The Most Basic Bread

I know it has been a long time since I have last posted to this blog, but that time has not been wasted. I have been developing what I hope is the most simple bread recipe possible to encourage the complete novice (or the jaded lazy baker) to get on and bake.

There are a number of things that affect the final product in bread making, and it has been experimenting with these that has taken the time (plus a bit of laziness on my part once I cracked it!). I was especially interested, as ever, in the overnight technique; with an emphasis on those that do not have a lot of time to spare in the morning. Since my wife changed jobs I have no longer had the impetus to rise so early, so I have been concentrating on developing a bread that is ready to bake first-thing. For those of you familiar with my overnight Focaccia you will know that this is the king of early baking, but for the novice it may seem a bit daunting, and there is quite a bit of work the night before.

So having thrown out the rule book on baking (apologies to any dyed-in-the-wool bakers out there) I started experimenting with single rise doughs. To vary the rising speed of the dough one can alter three main factors: the amount of yeast; the temperature of the environment; and the flour to water ratio. To achieve the result I wanted I realised I would have to meddle with all three of these.

Rising in the fridge overnight obviously takes care of point two, in order to get the rise just right I then needed to fiddle point three, the quantity of yeast, and to stop the dough sagging over such a long rise I also needed to find a balance with the flour and water ratio. This requirement for a certain stiffness does unfortunately mean the dough requires kneading, something the novice is often uncomfortable with, but it was the lesser of a number of baking evils and I intend to cover the subject in video tutorials in my next post. For now just taking out any work, family or political stress on the pliable ball in front of you should more than suffice (i.e. give it a good pounding).

So here is the finished recipe for the overnight method, and also a slightly more lengthy process for traditional baking. Both make a good crusty roll that will be cool enough to make sandwiches within half an hour of leaving the oven and can take as little as twenty minutes of actual work-time to produce (most of this the evening before). As always any leftovers can be cut, bagged and frozen to make even quicker rolls on the following days. Hopefully this will provide the new baker with the confidence to try experimenting with more technical breads and a good staple to fall back on in busy times.

So don't be shy, give it a try.