Bread

I have been making a lot more home made bread over the last few weeks and I have to say it's the best I have made, the only difference between this and my previous attempts is that I have finally purchased some decent hard wheat flour and I have made a conscious note of how long I am kneading the dough for. I have found that it really does need to be Kneaded (no pun intended) for 10 minutes.

The reason for using hard wheat flour is that it has a high gluten content that allows the dough to stretch and therefore rise to give you that light fluffy bread everyone loves so much. The kneading of the dough activates the gluten to allow it to stretch and rise to its full capacity so the flour is very important. A lot of plain flours in the supermarket are soft flours which are best for cakes and biscuits.  

Now I don’t really follow a recipe but below is a rough guide of how I make my bread.

Ingredients:

750g flour plus extra for dusting work bench

7g sachet or 1 ½ teaspoons of dry yeast

2 cups of warm water

1 teaspoon of honey

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 pinch of salt

Method

In a small jug mix the warm water, yeast, sugar, salt, and honey. Give the mixture a stir and leave it aside so the yeast can activate. It is ready to use once there is a thick foamy top to the mixture.

Pour your flour into a very large mixing bowl. Add the yeast mixture and work the flour into a dough.

Knead the dough on a clean work bench for ten minutes, adding flour to the work bench if the dough starts to stick.

Put your kneaded dough into a clean dry bowl and cover it with cling film or a damp tea towel. Leave in a warm area to prove for about 3 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

Now you need to degas the dough by kneading it again lightly. Place your dough on a oiled baking tray then score it and sprinkle with your favourite seeds.  Let the dough sit on top of the preheating oven for about 40 minutes or until it has risen again.

The oven needs to be set at 220°C but when the loaf is put in to bake, turn the oven down to 200°C. Bake the loaf on the bottom shelf for about 30 minutes or until golden. The loaf is cooked when it sounds hollow when tapped. If it doesn’t sound hollow then it needs to be cooked for a little longer.