| This is the simplest but possibly the best of all the | | | | the shelf however. If you can not find any fresh yeast |
| recipes we have for baking a plain white loaf. It is | | | | use dried yeast but make sure you rehydrate it for |
| made up of simply four ingredients flour, water, salt | | | | fifteen minutes before adding to the flour. To rehydrate |
| and yeast. The basic quantities are as follows: | | | | the yeast add a teaspoon of dried yeast to a cup with |
| Flour - 500g | | | | half a cup full of luke warm water and half a teaspoon |
| Water - 300ml | | | | of sugar. After fifteen minutes a creamy head should |
| Yeast - 1 teaspoon | | | | appear on the cup, scoop up this creamy head and |
| Salt - 1 teaspoon | | | | add that to the bread mixture. Do not add the water |
| The first thing I am going to talk about is flour. This is | | | | or the dried yeast clumps. |
| the main component of any good loaf. Flour comes in | | | | Salt - Salt is what gives bread its seasoning and |
| a variety of grades from numerous suppliers. You | | | | flavour. I find finely ground sea salt is the best for my |
| want to look out for a "strong white bread flour" this | | | | tastes but experiment and find what suits your taste |
| will be ideal for baking bread. Flour quality varies | | | | buds. There are a endless number of salts available. |
| throughout the year, obviously it is harvested and milled | | | | Famously the French Laundry in the Napa Valley |
| and the quality slowly deteriorates until the next | | | | serves a salt course. A whole course of a tasting |
| seasons harvest comes in. It is definitely worth trying | | | | menu dedicated to various types of salt. If you can't |
| another producer if you start to notice your bread | | | | afford three Michelin star luxury head to your local |
| becoming doughy or not rising to its potential as | | | | supermarket and see what you can find. |
| different manufacturers store and treat the flour | | | | Bread Maker |
| differently resulting in a wide variance in the quality. | | | | Combine all ingredients together in the mixing bowl. |
| Generally speaking the more you pay for flour the | | | | Set the bread maker to bake on large setting with |
| better quality you get. This could be said about a | | | | medium crust. Always use a slow bake option as |
| number of things but particularly with food products | | | | opposed to the fast bakes which rush the process. |
| you really do get what you paid for. | | | | Wait until the machine beeps to say its done. Remove |
| The second thing I want to talk about is water. While | | | | the bread immediately and place on a cooling rack for |
| you can use standard tap water I find that using | | | | 30 minutes before slicing. Bake by hand |
| sparkling mineral water really improves the final quality | | | | Mix the ingredients together in a mixing bowl and |
| of your bread. Sparkling water is carbonated with the | | | | kneed for approximately fifteen minutes. This can be a |
| same gas, carbon dioxide, that is produced when | | | | hard workout but the effort will pay off. Kneed until |
| yeast ferments. Whichever water you use make sure | | | | you get a stringy pliable dough which isn't too sticky. |
| it is lukewarm. The optimal temperature is 28 degrees | | | | Place in a bread tin and place in the oven at 180c for |
| centigrade. This gives the yeast a kick start and gets | | | | between thirty and forty minutes. Check the crust has |
| them working converting the natural sugars into carbon | | | | just started to brown and then take out and place on |
| dioxide. | | | | a rack for 30 minutes to cool. |
| Yeast - The absolute best yeast you can use is fresh | | | | However you make your bread make sure you |
| yeast. You can normally get this if you ask at a bakers | | | | source the best ingredients and with a little care and |
| or supermarket bakery counter. It is not usually sold off | | | | preparation you will be able to bake a fantastic loaf. |