Bread

I am hugely into baking bread at the moment. For many reasons - I enjoy it, I like to fool myself into thinking it is better for me than shop bought (which in a chemical sense is entirely true; yeast, flour, salt, water are all nice and natural unlike all sorts of weird preservatives etc in shop bought) and it fills the house with a lovely smell. So here are a few of my recipes / tips for happy bread making.

General tips:

1. Don't be afraid to try something new. The birds can always be well fed if your bread goes Pete Tong.
2. Make sure you knead your dough enough to begin with. When stretched between your finders, white dough should go so thin you can see through it like a little magical dough window. Wholemeal or rye dough won't stretch as far but should have a good stretch to it.
3. Leave it somewhere toasty to prove. If it's too chilly, this stage can still be done but will take ages - I like to leave mine in front of the fire in winter or near a radiator. Generally anywhere you would sit if you were a cat.
4. Grease or line your tins or trays. I'm lazy so I hate washing up. Also stuck bread dough can be like trying to chisel weetabix off your bowl when it's been left for days...
5. Freeze bread - in my experience a quick blast in the microwave revives most to my satisfaction. 

Basic bread:

• 500g strong flour - white or 50:50 wholemeal to white. All wholemeal makes kind of solid, mildly cake like bread. Unless that's what you want, in which case go for it.
• 10g fresh yeast - ask at the bakery counter in the supermarket. It's kind of lovely plastic-y play dough-y putty like stuff that smells amazing.
• 5g fine salt - I use sea salt flakes bashed up in a pestle and mortar but only cos that's what I have, not cos I'm posh or 'owt
• 300g warm liquid - water, milk, 50:50 etc. I don't mind. Weigh it instead of measuring jugs - weigh more accurate (sorry, terrible pun. This is why I'm not a comedian.)

Method:

1.  Rub yeast into flour roughly as if you were making crumble or pastry. 
2. Stir in salt. 
3. Add water. 
4. Mix with a spoon. 
5. Knead for 10 mins by hand or 5-6 mins in a mixer with a dough hook. 
6. Leave to double in size (an hour or so) in a big bowl covered with cling film or a shower cap from a hotel. Maybe not a used one.
7. Shape into rolls, loaves, baguettes, whatever you like. Cover with oiled cling film, leave again for 45 mins or so.
8. Bake at as hot as your oven will go for approx 20 mins for small loaves / rolls, 30 mins for big'uns. Tap on the bottom - if it sounds hollow it's done.
9. Leave to cool then dig in!

I felt I had to put lots of steps in to make myself sound clever. I'm not, and bread isn't difficult, I promise.