Recipe for: BREAD (with many easy variations)
Ingredients:
- 400g
strong white (or other) flour + extra for shaping
- 1
tsp instant yeast, from a sachet
- 1
tsp fine salt
- 300ml
warm water
- Oil
for kneading
- Optional
extras: cubed cheddar, drained & chopped olives, any kind of herbs,
seeds – use your imagination
- Put
the flour, yeast, salt & any optional extras into a bowl
- pour
in the water & stir into a sticky mess
- cover
the bowl with a clean cloth & leave for 10 minutes
- lightly
oil your worktop & your hands.
Knead the dough for just 10 seconds & then return to the bowl
& cover again.
- do
this twice more at 10-minute intervals, then leave in the bowl for 45
minutes. During this time the dough
should rise a fair bit.
- clean
the worktop, then dust it with flour.
Flour your hands, then pat the dough into a rough oblong
- roll
the oblong up tightly & pinch each end to keep it neat
- place
the loaf seam-side down either on a floured baking-sheet, or in a floured
loaf-tin
- cover
with a cloth & leave to rise again for another 45 minutes. You can leave it longer, just as long as
the dough has risen
- flour
the top of the dough, then slash down the middle with a sharp knife
- bake
at 220C/ fan 200C/ 425F for 30-35 minutes.
The top should brown a little & the loaf should sound hollow if
tapped on the bottom
- turn
onto a wire rack to cool.
- I’ve
found that this basic recipe works with almost any kind of decent bread
flour, and virtually any variation of flavourings
- the
timings are approximate – longer gaps won’t do any harm at all
- when
the bread is cool, wrap in grease-proof paper & store in the bread bin
- it
won’t keep for ever. Eat it
quickly, for it will gradually dry out & get stale in about 3-4 days.
No comments:
Post a Comment