handmade bread

Stephen_Leak

BREAD

Makes a 500g loaf, 8 big or 16 little 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 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 8 or 16 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 1hour 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.

Justamum

krlyr wrote: »

Slightly old post but the quote you've replied to only says 1/2 a teaspoon - 2.5ml

Sorry, you're right! I've no idea why her bread would taste salty then.

betony

I've been hand making all our bread for over a month now and while I've never made a loaf yet that wasn't 100% tastier than shop bread, I'm still learning from my mistakes. One problem I can't seem to solve is that when it comes out of the oven the surface is beautifully smooth and even, but then as it cools it turns wrinkly, and the last batch also formed cracks along the wrinkles. A website I looked at suggests this may be due to it cooling in a draught, but this really isn't the case for me.

Can any of you more experienced bread bakers suggest any other remedy? I know it's really just a cosmetic thing, but I'd like to be able to take gifts of home made bread to friends and family and not have to explain that, although it is the tastiest bread they will have ever eaten it doesn't look as pretty as it tastes.

Thanks in advance

mi33cupc@ke

Hi all,

I'm just wondering if anyone has a tried and tested easy bread recipe please? I have strong flour and dried yeast and a few other bits. I don't have a breadmaker so it would have to be an oven baked one. I've used a few different recipes before but it's never really turned out very well. Thanks.

Pink.

Hi jools,

This thread has lots of tried and tested recipes which should help:

handmade bread

And you may enjoy this one too:

Adventures with bread dough

I'll add this thread to the first link later to keep the recipes together.

Pink

krlyr

If you have a bit of a sweet tooth, this recipe is fab
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sandwich_bread_loaf_93879

However, it was given to me by someone else and the instructions differed a bit. In her recipe, you did step one, started step two, but I didn't leave it for 5 minutes. Once mixed, you knead it on an oiled surface for 10 seconds - yes, seconds, not minutes. Place in an oiled bowl (to stop it sticking) and leave for half an hour. Then another 10 seconds of kneading, leave for half an hour. Repeat twice more, then place into an oiled loaf tin, leave for an hour and a half, brush with milk for a softer crust and bake as per the linked recipe. Even with this minimal kneading, the bread was a fantastic texture. I do find that preparing it the day before to allow it to cool completely before cutting is best though - being too eager/rushed can leave to a bit of a denser loaf.

sallyrsm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/potato_bread_39335

Hairy Bikers' Potato Bread... delicious...

mayfair1985

Sorry if this is covering old ground, but I can't find anything......

So, the time has come for me to embrace the dough hook and make some bread. Anyone got any fail safe, fool proof recipes that they would like to share? Any tips that I need to know before I start?

Thanks :j:j

trulymadlydeeply_indebt!

Hi

I'm a bit of a novice in this area but are you using a food mixer with dough hook attachments, a Bread Mixer (BM) or by hand?

I sometimes buy those packet mixes from the supermarkets and do it by hand in a bowl. They're really easy.

If you have a BM, you can forget the doing it by hand stage and just bung it in with the required amount of water and you have a loaf within 2 hours.

Alternatively, I have been playing around with the settings on my BM and using bags of flour - all different types. I have had my most successful loaves with Doves Farm Spelt Flour. Even my friends fussy kids who hardly eat ANYTHING will have this fresh with butter. Spelt is also kinder to the gut if you have problems with wheat, as I do.

Sorry I can't give you any further advice, but this is what works for me.

Happy Baking!

TMD xx

mayfair1985

trulymadlydeeply_indebt! wrote: »

Hi

I'm a bit of a novice in this area but are you using a food mixer with dough hook attachments, a Bread Mixer (BM) or by hand?

I sometimes buy those packet mixes from the supermarkets and do it by hand in a bowl. They're really easy.

If you have a BM, you can forget the doing it by hand stage and just bung it in with the required amount of water and you have a loaf within 2 hours.

Alternatively, I have been playing around with the settings on my BM and using bags of flour - all different types. I have had my most successful loaves with Doves Farm Spelt Flour. Even my friends fussy kids who hardly eat ANYTHING will have this fresh with butter. Spelt is also kinder to the gut if you have problems with wheat, as I do.

Sorry I can't give you any further advice, but this is what works for me.

Happy Baking!

TMD xx

Thank you It's a mixer with a hook. Maybe i'll have a look out for the packets today and ease myself into it :rotfl: