Quizzes & Puzzles0 min ago
Foolproof Bread Recipe??
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My bread maker seems to have packed up. Help?? Oven recipes pls x
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I’ve used this one and it has always come out well. You could probably use different types of flour (though I have just tried the strong white)
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This is the foolproof Nigel Slater recipe I used for years.
1 kg white bread flour
2 x 7g satchets yeast
20gm salt
About 700 ml water
Take your largest, widest mixing bowl and tip in the flour, yeast, and salt. Pour in almost all of the water and mix to a sticky dough. Keep mixing for a minute or so–the dough will become less sticky–then add a little more flour until you have a dough that is soft and springy and still slightly sticky to the touch.
Generously flour a large, flat work surface and scoop the dough out onto it. Work the dough with your hands, pushing it flat with your palms, then folding the far edge toward you and pushing it back into the dough with the heel of your hand. Continue pushing and folding the dough. WOrk firmly but gently, with none of that brutal banging people tell you about, folding and pushing the ball between your hands. It should feel soft, springy, and alive (which, of course, being full of yeast, it is). The technique is less important than you may have been led to believe. What is important is that you carry on gently but firmly pummeling the dough. As you do so, you will feel it get lighter and more springy. Keep this up for almost ten minutes. If you find it exhausting, then you are pushing the dough too hard.
Place the ball of dough back in the bowl, cover it with a clean tea towel, and put it somewhere warm, but not hot, for an hour or so. It should be well out of a draft. An airing cupboard is ideal. I don’t have one, so I end up balancing the bowl on a thick towel over the radiator. The dough should almost double in size. The time this takes will depend on how hot or moist your room is, the exact type of flour you have used, and the age of your yeast, but it will probably be about forty-five minutes to an hour.
Once the dough has doubled in size, you need to tip it out onto the floured surface again, scraping out the dough that has stuck to the bowl, and give it another short session of pushing and squeezing; a couple of minutes will do fine. Bring the dough into a ball again and place it on a floured baking sheet. Dust it heavily with flour, then cover with a tea towel and return it to its warm place to rise again. Set the oven at 500 F. After an hour or so the dough will have spread and somewhat alarmingly. You want it to be twice its original size–or as near as damn it. Gently, and I do mean gently, tuck it back into a neat, high ball,
then place it softly in the hot oven. Don’t slam the door.
Leave the loaf to bake for ten minutes, then turn the heat down to 425 F. After 25 or 30 minutes you can check the loaf for doneness. It should sound hollow when you tap its bottom. Like a drum. Let the loaf cool on a wire rack. Try not to cut straight into it; give it time to settle before slicing.
Take your largest, widest mixing bowl and tip in the flour, yeast, and salt. Pour in almost all of the water and mix to a sticky dough. Keep mixing for a minute or so–the dough will become less sticky–then add a little more flour until you have a dough that is soft and springy and still slightly sticky to the touch.
Generously flour a large, flat work surface and scoop the dough out onto it. Work the dough with your hands, pushing it flat with your palms, then folding the far edge toward you and pushing it back into the dough with the heel of your hand. Continue pushing and folding the dough. WOrk firmly but gently, with none of that brutal banging people tell you about, folding and pushing the ball between your hands. It should feel soft, springy, and alive (which, of course, being full of yeast, it is). The technique is less important than you may have been led to believe. What is important is that you carry on gently but firmly pummeling the dough. As you do so, you will feel it get lighter and more springy. Keep this up for almost ten minutes. If you find it exhausting, then you are pushing the dough too hard.
1 kg white bread flour
2 x 7g satchets yeast
20gm salt
About 700 ml water
Take your largest, widest mixing bowl and tip in the flour, yeast, and salt. Pour in almost all of the water and mix to a sticky dough. Keep mixing for a minute or so–the dough will become less sticky–then add a little more flour until you have a dough that is soft and springy and still slightly sticky to the touch.
