Homemade bread recipe
Homemade Bread recipe
Ingredients
| 1 ½ kg | strong flour, North American or North European |
| 800 ml | luke warm water |
| 4 tsp | dried yeast |
| 1 tsp | white sugar 1 extra tbsp sugar if you prefer your bread slightly sweet |
| 60 g | butter or marge or a mixture |
| 1 tbsp | fine salt |
| spare flour for dusting and kneading |
Instructions
You will need :
loaf tins if you want loaves, greased or parchment lined
baking trays if you want rolls.
Pour half a pint (230ml) of the warm water into a spare jug, stir in the teaspoon sugar. When dissolved, add the dried yeast, stir gently and leave to prove (produce a creamy froth on the water) while you sift the flour into a roomy bowl, add the salt, stirring with a fork, then the butter or fat. Rub in the butter.
If you like, you can add the extra tablespoon of sugar here.
Make a depression in the flour. Pour in your yeasty water; rinse the jug into the flour with a little of the spare water. Give a little stir until water disappears then add remaining water. Stir with a strong wooden spoon.
Sprinkle spare flour onto work surface; tip dough onto flour, remove as much as possible of the scraps from the mixing bowl, push dry bits into the dough ball so they become absorbed as you work.
Flatten and stretch the dough ball into a baton pointiong away from you, fold ends to middle, press down hard, fold again, press again, using both hands if you have room on the surface.
Keep doing this till you see bubbles or hear them pop or squeak. The dough is now turning tough. Bash it one last time into a (sort of) ball that fits nicely into your bowl. Dust the bowl with a little flour, place your ball in, cover with a light cloth.
Place the batter in a warm, not hot, place where it will not be knocked or subjected to draughts of wind. Depending on warmth of site (I use the boiler/linen cupboard (closet)) check after 1 hour and every 15 minutes or so thereafter. When the dough is approximately doubled in size, take it to your work surface,spread a dusting of flour and tip out with pride your risen dough.
Preheat your oven to Gas mark 8/450°F/230°C fan oven reduce as instructed by maker; old fashioned couintry ovens should be very hot.
Treat the dough roughly from now on. Beat it down with your fist then roll it into an even baton. Cut or break off a portion to fit approximately a third of the tin you intend to use. Roughly knock it into shape, making sure the dry, rough outside gets worked inside.
If you find there is a split along one side, hard to remove,place it to the top in the tin and you will get a really tasty looking crunchy crevice on the final product.
Place the shaped loaves and/or rolls back in their warm spot. They should not take too long to rise to double size or near top of tin(not the top, as they rise a bit more in the oven). Do not worry if a loaf overhangs a little; it makes an interesting shape tell your critics.
When risen carefully in the oven for approximately 20 minutes,less for rolls after 15 minutes. It is quite safe to pull out for a quick look. When a loaf looks golden brown, using a glove, tip it out and tap the bottom. If it sounds like a drum, it is done, if not put it back upside down for 5 minutes or so.
Leave your loaves or rolls upside down for 15 minutes before you give in to temptation and try a nibble.
Note:you can buy flour with added gluten if strong flour is difficult to obtain.If you prefer brown flour, mix in one third white or a pinch more yeast.
Preparation time:
ca. 30 min
medium
n/a
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