What's this? Bread? That's certainly something that's not cropped up on here before. Which is strange really, because I love making bread. I just don't seem to have made any since starting this blog. I used to make it a fair bit at university, and made some when I was living with my boyfriend's parents. My cheesy loaf was very popular there.
So today I decided I wanted to make bread (and a couple of other things to come later) so I grabbed the bread book which was among the first birthday presents my boyfriend ever got me and thumbed through. Whilst I have found a lot of recipes I now want to make in the near future, I decided it was best to start with a basic loaf because the two of us would both enjoy it. And enjoy it we did! My GOD was this bread good. It's not a very big loaf and we devoured it over lunch. It's all gone already. And I have to say, it is amazing served warm. So if you can serve it that way then do.
Recipe - adapted from The Big Book Of Bread
Makes 1 small-ish loaf
- 350g/12.3oz strong white flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp caster sugar
- 3/4 tsp dried yeast
- 12.5g/0.5oz butter, diced
- About 225ml/8fl.oz warm water
- Grease a 9.5x4inch / 25x10cm loaf tin and set to one side.
- Sift the flour and the salt into a large bowl.
- Add the sugar and yeast and mix together.
- Rub in the butter.
- Make a well in the centre of the mix and pour in about half the water. Mix.
- Keep adding the water a bit at a time and mixing together until you get a soft dough. You probably won't need all the water. If you put too much water in and make the dough too sticky, add a little flour to balance it out.
- On a lightly floured surface, or in your bowl if it is big enough, knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. This is about 10 minutes of kneading.
- Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with clingfilm and put in a warm place to rise until it has doubled in size.
- Once it is risen, punch the dough in the centre to deflate it and knead for another 2-3 minutes.
- Shape into an oblong and press into the loaf tin. Cover and sit on top of your oven.
- Preheat the oven to 230°C/450°F/Gas Mark 8 and leave the tin sitting on top for about 30 minutes to let it rise to double its size again.
- Bake the loaf for 15 minutes.
- Turn down the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 and bake for another 15-20 minutes. After this the bread should be risen, golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
- Turn out onto a rack to cool for a few minutes before serving.
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