While Spain's restaurant bread didn't impress me on my last visit, two bread areas stood out; Javier Marca's wonderful artisan loaves and those found at San Sebastian's The Loaf, where the baking is directed by Dan Lepard and his team.

Having had the treat of working with them on my visit, I wanted to recreate one of their favorites, something I helped with but had to leave without actually eating. It's called  Pan Gallego, or “bread of Galicia," the North-westernmost province in Spain.

It's a top knotted loaf (mota) with a speckle of rye in the wheat crumb, and dose of levain and bit of yeast. I recall making a similar loaf in school which my instructor  mistakenly called "Turks head" because of the twist. Anyway, the loaves Dan had made in San Sebastian, were terrific. The other day I decided to follow this formula, and was really pleased with the results!

Pan Gallego

Pan Gallego
450g bread flour
50g Rye
150g levain
360g h20
10g yeast (Optional if your a purist, or Mick…me, I'm occasionally the "lazy baker"!)