Bread

I've been making all our bread for a while now. It tastes so much better than shop bought and works out cheaper. Although it takes a couple of hours overall, most of that time it is just sitting rising, I don't need to actually do much to it. I use my food mixer with a dough hook attached, so I don't even knead it myself.

The basic recipe I use is

500g Strong Flour

1Tsp fast acting yeast

1Tsp Salt

1Tsp sugar

A 'glug' of oil (usually olive)

About 300ml warm water

Everything goes into the mixer for about 10 minutes, it should form a ball of dough, sometimes it needs more or less water (if it gets too wet I just add a bit more flour). The dough gets left in the mixer bowl, with a clean tea towel over it, until it has doubled in size.

I then tip it out onto a floured worktop give it a quick knead and put it in a bread tin or sometimes I make it into rolls. Then it needs to be put in a warm place until it has risen.

It needs to be baked in a hot oven for 20 minutes (rolls take 10 minutes).

This is the bread that I make most days. I have also used this recipe to make currant buns by adding extra sugar and some dried fruit and pizza bases by using half plain and half bread flour. If I'm short of time I make soda bread which can be made and baked straight away.