Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Almost Evil

Poor old white bread - it certainly has copped a battering amongst the foodinistas. Who eats it when we have access to all sorts of other breads like focaccia, ciabatta, sour dough's, breads with all types of seeds, wholemeal, rye...but sometimes you just want something simple, something basic and nothing really is as simple as plain white bread.

white bread

White Bread

3 teaspoons dry yeast
1 teaspoon caster sugar
125ml tepid water
500g plain flour sifted with 1 teaspoon fine salt
175ml tepid water

Place the yeast and sugar in a bowl along with 125ml tepid water, whisk to combine and then let sit in a warm place until the mixture is bubbling, about 10 minutes.

Add the sifted flour and salt mixture and using the dough hook of your mixer, mix together while streaming in the 175ml of water. Depending on the flour, you may need to add more water - if so then only add a tablespoon at a time, wait until fully incorporated before adding again.

Let the mixer work the dough for about 10 minutes. I like to stop it a little short of time and knead the final couple of minutes by hand - gives me a chance to feel the dough and make any adjustments if necessary.

Place the dough into an oiled bowl, cover and let it stand in a warm place until doubled in size - 1 to 2 hours should be enough.

Remove from the bowl and give it a really quick knead only to shape it for whatever tin you are using.

Oil the tin and place the dough inside, cover and let it stand again until it's doubled in size again - about a half to one hour.

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Preheat your oven during this rise to 180°C/340°F.

Bake for around 45 minutes or until it sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from tin and cool on a wire rack.

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Excuse me while I go and eat those crusty end bits.

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4 comments

  1. Ha ha! "Foodinistas" What a great name. This is the first time I've heard that.

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  2. Thanks Susan - I think we all know foodinistas!

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  3. I know I'm going way back into your archives to leave a comment, but I wanted to thank you for this clear and well-written post. I'm working on adding bread-making to my arsenal of cooking skills this year, and this post was one of the clearest and best I've seen on how to make a simple home-made white bread.

    I'm looking forward to following you in the future!!

    Dan
    Casual Kitchen

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you Daniel that is very kind of you.

    ReplyDelete

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