Basic Bread

You will not believe how much better home made bread tastes, nor how easy it is to make it. Baking is part art and part science. Flour and yeast react to the moisture in the air and the elevation so from day to day and place to place recipes may need to be slightly adjusted.

However, a fail safe bread recipe is the following:

600 grams of flour (white, brown, spelt, whatever)
1 sachet of “Easy Bake” yeast (7 grams) or 14 grams dry active yeast or 28 grams fresh yeast
1 teaspoon of salt
400 grams of water that is the temperature of your body. That is to say, when you dip your finger into it you cannot really feel the water – it feels neither hot nor cold; neither warm nor cool.

If you want to, add some nuts, seeds, raisins, spices (go easy on them), sun dried tomatoes, sauteed onions, cooked potatoess or sweet potatoes cut into small bits, fresh or dried herbs, grated cheese – really whatever sounds good to you – or nothing at all.

If you are using instant yeast, mix everything together with your hands until it is a sticky blob and then knead it for 10 minutes – see below for directions on how to knead.  If you are using dry active or fresh yeast, dissolve it in 100 mls of the warm water and wait for 10 minutes until it is foamy or at least sludgy on the top of the water.  Then add the other ingredients and knead for 10 minutes.

To knead bread, scrape the sticky blob out of the bowl and onto a counter top. Push the blob away from you with the heels of your hands and then gather it back up again with your fingers and palms into a blob again. Repeat over and over. If the bread is really really sticky (REALLY REALLY) add a bit more flour until it is tacky but not super sticky. Better too sticky than too dry though.

Once you have kneaded it for 10 minutes, put it back in the bowl and cover the bowl with a tea towel or some cling film (a shower hat is a brilliant tool for covering dough – put the shower hat around the outside of the bowl so it does not touch the bread) and pop it in the airing cupboard, in a sunny spot in the house, in the bed under the duvet you have just vacated – anywhere warm but not hot – and leave it there for about an hour. When you go back and look at it, it should be twice the size it was before. The cooler the spot, the longer it will take to rise.  Remember, the only thing that kills yeast is heat so you can even let bread rise over night in the fridge! 

So far, you have been making dough for 15 minutes and now you have an hour or so to do something else.  If you have put it in the fridge you can go to bed.

Once it is about double the size, scrape it out onto the counter again and squash it to force the air out of it. Knead it for a minute or so and then shape it. If you want a loaf – shape it into a fat sausage and pop it into a loaf pan. The easiest way to do this is to squash it into a rectangle about an inch think and that is as wide as the loaf pan.  It does not matter how long it is.  Then roll in up – stretching gently and rolling tightly until it is all rolled up and then you can pop it into the pan which you have buttered generously.  It should 1/2 fill the pan. If you want a blob, shape it into a blob and put it on some grease proof paper on a baking sheet. If you want a braid, cut it into three pieces, make them into sausage shapes and braid them and put it on some greaseproof paper on a baking sheet. If you have elected to make a blob or a loaf, take some scissors or a sharp knife and cut some slashes in the top of the loaf to prevent it from splitting when you bake it.  Then cover your dough with a tea towel – don’t use cling film because the bread will stick to the cling flim and it will make an imprint on the top of your loaf (you can use the shower hat again if you are baking in a bread pan – just puff up the shower hat to keep it away from the dough) and put it back in the warm place for 20 minutes or so while you heat the oven up to 200 degrees C. 

You have had about 3 more minutes of action and now you can do something else for 20 minutes or so.  Or drink coffee.  Once again, it should about double in size and when it has, take the tea towel/shower hat off and put the bread in the oven and bake it for 45 minutes, during which you can do something else.  If you want to, you can put a tray of water at the bottom of the oven while it bakes and/or spray the oven with water from a plant sprayer as the increased humidity will result in a crispier crust. 

The received wisdom is that the bread is done if it sounds hollow when you tap the bottom of the loaf.  I don’t know about that because what does hollow actually sound like?  It should be done.  If you find it is not really done when it has cooled and you cut into it, stick it into the toaster and eat it as toast and cook it for longer next time.  No big deal.  It’s still delicious.

Eat. Yum.

Once again there are many many baking books. I have my favourites as does everyone. The thing to do is to lose your fear of yeast. Bread is forgiving – much more so than cakes – so if you want to learn, come along to a class.  If you are a baker already please keep reading to find some favourite recipes for bread and other things.