BASIC BREAD RECIPE

Ingredients
30g/1oz fresh yeast or 3 x 7g sachets dried yeast
30g/1oz honey or sugar
625ml/just over 1 pint tepid water
1kg/just over 2lb strong bread flour
30g/1oz salt
some extra flour for dusting

Method
1 Dissolve the yeast and honey or sugar in half the
tepid water.

2 On a clean surface or in a large bowl, make a pile
of the flour and salt. On a clean surface or in a
large bowl, make a pile of flour and salt. Make a
well in the centre, and pour in the dissolved yeast
mixture. With four fingers of one hand, make
circular movements from the centre moving
outwards, slowly bringing in more and more of the
flour, until all the yeast mix is soaked up. Pour the
other half of the tepid water into the centre, and
gradually incorporate all the flour to make a moist
dough. (Certain flours may need a little more water,
so adjust the quantitites.)

3 Roll, push and fold the dough over and over for
five minutes, to develop the gluten and structure of
the dough. If any of the dough sticks to your hands,
just rub them together with a little flour.

4 Flour both your hands well, and lightly flour the
top of the dough. Make it into a roundish shape,
and place on a baking tray. Deeply score the dough
with a knife, allowing it to relax and prove with
ease. Leave it to prove until it's doubled in size.
Ideally you want a warm, moist, draught-free place
for the quickest prove, for example near a warm
cooker, in the airing cupboard or just in a warmish
room, and you can even cover it with clingfilm, if
you want to speed things up. This proving process
improves the flavour and texture of the dough, and
should take around 40 minutes, depending on the
conditions.

5 When the dough has doubled in size, you need to
knock the air out of it by bashing it around for a
minute. Shape it into whatever shape you want -
round, flat, filled, trayed up or tinned up - and leave
it to prove for a second time until it doubles in size
again. Don't feel a need to rush through this,
because the second proving time will give it a
lovely, delicate soft texture.

6 Now you want to keep all the air inside the loaf,
so don't knock it. Gently place it in the preheat oven
and don't slam the door. Bake according to the time
and temperature given in the recipe variations. You
can tell if your bread is cooked by tapping its
bottom (take it out of the tin first!) If it sounds
hollow, it's cooked. If not, put it back in the oven
for a little longer. Place on a rack to cool.