Difference between revisions of "Simple daily bread recipe"
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(Created page with "Category:RecipeThe bread you get in the shops often has oil, sugar, preservatives and goodness knows what in it. You can really taste this when you're used to making your...") |
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| − | [[Category:Recipe]]The bread you get in the shops often has oil, sugar, preservatives and goodness knows what in it. You can really taste this when you're used to making your own. It costs a small fortune when you know what it's made of and how easy it is to do. | + | [[File:bread.jpg|right]] |
| + | [[Category:Recipe]]The bread you get in the shops often has oil, sugar, preservatives and goodness knows what in it. You can really taste this when you're used to making your own. It costs a small fortune too when you know what it's made of and how easy it is to do. | ||
| − | Why not make your own instead | + | Why not make your own instead when you have the time? |
__NOTOC__===Recipe=== | __NOTOC__===Recipe=== | ||
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*Wash your hands - don't want to make anyone ill. | *Wash your hands - don't want to make anyone ill. | ||
| − | *Mix all the ingredients | + | *Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl with a fork first, then give it a quick knead in the bowl to get it dough-like. If it seems too gloopy, add a bit of more flour. If you like dense, moist bread, get it so it just forms a squishy ball and just comes off your hands without too much annoying stickiness. Otherwise, you'll have to manage with some stickiness. |
*Leave it, with a plastic bag or tea towel covering it, for at least half an hour, maybe a whole hour (you get used to it). | *Leave it, with a plastic bag or tea towel covering it, for at least half an hour, maybe a whole hour (you get used to it). | ||
| − | *When you come back to it, put a spot of oil in your tins, or on a tray to bake it on, then knead your dough for a few minutes until it goes smooth and tenses up a bit (you get used to this too). Plonk it in the tins, or on the tray, and slash the top a bit so it can expand when it puffs up again. | + | *When you come back to it, put a spot of oil in your tins, or on a tray to bake it on, then knead your dough for a few minutes until it goes smooth and tenses up a bit (you get used to this too). Kneading is the process of stretching it out, folding it over and rotating. Plonk it in the tins, or on the tray, and slash the top a bit so it can expand when it puffs up again. |
*Leave it for at least another half hour or more, or it will cook into a mushroomoid shape. Just leave it in the oven (off). | *Leave it for at least another half hour or more, or it will cook into a mushroomoid shape. Just leave it in the oven (off). | ||
*Before it's expanded and flowed out of shape too much, whack the oven up to gas mark 7 and cook it for 40-45 minutes if it's one big lump, or perhaps 30 minutes for two smaller loaves. | *Before it's expanded and flowed out of shape too much, whack the oven up to gas mark 7 and cook it for 40-45 minutes if it's one big lump, or perhaps 30 minutes for two smaller loaves. | ||
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You soon develop your own kneading technique and get to know what your oven is likely to do. Crunchy crusts mean a bit of oil and/or steaming while cooking. The wetter the dough, the bigger the air bubbles get etc. Rye and spelt are lovely, but the gluten is not so effective. This makes them wetter and stickier, so more difficult to knead and get what gluten there is to develop. Much easier to use for example 200g of them with 600g of "normal" bread flour and baking it bread tins so it doesn't go flat. | You soon develop your own kneading technique and get to know what your oven is likely to do. Crunchy crusts mean a bit of oil and/or steaming while cooking. The wetter the dough, the bigger the air bubbles get etc. Rye and spelt are lovely, but the gluten is not so effective. This makes them wetter and stickier, so more difficult to knead and get what gluten there is to develop. Much easier to use for example 200g of them with 600g of "normal" bread flour and baking it bread tins so it doesn't go flat. | ||
| − | Good for pizza, buns, outside-in-pizza buns | + | Good for pizza, buns, outside-in-pizza buns etc. |
Revision as of 11:36, 22 November 2018
Why not make your own instead when you have the time?
Recipe
For a big loaf, you'll need:
- 800g of strong flour - sometimes called bread flour
- 2-3 official teaspoons of salt - if you use chunky sea salt, it dissolves less quickly and doesn't inhibit the yeast as much before it gets going
- 4 official teaspoons of dried fast acting yeast - by the way, this is much cheaper if you don't buy it in little sachets
- 500ml of water - warmer makes things happen faster, but doesn't give it a chance to develop "complicated" flavour apparently
Instructions
- Wash your hands - don't want to make anyone ill.
- Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl with a fork first, then give it a quick knead in the bowl to get it dough-like. If it seems too gloopy, add a bit of more flour. If you like dense, moist bread, get it so it just forms a squishy ball and just comes off your hands without too much annoying stickiness. Otherwise, you'll have to manage with some stickiness.
- Leave it, with a plastic bag or tea towel covering it, for at least half an hour, maybe a whole hour (you get used to it).
- When you come back to it, put a spot of oil in your tins, or on a tray to bake it on, then knead your dough for a few minutes until it goes smooth and tenses up a bit (you get used to this too). Kneading is the process of stretching it out, folding it over and rotating. Plonk it in the tins, or on the tray, and slash the top a bit so it can expand when it puffs up again.
- Leave it for at least another half hour or more, or it will cook into a mushroomoid shape. Just leave it in the oven (off).
- Before it's expanded and flowed out of shape too much, whack the oven up to gas mark 7 and cook it for 40-45 minutes if it's one big lump, or perhaps 30 minutes for two smaller loaves.
- Get it out, let it cool on a rack under a tea towel so the crust steams itself and softens.
It's hard to cut slices of just cooked bread. Once it's cool, keep what you haven't eaten yet in a plastic bag to stop it drying out. Realistically, you'll probably eat it long before it goes mouldy.
So, it takes a couple of hours in total, but for just about all of that you can do more interesting things, like watching the telly.
Experimentation
You soon develop your own kneading technique and get to know what your oven is likely to do. Crunchy crusts mean a bit of oil and/or steaming while cooking. The wetter the dough, the bigger the air bubbles get etc. Rye and spelt are lovely, but the gluten is not so effective. This makes them wetter and stickier, so more difficult to knead and get what gluten there is to develop. Much easier to use for example 200g of them with 600g of "normal" bread flour and baking it bread tins so it doesn't go flat.
Good for pizza, buns, outside-in-pizza buns etc.
