IN THE POT | WHITE BREAD

I made bread. From scratch and without no stinking bread maker.  It was all me baby!

I made bread to accompany the lamb shanks that I’d made for dinner and it was a wonderful idea.  I highly recommend it.  I even managed to have some of the leftover bread as toast the next day and it was divine.  I’m totally going to be making more bread very soon!

White Bread

40g (1½ oz) fresh yeast

310ml (10½ fl oz) warm water

20g (¾ oz) caster sugar

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

500g (1 lb 2 oz) bread flour (baker’s flour)

1½ tablespoons (30ml/1 fl oz) extra-virgin olive oil

3 teaspoons water, extra

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

1.  Place the yeast and water in the bowl of an electric mixer, and stir to dissolve.  Add the sugar, salt, flour and olive oil to the bowl.  Using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed for 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

2.  Remove the dough hook, leaving the dough in the bowl, and cover the bowl with cling wrap.  Prove in a warm place for 2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

3.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead into a log shape.  Place loaf on a baking tray and use a sharp knife to cut shallow slashes, 2cm (¾ in) apart, across the top.  Prove in a warm place for approximately 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in size.

4.  Preheat the oven to 180ºC (355ºF).

5.  Brush the loaf with the extra water and sprinkle with the sesame seeds.  Bake for 30 minutes, until the bread is golden and sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on wire rack.

Best eaten the day you bake.

Source: Bake: Essential Companion, Alison Thompson, page 25.