Lets make bread? C'mon! you CAN do it! Its easy!

Anyone who knows me personally knows I love to make bread!
I think I might have yeast in my veins (along with coffee!) :)

I have been making bread for what seems like forever, I am going to guess about 10 yrs? and in that time I have had *alot* of failures and learnt alot of lessons!

My breadmaking got to a point where I had a little business going, and many family and friends would buy freshly made bread for their families. Now I have heard some of you have been missing those Tuesdays, so that's prompted me to share how I make my bread! And I really hope it will encourage anyone who reads it to have a go and make their own.

 

Lets talk about the ingredients first. I am a no fuss kind of girl. The ingredients I use are easy to come by, I am also a frugal girl, while I would love to live the organic life its just not a viable option for my family at the moment! 

I use a Lauke Flour ~Wallaby bakers flour~ available in most supermarkets 5kg bag for about $10 (that will make you about 20ish loaves!) Lauke support organic farmers and buy organic wheat when they can, but are not certified organic (and its made in Victoria!)

Other than flour I use

•  Salt, if you want to use fancy salt go right ahead! I use boring salt ;)
•  Sugar, doesn't matter what type! I use raw, white is fine, you can easily substitute it with honey
• Yeast, I buy the Lowan yeast you can see in the picture, its the cheapest way to buy it.
• Oil of some sort, we use olive oil, sometimes a veg oil, marg if that's your thing and butter is very yummy too!
• I have a multigrain mix that I make up, which we can chat about another time, so if you want a bit more substance to your bread a good handful of oats or even quick cooking oats is a good addition. 

Easy so far right! I would guess that you have most of these things already, the flour and the yeast will set you back probably $15....not much of an investment..... :)

Ok, next lets think about equipment. I am lucky enough to have a professional Kitchen Aid (still loving it!). Bread has been made by hand for about a gazillion years, if you don't have a mixer with a dough hook, your bread will still be awesome!
The one thing I have that absolutely guarantees perfect bread everytime is a set of digital scales.

go. buy. some. now. Trust me!

Ask Santa, steal your neighbours, whatever!...actually you can pick them up pretty cheap these days so no need to steal!
Other than the scales a big bowl, a spoon and some kind of baking tray and bread/cake tin are good too!
So.....are you ready??

The Recipe and Method

My recipe makes about 1400gms of dough, if your gonna do it, you may as well make extra and freeze it or just eat more :) This is enough to make 2 large loaves, or 1 and a couple of pull aparts. If you're making it by hand, go ahead and use the quantities I give, if you are using a machine you will probably need to divide it by half, check your machine instructions on how much it can handle! 

•  In a big bowl add 420gms of warm water (yes weigh the water too!)
• Add 9gms each of salt, sugar and yeast
• Add 30gms of oil
• Add 750gms of flour (and your handful of oats if you want) 

• Mix it either by machine, or spoon and then your hands
• Knead the dough (plenty of great diagrams/instructions on Google) until it becomes smooth and elastic

 

• Now its time to let it rise, cover your bowl with something like glad wrap, or even a plate and put it somewhere warm (sometimes I put mine out in the sun, or on the oven if its on etc). I think humidity is a key factor at this point so while most recipes suggest covering with a tea towel I prefer my own way!
• Let it rise until its about twice its original size. 
• Give it a bit of a knead again until its back to its normal size.
• Here's where the fun starts! Decide WHAT shape your dough will be! I weigh my dough as well which helps to know how long to cook it for and in your presentation :) (yes I am anal about it!) 300gm is a good amount of dough for a plait, so out of my recipe I will make 2 plaits and use the rest for a loaf
• So using your scales divide up your dough.
• Lets make a ham cheese tomato plait! (my kids fav!)
• Roll out your dough into a long kind of shape (like the photo, though no need to be perfect) and place it on some baking paper
• Using a spoon, spread on some ready made (I know, I know I should make my own!) pasta sauce

 

•  Lay some ham on top.....we like a good ham, double smoked is yum

• Then some cheese, whatever sort! Mine is just block tasty cheese chopped up ( I hate grating cheese!)
• Now for the fun bit! If you look closely at the photo below you can see I have made 1 inch wide? cuts along the edge (on both sides about 1/3 through) these are the parts we are going to 'plait'

• starting on one side fold one flap on an angle towards the middle, the do the same to the other side trying to fold it over the previous flap. Don't be afraid to stretch them, its only dough :)

• Continue alternating all the way until the end, with any odd bits just tuck them under or fold them over, its doesn't really matter! Sprinkle some cheese on if you like. Don't be too concerned with neat and tidy consider it 'rustic'! Its still going to taste great! Lift it using the baking paper on to a tray.
• Its now I preheat my dinosaur electric oven to 180- 200 degrees (and sit my tray on top for the 2nd rise)
• Cover if with plastic again and let it rise again for about an hour if its in a nice warm spot, it won't want to double its size again with all the filling in it but it should look nice and chubby :) perhaps a little more than the photo below!

• For a loaf, follow the same rising instructions but in a tin sprayed with cooking spray (any tin will do!)

• Cook then in your preheated oven till they are nice and brown and sound hollow when you tap them on the bottom!

 

And that's it! I know it seems like a lot of instructions but its pretty quick really, other than the rising time you could make it with only 20 minutes at your kitchen bench. There are many many fillings you could use, don't be afraid to experiment!

I often make the plaits, chop them up into kids size bits, freeze them, then I can just put them in their lunch box instead of a sandwich and have happy kids :)

Something I would like you to keep in mind, don't expect your beautiful homemade bread to be like white bread from the supermarket, it WILL be much better and your house will smell heavenly!

If somethings not clear, please feel free to ask I am happy to help :)

So go on.....just do it!

Jacq :)