Best Homemade Bread
I make this bread all the time, yes, it needs a few hours of proving, but you could make the dough in the morning before you head out for the day, ready for the last bit of prep, when you get home, or just as simply, prepare dough by 3pm for a 7pm dinnner.
I used to be so scared of making bread, who knows why, I think it was something to do with the yeast, will I use too much, too little, how does it yeast even work? It was like bread was some magical thing that was beyond my skills. No longer, homemade bread is easy, and so much nicer than store bought.
This recipe can be halved, half recipe will make one big flat bread, full recipe will make two. You can also use this recipe to make loaves, I just prefer flat breads.
20gm Yeast (I use Edmonds or Tasti Active yeast granules) 20gm is = about 6.5 teasoons. 7 will be fine
1Tblsp Honey
600ml warm water (Recipe is good with just water, but better with secret ingredients below)
Secret ingredient: instead of 600ml water, use 500ml’s water, 1/2 cup plain yoghurt ,and juice of half a lemon.
1kg Flour – you can use plain, wholemeal or a mixture.
Put yeast, honey and water in a bowl, and leave until frothy, about 5-10 minutes. Add flour, mix in with a spoon or butter knife and then knead, not long, maybe 5 minutes, until it feels like bread dough should feel, not too wet, not too dry, nice and bouncy kind of feeling, keep adjusting water and flour until you get it just right.
Let it sit in a warm place for 3 hours (you can get away with 1 hour, but it wont be as good) I cover with a tea towel and put mine in the hot water cupboard. Somewhere warmish, or room temperature at least, not a cold place.
Once it has risen, hopefully up to the tea towel (but don’t worry if it doesn’t on your first attempt) punch it, yeah like really punch it, right in the middle, it will deflate, and then you knead it again, adding more flour or water if needed to get back to that lovely bread dough consistency. Not to wet, not too dry. It won’t knead too much kneading at this stage, just to get back to a good dough.
Press out onto a lightly floured baking tray (yes, oven sized baking tray) to the shape and thickness you like. Our baking trays, are big, they are the size of the baking racks in the oven, and the bread goes to about within 10-20cm of the edges.
Leave to rise a little bit again (just sitting on the bench) for about 20-30 minutes, then criss cross with a knife (not all the way through), just as a kind of marker for pulling apart later. Think pizza bread. I then sprinkle with flaky or coarse salt, and rubbed oregano, and then sloosh a little olive oil over, and bake at about 180deg for 20-30 minutes.
You can also just bake with no salt, oregano or olive oil and it will still be lovely.
The picture above is a stock photo, so not the bread I make, but it’s kind of got the look of it, especially the top loaf. You could get fancy and make leaf shaped breads like these though. Go wild my friends, let cooking be a joy.
Yes the recipe sounds hmmm, not exact, but I think cooking is not an exact science, baking is, but cooking, we can be a bit more creative.
The most important thing, is to cook with love, then it comes through the food.
Enjoy your bread xx