Generously flour a large, flat work surface and scoop the dough out onto it. Work the dough with your hands, pushing it flat with your palms, then folding the far edge toward you and pushing it back into the dough with the heel of your hand. Continue pushing and folding the dough. WOrk firmly but gently, with none of that brutal banging people tell you about, folding and pushing the ball between your hands. It should feel soft, springy, and alive (which, of course, being full of yeast, it is). The technique is less important than you may have been led to believe. What is important is that you carry on gently but firmly pummeling the dough. As you do so, you will feel it get lighter and more springy. Keep this up for almost ten minutes. If you find it exhausting, then you are pushing the dough too hard.
Place the ball of dough back in the bowl, cover it with a clean tea towel, and put it somewhere warm, but not hot, for an hour or so. It should be well out of a draft. An airing cupboard is ideal. I don’t have one, so I end up balancing the bowl on a thick towel over the radiator. The dough should almost double in size. The time this takes will depend on how hot or moist your room is, the exact type of flour you have used, and the age of your yeast, but it will probably be about forty-five minutes to an hour.
Once the dough has doubled in size, you need to tip it out onto the floured surface again, scraping out the dough that has stuck to the bowl, and give it another short session of pushing and squeezing; a couple of minutes will do fine. Bring the dough into a ball again and place it on a floured baking sheet. Dust it heavily with flour, then cover with a tea towel and return it to its warm place to rise again. Set the oven at 500 F. After an hour or so the dough will have spread and somewhat alarmingly. You want it to be twice its original size–or as near as damn it. Gently, and I do mean gently, tuck it back into a neat, high ball,
then place it softly in the hot oven. Don’t slam the door.
Leave the loaf to bake for ten minutes, then turn the heat down to 425 F. After 25 or 30 minutes you can check the loaf for doneness. It should sound hollow when you tap its bottom. Like a drum. Let the loaf cool on a wire rack. Try not to cut straight into it; give it time to settle before slicing.
Take your largest, widest mixing bowl and tip in the flour, yeast, and salt. Pour in almost all of the water and mix to a sticky dough. Keep mixing for a minute or so–the dough will become less sticky–then add a little more flour until you have a dough that is soft and springy and still slightly sticky to the touch.
Generously flour a large, flat work surface and scoop the dough out onto it. Work the dough with your hands, pushing it flat with your palms, then folding the far edge toward you and pushing it back into the dough with the heel of your hand. Continue pushing and folding the dough. WOrk firmly but gently, with none of that brutal banging people tell you about, folding and pushing the ball between your hands. It should feel soft, springy, and alive (which, of course, being full of yeast, it is). The technique is less important than you may have been led to believe. What is important is that you carry on gently but firmly pummeling the dough. As you do so, you will feel it get lighter and more springy. Keep this up for almost ten minutes. If you find it exhausting, then you are pushing the dough too hard.
If you can get Buttermilk in your neck of the woods - this is totally idiot proof :
Rich, Moist White Soda
340g Strong White Flour
120g Wholemeal Flour
1½ teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1½ tablespoons Sugar
Mix all the dry ingredients
Mix one egg with buttermilk to make a total of 360ml of wet ingredients
Stir 1 tablespoon lemon juice into wet ingredients
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients
Mix well (don't overwork)
Chuck the mixture into a Silicone Loaf Tin and roughen the top a bit
About 45-50 mins in pre-heated fan oven at 190ºC
Rich, Moist White Soda
340g Strong White Flour
120g Wholemeal Flour
1½ teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1½ tablespoons Sugar
Mix all the dry ingredients
Mix one egg with buttermilk to make a total of 360ml of wet ingredients
Stir 1 tablespoon lemon juice into wet ingredients
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients
Mix well (don't overwork)
Chuck the mixture into a Silicone Loaf Tin and roughen the top a bit
About 45-50 mins in pre-heated fan oven at 190ºC
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