I have a magical bread recipe for novices that works every time.

[mrsfran]

It's so satisfying. It's just a plain white loaf, made by hand. But it works every time and it's ridiculously simple. Here is the recipe.

500g white strong bread flour.
7g dried yeast sachet.
1tsp salt
300ml water
3tbsp olive oil. Plus a bit extra.

Mix the flour, yeast and salt together in a large bowl. Pour in the water and the olive oil. Mix with wooden spoon until it's together enough to take out of the bowl.

Kneed on a floury surface until the dough feels elastic and sooth the the touch, and bounces back slightly when prodded. This should take about ten minutes.

Place in a warmish area and leave to rise until doubled in size. This should take approx one hour.

Knock back the dough and kneed for a minute or so. Dough will be elastic and bouncy when prodded. Mould the dough into a round-ish shape. Slather the surface with olive oil (this will give a soft, chewy crust).

Leave to rise for another hour or so on the tray on which you are going to put it into the oven.

Pre-heat oven to 220/200 fan/gas mark 7. Bake dough for 25 - 30 minutes until a nice golden colour.

Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Ta dah! Seriously, it's the weekend tomorrow, try this recipe. Your friends will be astonished at your baking prowess.

 

[christonabike]

Cheers for that

We have a bread-maker but at some point I am going to try to make bread proper, like

 

[pogofish]

Not far off a basic recipie I often use in my breadmaker, eccept I tend to use 50/50 with Spelt flour. Makes a really nice light distinctive tasting loaf. Some honey goes really well in it too.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Cheers for that

We have a bread-maker but at some point I am going to try to make bread proper, like

I recommend waiting until you're pissed off about something, it makes the kneading very therapeutic if you pretend it is someones' face your pulping!

Also, I've found (having arthritic fingers) that it's quite soothing for them.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Not far off a basic recipie I often use in my breadmaker, eccept I tend to use 50/50 with Spelt flour. Makes a really nice light distinctive tasting loaf. Some honey goes really well in it too.

If you ever feel like making a loaf the old-fashioned way, spelt is a good'un in sourdoughs.

 

[pogofish]

If I do old-fashioned, I get something you could tar roads with. Bread making is a black-art that I've never got the hang on. Machine does fine for me.

 

[lostexpectation]

doughy

we go a bread maker and on the occasions it been used I found the bread to be very doughy, its not nice, does your taste doughy, is that what bread is supposed to taste like?

 

[mrsfran]

By "doughy", do you mean yeasty? A bit sort of beer-y? Home-baked bread is naturally more yeasty than plastic supermarket bread - it's called having flavour

But if your bread tastes overly yeasty, then the yeast may not have fully completed it's chemical action. there could be a number of reasons - not enough kneeding, too much yeast, to much or too little salt, water's too hot, not baked for long enough. Breadmaking can be a tricky balancing act (which is why I'm so pleased with my recipe above, because it works every time).

Play around with your recipe a bit.

Alternatively, have a go at making bread by hand!

 

[pogofish]

we go a bread maker and on the occasions it been used I found the bread to be very doughy, its not nice, does your taste doughy, is that what bread is supposed to taste like?

Could be several things, most breadmaker recipies are best viewed as a starting point. Maybe cut the water/salt a little, &/or increase the amount of sugar/honey etc. Is your flour/flour mix or yeast right? Some "fast" yeasts (eg Hovis) are fine for conventional baking but don't work well in a breadmaker. I've found Doves Farm to be good in mine.

Also, where the breadmaker sits can be quite vital - Is it sitting a draught or right beside a door that is used a lot? If so, keep the doors shut when it is running. Do you use the "fast" programme? If so, try getting the hang of the timer. Having the ingredients sit together for a few hours warming-up to the right temp then going through a full cycle makes a big difference to the quality of the final loaf. Another thing I do is to mix the oil, sugar/honey & salt with the warm water before putting the flour in, then the yeast on top.

Trial & error really, change something, if it helps keep it if not, try changing something else. Keep a note of each step till you find what works best.

 

[ViolentPanda]

If I do old-fashioned, I get something you could tar roads with. Bread making is a black-art that I've never got the hang on. Machine does fine for me.

T'aint no black art, it's more a need for persistence (that, and some wusses don't like the sqwooshey feel of the dough) so that you keep on kneading until the dough goes elastic.
A lot of folk (not me though, I'm a traditionalist!) who don't use breadmakers tend to use mixers with dough-hooks attached to get the dough kneaded well. It supposedly takes a lot of the trial and error out of it.

