[ home ]

Yeast bread

I took the bread recipe on the back of a bag of flour and slowed it down by using less yeast. I cook the bread in a pre-heated cast iron casserole so the crust gets a bit of steam and goes chewy. This recipe takes 7 hours to a loaf, but only about half an hour or so of preparation. The result is a lot tastier.

Ingredients

• 350g of strong white bread flour
• 150g of wholemeal strong bread flour
• 325g room temperature water (add up to 25 ml extra for the higher protein flours)
• 10g of salt (one and a half tsp)
• 2g instant yeast (half a tsp) for 3 to four hour rise, or one eighth tsp for overnight rise (12 to 14h)
• some oil and some flour for dusting

Method

• Mix the flours and water in a large mixing bowl until all combined. Cover and leave for an hour or two
• Add the instant yeast and salt and incorporate using the 'fold and pincer' method until you can't feel the salt any more
• Knead the bread on a clean work surface for about 5 to 10 minutes. If using extra water, the dough will be sticky, and you might need a bit of oil on the work surface and possibly a scraper
• Put back in the mixing bowl, cover and allow to rise until double or triple the volume, about 4 hours, perhaps 5
• Wet hands in warm water. Gently ease dough onto lightly floured work surface, and fold and stretch a few times. Then form a boule by dragging the dough, turning, and dragging the dough until it tightens into a ball
• Proof dough in a proofing bowl or in a shallow bowl lined with a well-floured tea-towel. Use the 'finger dent test' after about one hour to check if proved, might need 90 minutes
• Pre-heat oven and cast-iron casserole or Dutchpot to around 240 °C / Gas mark 9. Carefully flip dough into the casserole seam side up and pop lid on and bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake for a further 15 minutes or so until crust is a deep dark brown in places and almost burnt
• Turn out onto a wire rack to cool - tapping the bottom of the loaf should give a 'hollow' sound
• Leave to cool for a couple of hours. Should last three or four days if kept in a bag in the fridge

Notes

I'm always surprised what a difference two tablespoons of water can make. At 325 ml water and Lidl flour (11.8% protein white and 12.8% protein wholemeal) you get a stiff easy to work dough that forms a nice boule. At 375ml water using Canadian white flour (14.8% protein) you get a very sticky hard to manage dough and a boule that spreads a little in the proofing bowl (big holes though). I think I'm sticking to 325ml for a bit.

The first step in the method is called the autolyse step. Some of the starches in the flour break up into sugars within the first half an hour or so and that helps the yeast get started later on, so you don't need to add any sugar or honey to this recipe. In parallel, there is some gluten development, and that makes the dough easier to manage. The rest of the time helps to soften the tough bran in the wholemeal flour.

Tesco's Strong Brown Bread Flour specifies 350ml water with 500g of the flour and it works well. I used 1/8th of a tsp of yeast and left it overnight to bulk ferment after a half hour autolyse. Made a slightly sticky but OK dough and a tasty loaf.

Finishing off some Dove's farm wholemeal spelt flour (about 125g) and a bit of Tesco's Stoneground wholemeal (around 100g) with the rest being Doves' Farm Organic Strong White results in a tasty loaf. 330ml water and a lovely dough to work. I used one eighth of a teaspoon of instant yeast and overnight ferment in the cooler weather.

50:50 Barley wholemeal and strong white with 325ml water, and a bit more than an eighth of a teaspoon of the Alison's instant yeast over night. Made a small but tasty loaf with a slightly crumbly bread. Nice flavour and chewy crust. The barley flour was no-name from a health food shop (and expensive!) so trying to locate a larger bag specifically for bread making.

Keith Burnett, Last update: Monday 3rd September 2018