Dan Lepard's sour cream sandwich bread

I'm a bit late to the party on this one, since I believe most tinternetters with an interest in bread baking discovered (and raved about) this recipe ages ago. But I've never been ahead of the zeitgeist; I work on the basis that if I'm slow enough, by the time I discover things they might be just coming back into fashion.

I'm not going to reproduce the recipe here because, y'know, copyright. If you own Mr Lepard's much lauded baking book, "Short and Sweet", it's in there and, luckily enough if you don't, it is also available on The Guardian website: here. It's featured in a list of his top ten bread recipes, all of which I want to make.

It's well worth having a go at this recipe just out of curiosity - I find it fascinating that the technique of very short, sharp kneads can produce such a beautiful texture when it is so different to the traditional method. The result is a loaf with a soft crust, and a light, fluffy crumb.

I decided to opt for mini loaves to make use of the gorgeous little tins that I was gifted earlier this year. Aren't they sweet? A half batch of the mixture made eight perfectly little dinky ones which required just 12-15 minutes baking. Here are six of them, fresh from the oven:

One of their fellows having already been ripped open and slathered with butter. Behold that gorgeous, pillowy interior:

Highly recommended!