Basic Bread Recipe

There is truly nothing better than freshly home baked bread. Okay, it's made a little easier with my KitchenAid mixer, but I still love the process of kneading the dough, and leaving it time for proving, letting nature do its work. If you live in a place like cold Melbourne, pre-heat your oven to 100 deg C, then turn it off each time you put your dough in the oven to prove. Do not place any tea towel over your dough when proving, or the weight of the towel will not enable it to rise (I learned the hard way, when I was trying to impress my aunt on her visit). This recipe will yield two loaves of bread, so I usually half the recipe for us. Pre-heat oven to 200 deg C, and bake for 20 minutes for each loaf of bread.

30 g (1 oz) fresh yeast or 21g (3/4 oz dried yeast (3 x 7g sachets)
30 g (1 oz) honey (or sugar)
625 ml (just over 1 pint) tepid water
500 g (just over 1 lb) strong flour
500 g (just over 1 lb) semolina flour (if you can't get hold of any semolina flour then plain flour will do)
30 g (1 oz) salt
some extra flour and semolina for dusting

Stage 1
Dissolve the yeast and honey (or sugar) in half the tepid water.

Stage 2
On your largest available clean surface (even a big bowl will do if surfaces are limited), make a pile of the flour, semolina flour and salt. With one hand, make a well in the centre. (If possible, it is preferable to warm the flour and semolina flour.)

Stage 3
Pour all the dissolved yeast mixture into the centre and with four fingers of one hand make circular movements, from the centre working outwards, slowly bringing in the dry ingredients until all the yeast mixture is soaked up. Then pour the other half of the tepid water into the centre and gradually incorporate all the flour to make a moist dough. (Certain flours may need a little more water, so don't be afraid to adjust the quantities.)

Stage 4
Kneading! This is the best bit, just rolling, pushing and folding the dough over and over for 5 minutes. This develops the structure of the dough and the gluten. If any of the dough sticks to your hands, just rub them together with a little extra flour.

You can do Stages 2, 3 and 4 in a food mixer if you like, using the dough hook attachment.

Stage 5
Flour both your hands now, and lightly flour the top of the dough. Make it into a roundish shape and place on a baking tray. Score the dough with a knife - this allows it to relax and prove more quickly.

Stage 6
Leave the bread to prove for the first time. Basically we want it to double in size. This is probably the best time to preheat the oven (see oven temperatures for each bread variation). You want a warm, moist, draught-free place for the quickest prove, for example near the cooker, in the airing cupboard, in the plate warmer of a cooker or just in a warm room, and you can cover it with cling film if you want to speed it up. This proving process matures the flour flavour and should take approximately 40 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on the conditions.

Stage 7
Right, it's double the size and time to knock it back. Knead and punch the dough, knocking all the air out of it, for about a minute.

Stage 8
Shape the dough into whatever shape you want - round, flat, filled, or whatever - and leave to prove a second time in a warm place until the dough is double its size.

Stage 9
Now it's time to cook your loaf. After all your hard work, don't spoil your efforts. You want to keep the air inside the loaf, so don't knock it, put it vert gently into the oven and don't slam the door. Bake according to the recipe time and temperature given in the variations which follow, or until it's cooked. You can tell if it's cooked by tapping its bottom (if it's in a tin you'll have to take it out) - if it sounds hollow it's cooked, if it doesn't then pop it back for a little longer.

Stage 10
Place the bread on a rack to cool - for cooking time see each recipe variation. You're going to love this bread!