Last week I made bread from scratch for the
first time. As far as I’m concerned there is no better smell in the world than
freshly baked bread. If you have a spare day its easy peasy to whip together a
loaf big enough to feed a small army, ready in time for dinner.
All you need is some dry yeast, coarse
salt, warm water and plain bakers flour (it doesn’t have to be bakers flour it
can just be normal white flour).
I used my Kitchen Aid with the dough hook
attachment, so it took no time at all. But you can do it just with a bowl and
wooden spoon, if you don’t have the luxury of using your mum’s appliances!
Things you Need:
1 x tbsp of yeast
1 x tbsp of coarse salt
3 x cups warm water
6 ½ x cups sifted bakers flour (plus a
little extra for dusting)
Step 1: Mix yeast and salt in a large bowl.
Add warm water (it should be just above body temperature).
Step 2: Mix for about 5 minutes on a
low/medium speed. Or just mix with a spoon and some elbow grease. Don’t stress
if all the yeast doesn’t dissolve.
Step 3: Slowly add sifted flour. If using a
mixer crank up the speed until a lovely round dough ball forms. This will take
a bit of strength and stamina if doing it by hand but keep going!
Step 4: Once your dough has become a round
ball with no dry bits left, roll it out into a LARGE clean bowl and cover the
bowl with cling wrap. Don’t worry if you feel like its super sticky, it’s
supposed to be
Step 5: Leave the bowl in the sun, on a windowsill
or out in your garden. Make sure it’s out of reach of curious cats. You’ve got
a couple of hours to spare now, so you can go shopping or whip up a soup to go
with the bread for dinner
Step 6: After a couple of hours check your
dough. It should’ve doubled in size. Woohoo!
Step 7: Roll the dough out onto a lightly
floured baking tray and make it into a ball size, try not to bash it around too
much, you want all those delicious air bubbles to stay in. Dust the top lightly
with flour. Let the dough rest for 40 minutes, it probably won’t rise much at
this stage
Step 8: Meanwhile preheat the oven to 250c
for at least 20 minutes. Place one rack in the middle and put a large empty roasting
tray on the bottom rack. Fill your kettle and whack it on.
Step 9: Dust your loaf with a bit more
flour and with a sharp bread knife slash three slits across the surface about a
few centimeters deep
Step 10: Put the baking tray with the loaf
in the oven and pour about a cup of boiling water into the roasting tray on the
bottom shelf. Quickly! Shut the door and trap the steam in! Cook loaf for
around 25 minutes. Checking it at about 20 to make sure its not getting burnt
or over cooked on one side.
Step 11: Pull out of the oven, cut and
enjoy with some bread and jam, or a hot bowl of soup! SCRUMMY!
