How to bake your first loaf of bread: an easy white loaf for beginners

TUREFF• •0

Homemade bread looks intimidating, but a basic white loaf needs only four ingredients and mostly involves waiting. This recipe makes one large loaf, and the notes after it explain what is happening so you can fix things next time.

Ingredients

500g strong white bread flour
7g fast-action dried yeast (one sachet)
10g salt
about 320ml lukewarm water
1 tbsp olive oil or soft butter (optional, for a softer crumb)

Strong bread flour has more protein than plain flour, which builds the gluten that traps gas and makes bread rise and chewy. Plain flour works, but the loaf will be flatter and denser.

Method

Mix: put the flour in a large bowl. Add the yeast to one side and the salt to the other (salt in direct contact with yeast for a long time can slow it down). Add the oil and most of the water, and mix with your hand or a spoon until you have a shaggy dough. Add the remaining water a little at a time if there are dry bits. It should be soft and slightly sticky.
Knead: tip the dough onto a lightly floured or oiled surface and knead for about 10 minutes: push it away with the heel of your hand, fold it back, turn it a quarter and repeat. It starts rough and sticky and becomes smooth and stretchy. Resist adding lots of extra flour.
First prove: put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover it, and leave it somewhere warm until it has roughly doubled in size. This often takes one to two hours, longer in a cold kitchen.
Shape: knock the air out gently, flatten it into a rectangle, roll it up tightly and tuck the ends under. Put it seam-side down in an oiled 900g (2lb) loaf tin, or on a floured tray for a round loaf.
Second prove: cover loosely and leave until risen again, about 30 to 60 minutes. Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan) meanwhile.
Bake: for about 30 to 35 minutes, until deep golden. A tray of hot water in the bottom of the oven for the first few minutes helps the crust.
Cool: turn it out onto a rack and leave it at least an hour before cutting. The inside is still cooking as it cools, and cutting early makes it gummy.

Kneading vs no-knead

Kneading develops gluten quickly by working the dough. No-knead methods get the same result with time instead: you mix a wetter dough, leave it for many hours or overnight, and fold it a few times. The long rest builds gluten and flavour with almost no effort, but you need to plan ahead. If kneading puts you off, try a no-knead recipe; if you want bread the same day, knead.

How to tell when it is proved

First prove: doubled in size, and when you press a floured finger in, the dent fills back slowly.
Second prove: the dough has risen above the tin rim and a gentle poke springs back slowly, leaving a slight dent. If it springs back instantly, give it longer. If it does not spring back at all and looks wrinkly, it has over-proved; bake it straight away.

How to tell when it is done

The crust is a deep golden brown, not pale.
Tip it out and tap the bottom: it should sound hollow.
For certainty, a probe thermometer in the middle should read around 90°C or a little more.

If in doubt, put it back in the oven out of the tin for five minutes.

Common problems

Dense, heavy loaf: not kneaded or proved enough, old yeast, or too much flour added during kneading.
Did not rise at all: yeast was dead (check the date) or the water was too hot. Lukewarm should feel barely warm on your wrist.
Collapsed or flat top: over-proved in the second rise.
Big hole under the crust: shaped too loosely, or under-proved.
Pale, soft crust: oven not hot enough, or baked too short.
Gummy middle: underbaked, or cut while hot.

Bake it once, change one thing next time, and you will be surprised how quickly it improves. Post a photo description of your first loaf, or ask about a problem, in the comments.