bread machine into use again.
In anticipation I did buy pate and cheese today, ready for lunch tomorrow.

Bon appétit!