I am still busy focussing on my bread success, and repeating it… and just continuing to ignore the four jars of ‘Smoky Mountain Strawberry Jam’ that are sitting on my kitchen windowsill. For some reason I just can’t bear to throw them out, yet there is no way anyone is going to eat them… But I was busy ignoring that wasn’t I.. so back to the bread.
After I posted my bread success, I had lots of comments and emails asking me for my bread recipe. It’s taken me this long to post it because um… well… it’s like the most simple recipe ever! It’s from the taste.com.au website, and I barely modified it at all…
Basic White Bread
500g (3 1/3 cups) plain flour – I used half bread flour and half normal flour cause that’s what I had
2 tsp (7g/) dried yeast
1 tsp salt
375mls (1 1/2 cups) lukewarm water
Check out the web site for detailed instructions because I kind of cheat a little and can’t tell you exactly what I did to make the last few loaves of bread so much better than all my failures in the past.
I mix my ingredients a little bit in the bread maker bowl thingy, then set it to dough so it mixes, kneads and does the first rise for me. Then I dump it out, punch it down, cut it in two and set both halves in the bread tin. I give the top a light spray with olive oil and over it with a damp tea towel.
If it’s a cold day (like today) I don’t even bother to try to make a loaf bread unless the fire is on (we are making Naan for dinner instead – no tricky second rise). If the fire is on then the tin goes on a wooden chopping board on top of the wood fired heater. If it is a nice warm sunny day it goes in a sunny patch in the kitchen and I keep checking and moving it to follow the sun. Then I wait…
It seems to take about 45 minutes for my bread to rise up to the top of the tin (it is a high sided loaf tin) and then I very carefully and gently put it in a hot oven – which I have preheated to around 200. Oh and right before I put the bread in I put a cup or so of cold water in the cast iron pan that lives in the bottom of our oven (no storage in our kitchen) because I read somewhere that steam in the oven is good for the crust?
You see really I have no idea what I am doing… I am quietly sitting here waiting for my good run on bread to finish as abruptly as it started. So really you probably should ignore all the stuff I just said about making bread and go read this post at Blue Yonder I’m sure you’ll have much more better bread if you do!
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t usually fuss about the second rise… once the bread is ready to go I sit it on top of the oven and turn it on. Once it’s preheated, in it goes. I don’t usually do loaves tho, just rolls and pull-aparts. But they all work beautifully without the whole ‘doubling in size’ bizzo the second time.
Thanks for the instructions Kate! And I really like the lack of fussyness in what you do PaganRach – that sounds like my kind of breadmaking – no annoying “doubling in size” – shall try that and see if it works!
I’ll just stick to my breadmaker…. lol
sorry I haven’t been over much lately – I’ve been a little distracted with things at home.
Thanks Kate. :) I’ve been meaning to make bread again ever since you last posted about it. I found a couple of equally simple recipes but just haven’t got around to doing it…
I will definitelt try your idea of putting some water in the oven. I’ve never managed a good crust before.
If the day was cold I used to rise it on the very lowest setting of the oven – I think it needs to be 98 degrees farenheit.
If you cant get the setting low enough warm the oven to the desired temp, turn it off and let the bread rise in the oven. The walls should be warm enough for the time it takes.
The new “dough rising function” on my oven has water in the bottom to stop it drying out during rising and doesn’t cover the bowl. When it has risen you taken it out and rapidly heat up the oven.
I’ll post my basic bread instructions next time I get around to making some, cos I like to have pics :)