I would love to say that I got up at the crack of dawn and made my own bread every morning. Unfortunately I am not that organised, heck I struggle to get everyone out of the house in the mornings let alone start cooking. Homemade bread is so much nicer than any regular type you get from the supermarket. I always get the premium seedy loaves but I know they still do contain “bad things”.
There is really no excuse why I don’t make rolls, cobs, plaits more often because I am even too lazy to kneed. I just stick everything in my kitchenaid with a dough hook and turn it on. Be on guard though as the whole machine has a tendency to jump all over the place!
With the weather being so nice, I grab a kitchen towel and once the mixer has done its job after about 3 mins I take the metal bowl – put the towel on top and stick it out in the garden for a good 1.5 hours to let it rise.
At this point you can make any shape you like. Flour the worktop and go with what takes your fancy. Divide it up and make in to even sized balls, place them equally apart on a lined baking tray. If you want a lovely golden colour, whisk up an egg and paste it on top, then chuck over any seeds and stick in the oven 220 degrees centigrade preheated. Rolls around 15 mins, loaf around 20. You will know when any of it is cooked by turning it over and knocking on the bottom. If it sounds hollow then it’s cooked.
You can’t beat hot bread and butter!!
1kg strong white bread flour
2 sachets or 14g yeast
1 teaspoon salt – make sure it doesn’t touch the yeast or it will deactivate it.
2 tablespoons olive oil
Around 400 ml of Luke warm water – add bit by bit until you have a dough texture
