So to kick off the recipes in my baking for beginners section we will focus on some easy bake bread. Bread is one of the staples of many peoples diets around the world. This could be a loaf, a flat bread, pita, naan, each culture has their own variations of a traditional type of bread.
This recipe requires just 4 ingredients but produces some absolutely wonderful results.
Ingredients
- 500g Strong bread flour
- 7g fast action yeast
- 1.5 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of caster sugar
How to make easy bake bread
Step 1 – Mix it all together
Combine all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Make sure these are mixed through thoroughly. Slowly stir in 300ml of warm water until you have a tacky dough. If you find this to be a little more than tacky, keep mixing it until you get to the required consistency.
Step 2 – Knead the dough
This will take a good 15 – 20 minutes by hand or 5 – 10 minutes using a mixer with the required attachment/setting. If you’re kneading by hand, lightly flour a work surface and get to work kneading. You’re looking for a smooth but elastic feel to the dough itself. While it’s a lot of work to do this by hand this step is crucial to a good bread.
Once you have done kneading, lightly oil a clean bowl and place the dough inside. Cover it up with clingfilm or a tea towel and leave it in a warm place for it to double or triple in size. This takes around 2 hours. As you can see from the image below, it gets quite big.
Step 3 – Knead it again
After 2 hours has passed, get the dough out of the bowl and knead it again for 2 more minutes until it feels smooth. Smooth over the top using your hands and join the seam underneath the dough. This keeps it nice and smooth along the top and sides. Place this in a lightly oiled baking tin and cover for another hour with cling film or tea towel in a warm place.
Step 4 – Baking
Pre-Heat your oven to 220°C/430°f (200’C/395°f Fan Oven) once your second proving time is up. Sprinkle a little bit of flour over the top and slash the top of the dough with a knife, around 1cm down. This allows for a more even bake.
Place it in the oven for 20 minutes at 220°C/430°f (200’C/395°f Fan). Once the 20 minutes is up, turn the temperature down to 200’C (180’C Fan) and bake for another 15 minutes. After the allotted time has passed, remove the loaf carefully from the tin and tap on the bottom. If it sounds hollow then it’s done. If it sounds dense or the bottom is still a bit wet, put in back in the tin upside down and bake for another 5 minutes.
Allow to cool and serve.
Additional Notes
If you wish to add anything into the bread to flavour this, go right ahead. Add mixed herbs for that savoury herby flavour. Top it with cheese for a nice cheesy crust, Even add in some grains if you want to. The choice is yours.
This starts off the baking for beginners guide for some easy bake bread. If you would like to explore more in relation to baking check out my introduction guide and please check back soon for more easy to make recipes. Happy baking!
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