8 oz Strong white bread flour;
-plus a little extra
; for the top of the
; bread
1 tb Salt or less; according to
-taste
1 ts Easy blend dried yeast
1 ts Golden caster sugar
15 fl Hand hot water; about
Two 1 lb loaf tins or one 2
-lb loaf tin; well buttered
1 Warm the flour in the oven for about 10 minutes, and turn the oven off.
Sift the flour, salt, yeast and sugar into a bowl, make a well in the
centre of the mixture, and add the water.
2 Mix to a dough, starting off with a wooden spoon and using your hands in
the final stages of mixing, adding a spot more water if there are any dry
bits.
3 Wipe the bowl clean with the dough and put on a flat work surface (you
may not need to flour this). Knead the dough for three minutes or until it
develops a sheen and blisters under the surface (it should also be springy
and elastic).
4 Now either return the dough to the mixing bowl or put in to a clean bowl.
Either way cover with clingfilm lightly oiled on the side facing the dough.
5 Leave until it looks as though it has doubled in bulk, which will be
about two hours at room temperature. After that, knock the air out and
knead again for two minutes.
6 Halve the dough, pat each piece out to an oblong, and fold one end into
the centre and the other in on top. Put each into a buttered tin and
sprinkle each with flour.
7 Place the tins side by side in an oiled polythene bag until the dough
rises above the tops of the tins – this time about an hour at room
temperature. Or place all the dough in the one tin. Preheat the oven to
230c/450f/Gas 8.
8 Bake the loaves on the centre shelf for 30-40 minutes, or 35-45 minutes
for the large loaf, until they sound hollow when their bases are tapped.
9 Return them, out of their tins, upside-down to the oven to crisp the base
and side crust for about five minutes, and cool on a wire rack.
Yields
1 servings