Hi Guys!
Its been a while since I updated my blog but I have been happily baking away since my last post. Ive been trying to use my sparkly new kitchen appliance as much as possible and the thing ive been craving to try for a while was Bread but the thought of trying scared me until I found a recipe which seemed very straight forward and made me decide to put my dough hook to the test.
So here are the ingredients I used for a plain white loaf of bread...
Ingredients
500g Strong White Bread Flour
2 tsp salt
3 tbsps olive oil
7g sachet of fast acting yeast
300ml tepid water
Extra flour for dusting
You'll need quite a large bowl and start of by placing your flour, salt & yeast into the bowl. Make a whole in the middle and add the tepid water and oil and then bring the wet and dry ingredients together.
Now you can either flour your work surface and knead it by hand or if you have a food mixer with a dough hook attachment then use that to start the kneading. By hand you should knead for around 10minutes and with a mixer I did it for a little less time.
When you're happy with your dough wash out the bowl or take another bowl and brush this with oil so that your dough won't stick and out your dough into the oiled bowl and cover this with a teatowel or clingfilm and keep it somewhere nice and warm or just keep it in the kitchen at room temperature until your dough doubles in size. I covered mine with clingfilm and put the dough into my airing cupboard and I left it for just over an hour when it had doubled in size.
Knock back or punch your dough to bring it down a bit and place the bread onto a baking sheet moulding it into a ball shape or put it into a loaf tin if you would prefer a loaf. Leave to prove for another 30mins-1hour. When the time is up and your happy to bake it you can slash the top of the dough slightly with a knife. I put my bread into the oven at 220c (fan assisted) for 25minutes and here is my first ever loaf of homemade bread!!! :)
I know it takes a fair bit of time but trust me its such a great feeling and so worth while when you get your finished fresh white loaf out of the oven! :)
