Recipe: Homemade Bread

There’s nothing better than the smell of freshly baked bread, and it’s not as tricky as you think either… BAKE YOUR OWN BREAD

Baking your own bread is not only healthier for you, but it

Ingredients

500g strong white flour 20g caster sugar 10g salt 1 x 7g sachet fast-action yeast 330g milk at room temperature

Method

In a large bowl, or electric mixer, weight the flour and caster sugar together. Then rub the salt into one side of the bowl and the dried yeast into the other. Don’t let the salt and yeast touch as it can stop the dough from rising.

Add the milk to the dry ingredients and mix together until it forms a dough. Cover your bowl with a damp towel and rest in a warm place. If your house is cold, stick it in the oven at 25C with a bowl of boiling water underneath.

Once noticeable increased in size, around 45 minutes, kneed the dough. You can do this on a floured surface or by folding the dough in the bowl for five minutes. Cover again and rest in a warm place for another hour or until doubled in size. is a hobby you can really get stuck into. There is nothing better than seeing your dough rise and then finally breaking through the crispy crust to get at the soft, warm bread

SOFT OR CRUSTY ROLLS

inside. Here are some simple recipes for you to try at home…

Once risen, scrape the dough onto a floured surface and roll into a sausage shape. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces and then shape the dough into balls. The trick to a nice round ball is to put flour in one hand and put the dough on a surface without flour. Then cup your hand like your carrying water, turn it upside down over the dough and make big circular movements with the dough.

Once you have 8 balls, rest for a final hour somewhere warm until they have doubled in size and are nearly touching. 30 minutes before you’re going to bake, preheat your oven to 210C for fan-assisted ovens or 230C for non-fan ovens for soft rolls, or 180C fan-assisted oven, 200C for crusty rolls.

Bake for 10-15 minutes for soft rolls. Don’t worry if they look brown or feel crisp when they come out, they’ll soften up. And for crusty rolls, slash the top of the roll with a serrated knife before baking for 20-25 minutes.

Baker’s Tip: Add toppings like Sesame seeds or poppy seeds, or even rice flour and sesame oil to create Tiger Bread.

BAGUETTES

Ingredients

For the poolish: 500g strong white flour 20g caster sugar 10g salt 1 x 7g sachet fast-action yeast 330g milk at room temperature

For the dough 300g plain white flour 200g strong white flour 12g salt 200g white sourdough starter (a bubbling mix of strong white flour and water. To make simply add 50g flour with 50ml of water every day for five days in a jar – warning it gets messy and bubbly)

All the poolish 250ml tepid water

Method

The day before you make your dough, combine the poolish ingredients in a bowl and cover loosely with cling film.

The next day rub together both flours, yeast and salt, keeping the yeast and salt separate. Add the sourdough starter, poolish and tepid water and combine into a wet dough.

Turn the dough out on to a work surface and knead for 10-15 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, trying to use as little flour as possible, and return to the bowl.

Let the dough rest overnight in the fridge. Once rested, it’s shaping time. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and cut into 4 equal pieces. Roll the baguettes out into sausage shapes. Don’t worry if they look thin, they will rise again.

Transfer each baguette to a well-floured baking tray and rest again for 1-1 ½ hour at room temperature. Preheat your over to 220C fan oven, 240C non-fan.

Once rested, score your bread with a serrated knife. You want to make thin slices across the top like you’re peeling a potato.

If your serrated knife doesn’t work, try a Stanley blade.

Turn the temperature in the oven down to 190C fan or 210C non-fan and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Baker’s Tip: Cook your baguettes for ¼ of the time to par-bake. You will then be able to freeze the baguettes for up to 11 weeks. When you want to use them again, just pop them back in your oven for the remaining time.

Images for illustrative purposes only