Broken promises in bread making

I am a bad, bad blogger. Months ago (and in this post)I promised myself and you that I would bake a loaf of bread every second day until I had mastered a variety of different breads and was able to rustle up a loaf in minutes.

Have I kept this promise?  Indeed I have not.  Instead, I have bought bread from Orla and Niall (of the excellent Bácús Bakery) who man the bread stall beside me at Dingle Farmers' Market and when their bread is not available, I (shh, whisper it) buy bread from LIDL.

My conscience has reminded me of my broken promise from time to time and at such guilt-ridden moments, I have experimented with bread.  These experiments have included a sourdough fiasco, Kerstin Rodgers' wonderful pitta breads and many variations of this focaccia, which is based on a recipe by Nigel Slater.

This is a great recipe for beginners.  It's easy to make.  It always works out well.  And you can add any sort of topping that you please.

Ingredients:
450g/1lb strong white bread flour (this is just flour with a high gluten content)
1 and a half tsp salt
1 7g packet of fast-acting yeast
400ml warm water
16 cherry tomatoes
3 sprigs of rosemary
1tbsp olive oil
Cornmeal/polenta 
Sea salt  

• Place the flour, salt and yeast in a bowl.

• Make a well in the middle and pour in the water. Stir it in until you have a dough of sorts. Don't worry if it's quite sticky and gloopy.  Mine always is and it always comes right. 

• Flour your work surface generously and then turn your dough onto it.  
• Start kneading it lightly, incorporating the flour from the surface. If the mixture is still too wet and sticky, add a little more flour - until the dough no longer sticks to the work surface.  

 

• Knead the dough for five minutes more or so and then place it in a floured bowl. Cover it with clingfilm or a towel and leave it until it has risen to double its size or so. This will take 40 minutes to an hour. 

 

• Lightly oil the bottom of your baking tin (the one I used was 30cm by 20cm). Sprinkle it with a layer of the cornmeal, which will keep the base crisp and stop it from sticking.
• Set your oven to 220 degrees Celsius/430F/Gas Mark 7.
• Remove the dough from the bowl carefully. It will sink slightly. Push it into the baking tin, covering as much of the bottom as possible. Set aside once more, covered with clingfilm, for another 20 minutes or so until it has risen again. 

• Now for the fun part: cut your tomatoes in half and tear up your sprigs of rosemary. Push them into the dough. Then drizzle over the olive oil and scatter the flakes of sea salt. Soon, your dough will look pretty as a picture. 

 

• Place in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the bread is golden and crisp on top.

 

This bread is best eaten warm. Cut into slices or torn into chunks, it's perfect with salads or soups. In fact, it's perfect with so many things that it's a bread that's well worth making. Perhaps I should persist with this bread-making lark after all.  

Bread: the staff of life and the stuff of nightmares (mine, at least)

I like cooking. I love baking. But for some reason, I'm terrified at the thought of making bread.

I know it's crazy. After all, lots of people (my mum included) make bread most days so it can't be that difficult. Even I have made some successful focaccias, baguettes and other loaves of bread in the past.

But I can't help it. I feel nervous every time I'm faced with flour, yeast and water. I worry that the water may not be warm enough or, even worse, that it may be too hot. I ask myself whether I am using the right sort of yeast and enough of it. Will the bread rise? And much more importantly, will it taste good?

I've decided to face the fear. Bread is one of the most basic foodstuffs of all. People have been making it - without fuss, anxiety or worry - for centuries. So, I've set myself a challenge. I'm going to bake a loaf of bread every second day or so until I've mastered a selection of breads that I like and can make a loaf in minutes - just like my mum does.

I'm starting with what Jamie liver calls his 'basic bread recipe'. Here goes...

Ingredients:
1 kg/just over 2lb strong bread flour
625ml/just over 1 pint tepid water
30g fresh yeast or three of those 7g or 1/4 oz sachets of dried yeast
2 tbsp sugar
2 level tablespoons sea salt
Extra flour for dusting

(I was making a loaf of bread to last two people for two days so I divided these ingredients by three to make one loaf. Alternatively, I could have made three loaves and frozen two of them. That's what I'll do next time.)

Weigh all of your ingredients.

Pile the flour onto a clean surface and make a large well in the centre.

Pour half of your water into the well and add the yeast, sugar and salt.

Stir with a fork, slowly bringing the flour in from the outside of the well. Be careful not to break the walls of the well (as I did) as the water will go everywhere. Even if it does, don't worry. Continue incorporating the water until you've got a stodgy, porridge-like consistency. Don't worry about making a mess. This is what mine looked like:

Add the remaining water and continue mixing until you've achieved a stodgy consistency again. You can then be more aggressive, flouring your hands and pushing the dough together.

Then, it's time to knead. Push, fold, slap and roll the dough around for four or five minutes until you have a silky and elastic dough.

Flour the top of the dough. Put it in a bowl, cover with clingfilm and allow it to prove for about half an hour until it has doubled in size - ideally in a warm, moist and draught-free place. Mine looked like this at this stage:

Once the dough has doubled in size, knock the air out of it for 30 seconds by bashing and squashing it. You can now shape it or flavour it as required. I shaped mine into a simple round loaf.

Leave it to prove for a second time for 30 mins to an hour until it has doubled in size once more.

Gently place it on a flour-dusted baking tray and into an oven that has been pre-heated to 180 degrees. I sprinkled on some wholemeal flour for some extra crunch and left it to bake for 30 mins.

You can tell whether it's cooked by tapping the bottom. If it sounds hollow, it's done. If not, pop it back in for a while longer. I left mine in for five minutes longer at the end (making it 35 minutes baking time in total) and got a wonderful loaf as a result. I allowed it to rest for 30 minutes and then spread it with some butter and was amazed at the success of such a simple recipe.

The crust has got a crunchy bite. The bread inside is pillowy soft and light. What more could anyone ask of their first loaf of bread?

Face the fear, I tell you. It's worth it.