Good choice with the Doves Farm yeast though, it's definitely the best option besides fresh (which is becoming scarcer as bakeries get overwhelmed by the supermarkets ).

 

[SubZeroCat]

I love this thread title!

 

[ViolentPanda]

I love this thread title!

It's not only a brilliant title, it's a good recipe too!

 

[SubZeroCat]

It's not only a brilliant title, it's a good recipe too!

Will it work with wholemeal flour?

 

[pogofish]

T'aint no black art, it's more a need for persistence

Many years of baking cannonballs would suggest otherwise to me.

 

[madzone]

I love this thread title!

I keep reading it as 'I have a magical beard....'

 

[redsnapper]

Will it work with wholemeal flour?

IME you're better off using half wholemeal, half white flour otherwise you end up with a loaf that requires the use of a chainsaw to carve off a slice

 

[zcat]

IME you're better off using half wholemeal, half white flour otherwise you end up with a loaf that requires the use of a chainsaw to carve off a slice

As im chuckling at comments my partner asks what u laughing at i say breadmaking/mushrooms/garlic growing /ets she says ask if anyone knows where to get rye flower in london (preferably south) as she cant find it and is into baking sourdough.
Alternatively i can order stuff in bulk with only 10% markup from community and another wholefood wholsalers if anyone wants to share a whole lot of rye flower (if they do it of course)

 

[ViolentPanda]

As im chuckling at comments my partner asks what u laughing at i say breadmaking/mushrooms/garlic growing /ets she says ask if anyone knows where to get rye flower in london (preferably south) as she cant find it and is into baking sourdough.
Alternatively i can order stuff in bulk with only 10% markup from community and another wholefood wholsalers if anyone wants to share a whole lot of rye flower (if they do it of course)

We usually get ours from Baldwins healthfood shop on Walworth Rd, although apparently some branches of Sainsburys and Tesco now do it, and I recall Holland and Barrett in Streatham doing it too.

I'd give Baldwins and/or your local Holland & Barrett a ring.

 

[mrsfran]

It's not only a brilliant title, it's a good recipe too!

I am very pleased you like it.

 

[Ozric]

Tried it at the weekend with Allinsons 'Now't taken out' wholemeal, added a bit of fresh Rosemary, perfik.
Will definatley be using this again, I think with sun-dried tomatoes mixed in

 

[lighterthief]

Okay, got a bit of time on my hands this afternoon so will try this recipe out

 

[lighterthief]

Yup, very nice - just had some for my lunch. I mixed the yeast with tepid water and a little bit of sugar to activate it before mixing it all together - worked fine too.

 

[May Kasahara]

Yeah, thanks missfran! I made this last night and it was everything you promised, especially impressive considering I've never made bread before. You've made me feel all womanly

 

[veracity]

Shameless bump but had to say thanks Miss Fran! Made this today and it was gorgeous. I used 50% wholemeal flour so it turned out a bit more knobbly.

 

[Pip]

I'm going to make this
I'll add some sun dried toms, olives and rosemary too.
Wish me luck!

 

[May Kasahara]

It's a great recipe...in fact, it's the only one that has ever produced edible bread from my hands.

 

[mrsfran]

Thread from the dead! This was one of the first threads I ever did on Urban. Glad it's come in so handy.

I just noticed, I wrote this way before I started the blog. I should probably put it on there.

 

[dilute micro]

The recipe looks like a version of Pain de Mie which is my favorite for a lot of things.

I agree on the honey. It helps the bread to last longer on the shelf. And this is the one reason we cant let the bees die.

 

[Pip]

The recipe looks like a version of Pain de Mie which is my favorite for a lot of things.

I agree on the honey. It helps the bread to last longer on the shelf. And this is the one reason we cant let the bees die.

How much honey should you put in?

 

[dilute micro]

How much honey should you put in?

The Pain de Mie recipe I have is for a little larger volume of dough (585g) And yeast, 9.6g. It sort of matters the ratio of honey you use because honey can stymie the yeast. My book calls for 40g of honey (2 Tablespoons US) for a final dough weight of 1102g.

So about 1.2 Tablespoon UK... for missfran's recipe?

Somewhere in that range. I think.