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| Second attempt |
I've now had 2 goes at making a simple white loaf of
bread. The second one turned out a lot
better than the first. I don't think
I'll be a expert baker anytime soon! I
decided to give it a go in case we couldn’t safely buy bread in the current
lockdown. Of course now it is difficult
to get flour or yeast.
Ingredients:
7g active dried yeast (1/4 ounce)
7g sugar
325 ml water (1.4 cups)
500g flour (4 cups)
7g salt
Oil for oiling bowl
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| First attempt |
Method:
Mix yeast with 3 tablespoons of warm water. Let it sit in a warm place until it foams up
a bit – this took 30 minutes in my coolish kitchen
Put the flour, sugar and salt onto a clean bench and
create a well or hole in the middle.
Gradually pour in the yeast and water mixing it in with
the flour with your fingers and trying not to let any water escape out the
sides.
Then knead the dough with the heel of your hand moving
the ball of dough around a bit each time.
I only did this for about 10 minutes the first time. The second time I did 20 minutes (and had
tired hands). But the texture of the
bread was much better.
Oil a big bowl and pop your dough ball in there,
turning it over once. Let it sit in a
warm place covered with a cloth for up to an hour. It should get a lot bigger. How long this takes will depend on your
ambient heat. You could try putting it
into your hot water cupboard.
Heat your oven up to 220c. (430F)
Tip the dough out onto your bench – dusted with a
little flour. Knock back the dough –
this means slapping it quite hard to knock the air bubbles out of it. I didn't do this properly the first time.
Shape your dough and put it onto your baking
sheet. Slash the top with a knife a
couple of times. Dust with flour. Now leave it sit again for 15 minutes – I didn't
do this the first time.
Put it in the oven and let it cook for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 190C (375F) and give it
another 10 minutes.
Sit it on a rack to cool –
and resist the temptation to try it until it has cooled!
