For most of us, bread is an essential part of many meals. For such a versatile food, it's surprisingly simple to make. If you're yearning to catch up with the bread trend that has been gripping the population for most of this year, check out our super easy guide for how to make a basic loaf of bread with ever-trustworthy Jamie Oliver. So pop to the shop and buy some ingredients, then start baking your masterpiece!
This bread is simple to make and tastes amazing. To make it you will need the following ingredients:
You will also need the following utensils:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (400 degrees Fahrenheit). Pour almost all of your 1 kg bag of strong bread flour onto the kitchen bench. Leave about two handfuls of flour in the bag. Use your hand to make a well in the middle of the flour.
Add one sachet (7 g) of yeast to 620 ml of lukewarm water. Stir the water to activate the yeast, which will start to bubble.
Add a small pinch of sugar to the water and yeast mixture. This will help the yeast to activate, and it will give your bread a slightly darker crust. Stir the water well.
Add two pinches of salt to the flour well. After the yeast has been sitting for 5 minutes, slowly begin to pour the water into the center of the flour. Slowly mix the water with the flour using a fork. Bring the flour from the outside edge of the well to the center to combine the flour and water.
Continue mixing the flour and water with a fork until they have combined, creating elastic dough. If you need to, add a small amount of flour or water.
Begin to knead the dough. It shouldn't be wet enough to leave any sticky dough on your hands. Collect all the small bits of dough into the main ball of dough.
Continue to knead the dough, using force. By now the texture should be flexible yet firm, but not sticky. The process of kneading the dough you are making the gluten stronger, which will trap the flavors of the yeast. Knead the dough for around 10 minutes.
Once the dough has been kneaded, splash a mixing bowl with some extra virgin olive oil. Spread it out around the bowl with your fingers.
Put the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film, and leave it for 2 hours.
After 2 hours, the dough should have risen to twice its original size.
Add a sprinkle of flour to the benchtop (so the flour doesn't stick to it), and take the dough out of the bowl. Separate the dough into two equal pieces.
Knead each half of dough for a minute, getting rid of any air inside it. Then knead the dough into a ball shape.
Put each ball of dough into a bread tin.
Wet a tea towel underneath warm water, then wring it out so that it's damp but not dripping. Cover your two bread tins with the warm tea towel. This will create a humid environment for the dough to rise in again. Leave the dough to rise for 1 - 1.5 hours, until it doubled in size.
Put the two bread tins inside the oven (which should be warm by now). Place them in the center of the oven. Leave them to bake for 30 - 35 minutes.
Take the bread out of the oven and tap the outside. If the bread sounds hollow when you tap it and is crisp on the top, it is ready.
Slice your loaf of bread, and eat it however you wish to. Bon appetit!