Why Bake Your Own?

A decent loaf from the supermarket costs two or three pounds, and often it tastes of very little. The same money spent on a bag of strong flour will give you several loaves that are fresher, better, and made entirely to your own taste. A basic white loaf costs somewhere between 25p and 40p in ingredients. Even a generous one packed with seeds or a splash of olive oil rarely breaks the pound mark.

There is more to it than money, of course. Bread making is one of those quiet, useful skills that fits neatly into a thrifty, simple life. It needs no special equipment beyond an oven, a bowl and your hands. It fills the kitchen with a smell that no candle can imitate. And once you have made four or five loaves, the whole process stops feeling like a recipe and starts feeling like a habit.

The Only Four Ingredients You Need

At its heart, bread is flour, water, yeast and salt. That is genuinely all. Everything else — milk, butter, honey, seeds — is a variation on a theme, and none of it is required for a good everyday loaf.

• Strong bread flour — about 500g for one large loaf. Strong flour has more protein, which builds the gluten that holds the loaf together. Plain flour will work in a pinch, but the rise will be flatter.
• Water — roughly 320ml, lukewarm. Tap water is fine. If your water is heavily chlorinated, leaving it in a jug for an hour helps the yeast along.
• Yeast — 7g of dried yeast, or about 10g of fresh. Fast-action sachets are convenient; dried active yeast needs waking in warm water first.
• Salt — 10g, roughly a level teaspoon and a half. Do not skip it. Salt slows the yeast slightly, which improves flavour, and without it the loaf tastes hollow and bland.

That is enough for a 800g–900g loaf, which will comfortably feed a household for a couple of days.

Mixing and Kneading: What You Are Actually Doing

Tip the flour into a large bowl, add the yeast to one side and the salt to the other. They should not sit directly against each other, as salt can inhibit the yeast. Pour in most of the water and bring it together with your hand or a wooden spoon. You are looking for a rough, shaggy mass — add the last of the water only if the dough seems dry.

Turn it out onto a clean worktop. Now knead. Push the heel of your hand into the dough, fold it back over itself, give it a quarter turn, and repeat. Do this for about ten minutes. It is tiring and it is meant to be. What you are doing is stretching and aligning the gluten strands so the dough can trap the gas the yeast produces.

You will know it is ready when the dough is smooth, springy and slightly tacky rather than sticky. A good test is the windowpane: pull off a small piece and stretch it gently between your fingers. If it goes thin enough to see light through without tearing, you are done. If it tears, knead for another two minutes.

Proving: The Part That Teaches Patience

Put the dough back in the bowl, cover it with a damp tea towel or a shower cap, and leave it somewhere warm but not hot — an airing cupboard, a sunny windowsill, or simply the corner of a kitchen where the radiator runs. It should roughly double in size, which takes one to two hours in a warm kitchen.

For a deeper, more savoury flavour, try the slow method instead. Put the covered bowl in the fridge overnight, up to about eighteen hours. Cold dough rises slowly, and the longer fermentation develops a taste that a quick loaf cannot match. Bring it back to room temperature for an hour before shaping.

Once shaped, the dough needs a second, shorter prove — around forty-five minutes to an hour — on a floured tray or in a lined tin. Press a finger gently into the side; if the dent springs back slowly and incompletely, it is ready. If it springs back immediately, give it longer.

Baking, Cooling and Keeping

Heat the oven to 230°C (210°C fan, gas mark 8) with a baking tray or stone inside. Slide the loaf onto the hot surface, or simply bake it in its tin. A small dish of water on the bottom of the oven creates steam, which gives a crisper crust.

Bake for 30–35 minutes for a large loaf. Turn it round after twenty minutes if your oven has hot spots. It is done when it is well browned and sounds hollow when you tap the base. If it sounds dull, give it another five minutes.

Cool it on a wire rack. This is the hardest part, because a hot loaf smells irresistible, but cutting it too soon lets steam escape and gives a gummy crumb. Wait at least half an hour.

Home-made bread has no preservatives, so it keeps for two to three days in a paper bag or bread bin. After that, slice and freeze it, or turn it into toast, croutons or breadcrumbs. Nothing needs to go to waste — which is, after all, the whole point.