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bread recipe
basic bread
recipe
© David Loftus
method ingredients
I’m still really mad about bread – I love it. It’s so exciting. It’s • 1kg/just over 2lb strong
such a rewarding, therapeutic, tactile thing and you’ll be so bread flour
proud of yourself once you’ve cracked it. • 625ml/just over 1 pint tepid
water
Stage 1: making a well • 30g/1oz fresh yeast or 3 x
Pile the flour on to a clean surface and make a large well in the 7g/¼oz sachets dried yeast
centre. Pour half your water into the well, then add your yeast, • 2 tablespoons sugar
sugar and salt and stir with a fork. • 1 level tablespoon fine sea
salt
Stage 2: getting it together extra flour for dusting
Slowly, but confidently, bring in the flour from the inside of the
well. (You don't want to break the walls of the well, or the
water will go everywhere.) Continue to bring the flour in to the
centre until you get a stodgy, porridgey consistency – then add
the remaining water. Continue to mix until it's stodgy again, then
you can be more aggressive, bringing in all the flour, making the
mix less sticky. Flour your hands and pat and push the dough
together with all the remaining flour. (Certain flours need a little
more or less water, so feel free to adjust.)
Stage 3: kneading!
This is where you get stuck in. With a bit of elbow grease,
simply push, fold, slap and roll the dough around, over and over,
for 4 or 5 minutes until you have a silky and elastic dough.
Stage 4: first prove
Flour the top of your dough. Put it in a bowl, cover with clingfilm,
and allow it to prove for about half an hour until doubled in size
– ideally in a warm, moist, draught1free place. This will improve
the flavour and texture of your dough and it's always exciting to
know that the old yeast has kicked into action.
Stage 5: second prove, flavouring and shaping
1 of 2 28/05/2011 4:50 PM
basic bread recipe | Jamie Oliver Recipes (UK) [Link] recipes/basic bread recipe
Once the dough has doubled in size, knock the air out for 30
seconds by bashing it and squashing it. You can now shape it or
flavour it as required – folded, filled, tray1baked, whatever – and
leave it to prove for a second time for 30 minutes to an hour
until it has doubled in size once more. This is the most
important part, as the second prove will give it the air that
finally ends up being cooked into your bread, giving you the
really light, soft texture that we all love in fresh bread. So
remember – don't fiddle with it, just let it do its thing.
Stage 6: cooking your bread
Very gently place your bread dough on to a flour1dusted baking
tray and into a preheated oven. Don't slam the door or you'll
lose the air that you need. Bake according to the time and
temperature given with your chosen recipe. You can tell if it's
cooked by tapping its bottom – if it sounds hollow it's done, if it
doesn't then pop it back in for a little longer. Once cooked, place
on a rack and allow it to cool for at least 30 minutes –
fandabidozi. Feel free to freeze any leftover bread.
• from Happy Days with the Naked Chef
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2 of 2 28/05/2011 4:50 PM