Bread Basics

The most basic of breads is very simple.

Flour, yeast and water. Most recipes have salt for flavour, a little sugar to help activate the yeast and a little fat. The proportions of these ingredients (primarily the proportion of flour to water) will give you different textures. Lighter bread uses less flour, heavier bread uses more. The sugar speeds up the activation of the yeast which is what causes the bread to rise, the water makes it a dough, the salt adds flavour, and the fat, amongst other things, helps the bread to keep better.

This is my basic wholemeal loaf recipe that I have been using for years. I think I got it off the back of a packet of yeast once.

350g strong plain flour

350g wholemeal flour

450ml water

1 tablespoon dried active yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil

 

I use the dried active yeast (the sort you need to activate in water first) rather than easy blend for a few reasons. Firstly it’s cheaper, secondly I like to be able to see the yeast working before I add it to the flour, and finally, it doesn’t contain the additives that you find in easy blend yeasts. It comes in a little tin and looks rather like brown mustard seeds. You can activate easy blend in water first if you like, but you don’t need to. You can just add it to the dry ingredients and then add the water.

So, first off, you put the yeast in the water with the sugar. Stir it up and leave to activate for 5 or 10 minutes until it has a frothy head on it.

Meanwhile, weigh out the flour and put it in a large bowl along with the salt. Make a well in the centre and pour in the oil and the yeast mixture. Use a fork or your fingers and draw the flour into the liquid to make a rough dough.

Turn the dough out onto a surface, lightly floured if necessary. Knead the dough for a good 10 minutes until it is nice and smooth and elastic. Try not to add to much more flour as this will make it dense. If it is too sticky you can add a little more oil to your work surface to make it easier to handle.

Now return to the bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave it to prove. You need to leave it until it has doubled in size. Depending on where it is and how warm the room is, this can take anything from 1 to several hours. If I’m in a hurry I usually leave it on a chair in front of a radiator, but generally the slower the prove the better the bread.

Once risen, knead the dough again for a few minutes, shape into a loaf and place on a greased baking tray of loaf tin. (To grease I use those 1 calorie oil sprays as its quick and easy to grease the whole tin.)

Leave to rise again for another 45 minutes to an hour.

Preheat the oven to 220C. Prick the top of you bread a few times with a fork. You can also brush with a little milk and sprinkle on some poppy seeds if you like. Bake your bread for about 40 minutes.  Individual ovens and also the tin you’re baking in can affect the baking time. I used to use some silicone bread tins and 30 minutes was sufficient in these. However, after they broke I ended up having to get some new ones (large non-stick metal Ikea ones) but the bread needs a good 40 minutes in these. You’ll know it’s done when its a nice even brown colour and sounds hollow when you tap it on the top.

I normally make three loaves at a time using this recipe. If you do the same, note that you don’t need to increase the amount of yeast as much. For three loaves, 2 tablespoons of yeast is sufficient. If you use too much yeast you run the risk of yeasty tasting bread.