Once I got started on the bread I have to confess to feeling a bit fraudulent for counting it as a recipe-of-the-week: it was fundamentally the same as normal bread, except for the addition of olive oil and that it only needs one rising period. Oh, and its shaped differently.
A brief explanation here:
My Dad has been making bread every saturday morning for my whole life. As little kids we "helped" - a tradition which my nephew and nieces continue. Even as surly teenagers the smell of fresh bread would have us fighting with enthusiasm over the crusty end of the warm loaf at saturday lunchtime.
A couple of years ago, growing frustrated by the lack of quality bread available in the shops, I though 'How hard can it be?!' and took up the family habit of making my own.
The following is my preferred method, reached after a few months of experimentation. Any kind of bread flour will do - I have successfully used just white flour, half-and half wholemeal and white, spelt flour etc etc. My favourite is about 1/2 wholemeal or spelt - 1/2 white flour.
Bread
550g bread flour
15g fresh yeast (or about a teaspoon dried yeast)
330ml water at blood temperature
1 teaspoon salt
Roll up your sleeves and wash your hands - they're going to get stuck in!
Dissolve the yeast in a little of the warm water.
In a separate bowl mix together the flour and salt, then pour in the dissolved yeast and mix it together with your hands. Gradually add the rest of the water mixing it in until the mixture forms a soft dough. It shouldn't be too sticky - if it is sprinkle it with a little more flour. Don't rush this and be aware that sometimes you will need a little more water, sometimes a little less. The absorbency (hmm is that a word?) of the flour will vary depending on weather etc. It takes a little while for flour to fully absorb the liquid, so if you rush and add all the water at once you could end up with an overly sticky dough.
Turn your dough out onto a floured surface and kneed for about 10 minutes until it is smooth and silky.
Put it into a clean bowl (I usually just wipe out the bowl I mixed it up in), cover with a teatowel or put inside a clean plastic bag (I usually just put it inside a Sainsbury's bag) making sure there's space above the dough for it to rise without sticking to the cover. Leave in a warm place for an hour, or a little longer if your yeast is a bit old or the room not very warm.
after an hour or so, punch the dough back to knock the air out of it (quite theraputic!) and kneed on your floured surface again for a few minutes. Then shape the dough into a roll and put into a bread tin. I use an 800g size silicon tin. This has the distinct advantage of being naturally non-stick so I don't have to grease the tin. If you have a metal bread tin (I think purists probably would prefer you did) then grease it well before you put your bread in.
Leave your dough in the tin in the warm place for a further 1/2 hour until it has risen to the top of the tin again. Preheat the oven while it rises - as hot as your oven will go; typically 220-230C.
Bake the bread for 15 minutes at this temperature, then turn the oven down to 205C for 10 minutes. After that take the loaf out of the tin and bake for a further 5-7 minutes at about 190C. You can try putting a tray of hot water in the bottom of the oven while cooking to make it slightly steamy if you want - it is meant to help the bread form a better crust, although the jury's out.
If the bread sounds hollow when you tap the base it is cooked.
Sorry the picture is a bit rubbish! This loaf was made with about 200g malted bread flour, 300g wholemeal. It didn't rise as much as a loaf mixed with some white flour would, also it was pretty cold which inhibits the rising a bit. It was tasty this morning for breakfast with some nice strawberry jam.
This isn't the method my Dad uses. He is far more thorough than me, using a starter rather than just mixing the yeast in straight away. He ends up with a bread with a more open texture, but this is a quicker method which can be cooked in the evening after work (as long as I get home on time!). If I start the process at about 6:30pm then the bread comes out of the oven before 10pm. Lovely fresh bread for breakfast!
I think people are daunted by making bread as it seems time-consuming, but actually most of that time is just waiting for it to rise. You don't have to watch it! Go and watch TV, cook the dinner, have a bath - whatever you would normally do in the evening. The other good thing about bread making is that its very forgiving. If the dough ends up rising for a bit longer you will still end up with a good loaf.
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