Bread, the secret ingredient

It has probably taken me over two years to learn how to make reasonable bread. During this time I have tried various gadgets, different recipes and varieties of yeasts and flours. During the first years I rarely made bread, certainly not edible bread, but I did manage to make doorstops, paving slabs and weapons of self defence. Later I was able to make something resembling a loaf but although this was edible it did stretch the definition of edible to its limits. We used to presume thet these loaves were good for us, certainly there was no pleasure in munching and crunching our way through them. We thought, like medicine, if it tastes this bad it must be healthy. But despite this partial success we still didn't have bread that you could eat for pleasure, certainly you would never venture to make a sandwich with it.

Then I realised the problem. I was getting too involved. I actually knew the secret but had ignored this knowledge. The only times I had bread was when it was made in the breadmaker and I was kept out of the process. By making the bread in a sealed metal box where I couldn't get at it it worked better, what was I doing wrong. Then I realised, it takes 3 hours at least to make bread. When the breadmaker is working you don't get any choice - it takes over three hours. If you try the rapid setting to try and make bread more quickly the machine starts to produce the familiar doorstops and handheld weapons.

Since then I have learnt that whatever recipe, whatever flour and whatever yeast, bread turns out fine if you complete the steps. This recipe produces a good white loaf and has good margins of error, don't be too worried about the measures and it works as well with economy lidl flour as it does with expensive branded flour.

Put about 600g of flour, about 360ml of tepid water, 1 tsp sugar, I tsp salt, a
measure of yeast and some oil (either 1tbl oil or 1oz lard) into a mixing bowl. Mix these together and then knead the dough on a floured surface.




This is the first time that time is importance. Knead for at least 7 minutes, even if you are bored or tired keep going. Listen to the radio and keep going until you have nice ball of dough.


Now put this in  bowl and cover with a cloth and wait until it doubles in size. This will take a lot longer then you think.  Go out for a walk, surf the net in another room, visit the neighbours, but do not do anything to the bread.

It will probably take one totwo hours. If you are not sure if it has doubled in size then it hasn't, go for another walk.


Now knock back the bread; this means taking that lovely risen dough and kneading it back to the way it looked a few hours ago.  Psychologically it may be hard to do this as all the rising seems to be wasted by this process, but it is vital. So knock it back and think to yourself that you are halfway there.

Shape the dough into a loaf shape and cut the top if you want to do this. Leave this covered by a cloth while it rises to double its size. Again, it is time for a walk, a time to do your homework, get the dog out and throw sticks, just do anything other than annoy the bread.

Once it has doubled again put it in a hot oven, around 200, for about 40 minutes. For a crisper crust put a plate of boiling water in the oven along with the bread as the steam helps crust development.

Take it out, try and wait for it to cool before cutting it.

Once cooled you have an edible loaf and you can even consider making sandwiches.

If this takes too long you can buy a quick loaf from the supermarket, however, it will need to be a cheap one to compare as I estimate that this loaf (including all ingredients and power) costs around 55p to make.