preparing surface for breadmaking

Little_Vics

ooooooooooohhhhhh! Just gone to do this and it's rising!!! Amazing. I shall leave it another 30 mins or so and then do the second kneading thingy with oil instead of flour.

Steve059

Leave it for at least an hour. Breadmaking requires patience.

I always add a little olive oil, as it makes the bread lighter, more like a French loaf.

For the future, try this ...

BREAD

Makes a 500g loaf, or 8 big, 12 medium or 16 small rolls

INGREDIENTS

500g of strong flour
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons or 1 sachet of yeast
300ml of warm water
A little more flour
A little olive or sunflower oil
A little more olive or sunflower oil
A little more flour

METHOD

If you are using fresh or dried yeast, activate and add it according to the instructions on the packet.

Put the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly.

Make a hole in the middle and add the water. Mix thoroughly, until the dough sticks to itself, instead of sticking to you or the bowl. If the dough seems a little stiff, add another 1 tablespoon of water.

Leave it to prove for 1 hour, or in the fridge overnight, until it has doubled in size.

Sprinkle a little more flour onto a clean, dry work surface. Knead the dough, by using the heel of your hands to push half of the dough away from you. Turn it over, turn it around a bit and repeat the above, for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth, silky and elastic. The idea is to stretch the gluten within the dough, not to beat the [CENSORED] out of it.

Wash and dry the bowl, and rub a little oil around it. Put the dough back into it and leave it to prove again for 1 hour, until it has doubled in size.

Hit the top of the dough. It should collapse, as you knock the air out of it.

If you are going to make bread rolls, cut the dough into bits, and roll each bit into a ball or a sausage shape.

Rub a little more oil over a baking tray or loaf tin. Place the dough on the baking tray or in the loaf tin and leave it to prove yet again for 1 hour until it has doubled in size.

Dust the dough with a little more flour. Cut slits or a cross into the top with a sharp knife.

Cook in a preheated oven at 220°C, 425°F, gas mark 7 for 25 to 30 minutes until the bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped underneath.

Leave to cool, ideally on a wire rack.

ADDITIONS & ALTERATIONS

Use white flour for white bread, brown flour for brown bread, wholemeal flour for wholemeal bread, etc. Different flours may require slightly different amounts of water.

Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. It makes the bread slightly softer, like French bread.

When you’ve mastered making bread rolls on a baking tray, invest in a loaf tin.

TIPS

Doing the first proving in the fridge overnight gives the bread a better flavour.

Steve059

And/or this ...

FOCACCIA BREAD

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

250g of plain white flour
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons or 1 sachet of yeast
1 tablespoon of olive oil
150ml of warm water
A little more flour
A little more olive oil
2 tablespoons of olive oil

METHOD

If you are using fresh or dried yeast, activate it according to the instructions on the packet.
Put the flour, salt and yeast into a large bowl. Mix thoroughly.

Make a hole in the middle and add the tablespoon of oil and water. Mix thoroughly, until the dough sticks to itself, instead of sticking to you or the bowl.

Sprinkle a little more flour onto a clean, dry work surface. Knead the dough, by using the heel of your hands to push half of the dough away from you. Turn it over, turn it around a bit and repeat the above for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth, silky and elastic. The idea is to stretch the gluten within the dough, not to beat the [CENSORED] out of it.

Put the dough back in the bowl. Cover it with a clean, damp tea towel, or cling film. Put the bowl somewhere warm for about 20 minutes until it has doubled in size.

Uncover it and hit the top of the dough. It should collapse, as you knock the air out of it.

Wipe a little more oil over a baking tray. Put the dough on the tray and spread it out until it’s 5mm to 1cm (¼ to ½ an inch) thick. Cover it again with the damp tea towel or cling film. Put it somewhere warm again for about 30 minutes until it has doubled in size again.

Make deep dimples all over the dough with your fingertip. Brush or drizzle the 2 tablespoons of oil over it.

Cook in a preheated oven at 220°C, 425°F, gas mark 7 for 20 to 25 minutes.

Allow to cool and eat warm.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

A few fresh rosemary leaves is the traditional garnish.

Add 4 sun dried tomatoes. Add 8 pitted black and/or green olives.

TIPS

This can be used as a base for pizza or calzone.

Little_Vics

Thanks! I'll definitely use oil...

I'm following this one which was recommended by someone I trust very much - http://www.dilovely.com/2012/06/a-really-good-and-very-easy-almighty-white-loaf/

Little_Vics

right - second knead done with oil on the surface which worked a treat. It's currently rising again and then I'll bake it. I'd have left it longer but I'm too impatient, which isn't great for breadmaking apparently....

Little_Vics

right - it's done. Slightly burnt, and a little dense, but it's still bread. Lessons learned include the hot-water technique to help the dough rise, and oil rather than flour when kneading.

Tbh, it's just an excuse to watch Paul Hollywood's series again. Perfect.

thanks for all your help!

sonastin

Two tips I've read that seem to work on my hand-made efforts:

1) To test if you've kneaded it enough, pull off a small (golf-ball) sized bit of dough and try to stretch it. If it tears easily, you've not been working it long enough. If you can stretch it so that light shines through it, its ready.

2)To test if its risen enough gently (and I mean GENTLY) prod it. If it springs back, there's more rise in that dough yet. If you leave a little dent where your finger was, its time to move onto the next step.

We don't have an airing cupboard and so I've been leaving dough all over the place. Current favourite has been the corner of the hearth when we've had the fire lit but also top of the hob when the oven below has been on, in the fridge overnight (when I've had time to finish baking in the morning). Now that the ambient temperature is actually warm, I reckon things will happen a lot quicker

peachyprice

Do you have a 'warming' function on your oven OP, mine has two settings 35c & 60c, 35 is a perfect temperature for proving bread.

Also if you have a slowcooker, take the pot out, put it on low and rest the bowl of dough on the top. I usually do this in the winter when the kitchen is cold between removing it from proving and waiting for the oven to reach 220c, it stops it deflating.