When I tell friends that I bake my own bread, the first look I get is
normally one of astonishment. People find it strange that I have the skills and
time to make bread in my own kitchen. These days people seem surprised to learn
that bread does not have to be bought from supermarkets or made in machines.
What you will need (equipment):
A Mixing Bowl
A loaf tin or a flat baking tray.
An oven, preferably
fan-assisted.
Some aluminum-foil.
What you will need (ingredients):
Bakers Yeast - This is usually
obtained in sachets of granules.
Flour - You cant use any flour, make sure it’s “Strong” flour. Strong flour has more gluten in it, that’s the substance
that gives good bread it’s crunchy texture. It’s best not to use plain flour
or self-rising flour. Those are for cakes and biscuits, not bread.
Warm Water - (About body temperature)
Oil or butter - Some recipes suggest lard. I don’t much
like the sound of that, and neither do my vegetarian friends. I prefer to use
olive oil, althaugh corn oil seems to make bread crunchy - I use that in pizza
bases.
A pinch of salt - Even in dessert breads, a pinch of salt enhances
the bread’s flavour. wertperch informs me that "The salt also strengthens
the gluten, and this makes the dough less likely to drop back when you prove it.".
Method:
1. Put the yeast granules in a large jug or cup. Add 3/4 pint of warm
water. Stir or swirl the mixture until the yeast is mostly dissolved. Althaugh
you can add granular yeast directly to the flour, I find that dissolving it in
water first seems to make it more active and dispersed thorough the flour. The
bread rises quicker and more evenly.
2. Add flour to a bowl. Usually, a 1 kilo pack is good for about four or
five loaves of bread. Feel the weight of a shop-bought loaf. If you want to make
a loaf that big you will need to add slightly more than it’s weight in flour.
The reason for this is that home made bread tends to be more dense than
commercial products.
3. Add a pinch of salt, and a few tablespoons full of oil or butter.
This helps the consistency of the bread as it is rising. It’s possible to make
bread without any oils or fats, but in my opinion it does not taste as nice.
4. With one hand, knead the mixture as you add in the water. Soon it
will become a thick pasty dough. If you used mainly brown flour you might want
to add a little bit extra yeasty water because brown flour has a tendency to
absorb water more slowly than white. You need to find a compromise between dough
that’s too watery and dough that’s too dry. Watery dough will be too moist after
you have baked it, but dry dough wont rise properly.
5. Once you have mixed in all the ingredients you can leave it in the
mixing bowl to rise. After about half an hour the mixture should have puffed up
to twice its volume. At this point you should knock as much of the air out
as you can and re-knead the dough. This rising process may seem pointless, but
it helps stretch the dough into a nice texture. Bread that isn’t left to rise
has a bland texture and an insipid crust.
6. Leave it another half an hour and repeat the process, knocking all
the air bubbles out of the mixture. This time transfer the mix into a baking tin
or a tray. Most ovenware will do as long as they are made of heatproof
conductive metal or glass. If you are using a try that isn’t specifically
designed for bread you might want to line it with a layer of foil. In any case
you should smear some butter around the tin. That will help prevent the bread
sticking when you try to remove it.
7. At this point you should think about pre-heating the oven. Bread
needs to cook on a high heat. About 220 Celsius is good for most recipes. If you
have an older oven you will need to let it pre-heat for longer.
8. Once the bread has risen again (twice it’s original size is a good
amount) put it in the oven. It’s best to keep regular watch the first time you
do this. You need to take it out once its become golden brown. If your oven
heats un-evenly you might want to turn the bread around in mid-bake.
9. After less than 25 minutes of baking your bread
should be ready. Once you take it out of the oven, you should leave it to cool
for a few minutes before eating it. Put it on a raised wire tray: you
need to allow the air to circulate around - there is a lot of moisture that is
still evaporating. If you want to keep the crust crunchy you need to make sure
that water does not re-condense on the bread. If you dont have a wire tray you can just put the bred down
upside-down.
Enjoy!
PS. You can add flavourings after stage 4. One of my favourites is chopped
dates and walnuts. Also, in my opinion, the nicest thing you can spread on a freshly baked loaf is Marmite!