I recently decided to bake my own bread. It was a decision I made for two reasons, first is I am pretty sick of store bought bread that is often dry after just a day or just not that yummy. Secondly, I want to make more products myself to live a more healthy and sustainable lifestyle and avoid eating bread with preservatives from the supermarket.
So I decided to get a book and start with the easiest recipe in it! A white loaf and it came out beautiful!
I mixed 450gr of wheat with 5gr of dry yeast and 300ml of water add a pinch of salt. Mixed the two in a bowl, first with a wooden spoon and then with my hands.
You leave it for 10 mins, covered up. Then you gently pull the bread from the side to the middle in about 8 pieces and then leave it again for 10 mins. You repeat this 3 more times.
After the final one you leave the bread to rise for about an hour, in that time it should about double in size. After that hour you are ready to work the bread!
Gently squeeze out the air with your knuckles, spread some flour on your work bench and put the dough down and flatten it into a rectangle. Pull the right hand side of the dough into the center. Repeat the same with the left. Make it into a square again with your hands and then pull the top of the rectangle down to about 1/3 and fold in. Turn the dough 180 degrees and do this again. Repeat until it starts to become the shape of your bread tin. Like this:
Make sure your bread tin is well greased, your oven is 220 degrees celcius and pop the bread in for 35 minutes.
I was surprised at how nice my first attempt turned out! I can't wait to try different kinds of bread, trying a whole wheat one after this!
I had a lovely slice this morning with some of my home made butternut squash hummus, nomnom!
Any other bread bakers out here?