White loaf, bread knife, and French bread board, with slats and tray to catch the crumbs.
I could have put this entry in ‘Soothe Bake’, but I don’t really think of this as ‘baking’ — all I do is bung a load of ingredients into the bread machine, and slice the resulting loaf afterwards. Although I do this recipe with the bread machine, since I own one, I could just as easily make this bread by hand — and so could you. The ingredients are wholesome, and you can vary them: I often like to use a proportion of rye flour in amongst the bread flour. I have also used whole wheat flour, in a ratio of say, 1 part whole wheat to 3 parts bread flour, but I find that whole wheat tends to be a ‘drag’ on the rise of the loaf (even with the addition of gluten). And I don’t like the taste as much, so I tend to keep the whole wheat component rather minimal.
Anyway, here is my usual white bread recipe (without the rye). If you don’t have bread flour, use all-purpose flour instead. Bread flour is ‘stronger’, i.e. it has more protein, but you can certainly bake bread with the other flour. I find that weighing is much quicker and easier than measuring out in cups, particularly since you can ‘tare’ (or reset) the digital scale to add other ingredients of different weights.
15 ounces (or 3 cups) of bread flour
2 ¼ tsp gluten powder (optional — but I find it helps with texture and lift)
2 ¼ tsp bread machine or quick-rise yeast
scant 2 tsps salt
1 Tablespoon raw honey
1 ounce / 2 Tablespoons butter (or olive oil, if you prefer)
half cup milk (I use 2%)
half cup filtered or spring water
Pour all the ingredients in the breach machine and set to the basic cycle (kneading, rising, and baking). Allow the bread to cool (it is still cooking after the end of the cycle), and then slice. I like to freeze my bread in freezer bags, a few slices per bag. Bread soon grows stale in the fridge, but it will keep well in the freezer. My preferred method is to let it defrost at room temperature, or if I am in a hurry, to pop it in the microwave for several seconds on low power. I fine that putting a too-cold slice in the toaster gives a hard, unpleasant result. Can’t have that!