Basic bread
Ingredients
300g strong white bread flour (use 500g if you want a 100 percent white loaf), plus extra for sprinkling
200g strong wholemeal flour
5g salt
1 level tsp (4g) dried yeast
375g cold water
about 2 tbsp olive oil, for oiling your hands, work surface and loaf tin
Directions
Put the flour, salt and yeast into a big mixing bowl.
Add the water. Cold water is fine to use. The prove doesn’t need to be jump-started by warm water. A slower prove makes for better bread.
Using a large metal spoon, give the ingredients a vigorous mixing to combine. After a minute or so of mixing, the dough should be cohesive and pulling away from the sides of the bowl in a big ball. It will feel wet. It should do: don’t be tempted to add more flour.
Cover the bowl with a clean, damp tea towel and leave to rest on the worktop for an hour or more - you want the dough to approximately double in size.
Turn the dough out on to a lightly oiled work surface and knock it back with lightly oiled hands, pushing, folding and turning the dough back in on itself for a good few minutes.
If making a loaf of bread, shape into a loaf shape - tucking and folding the seams to sit on the underside. Lightly oil a 450g loaf tin, put the loaf into the tin with the damp tea towel over the top and rest for a further 30-45 minutes.
After resting, each piece of dough should have not quite doubled in size again - just rising above the lip of the tin is sufficient. You want the dough to still have a bit of unexpended energy from the yeast, so that when it hits the heat of the very hot oven, the loaves will give a final burst upwards.
Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7.
Using a sharp serrated bread knife, gently make a cut about 1cm deep along the surface of the loaf. Sprinkle a pinch or two of extra flour over the top of the loaf.
Cook the loaf for 10 minutes, then turn the oven temperature down to 190°C/gas mark 5. Continue to cook for 25-30 minutes.
To test if the loaf is ready, tip it out of the tin and give it a good tap from beneath. It should sound hollow and the loaf should have a good crust.
Rest on a wire rack for at least 45 minutes before cutting (preferably for an hour or so).