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“Am making Lynda’s bread…”

That was one of my early messages today.

“Me too!” I replied.

I tried experimenting with bread recipes four times over Lockdown and the previous three had not been good.

Mind you, one of them was ok, though – it was more like a ciabatta. But what I wanted was a plain, simple loaf of bread and here it is:

Ingredients

500g white bread flour

30g fresh yeast (7g quick rise dried yeast)

10 floz tepid water (36°C)

10g (1 dessert spoon) brown sugar

40g butter (melted/softened)

 7½g (1½ teaspoons) of salt

Notes:

2 minutes in the food processor is about 10-12 minutes by hand

You want a nice elastic mixture – don’t over-knead it

If you’re using dried yeast – follow the instructions on the packet.

Method

1. Dissolve the sugar in 10 fl oz of hot water and leave to cool to about 36°C
2. Leave the fresh yeast to reach room temperature
3. Mix the yeast into the tepid sugar solution
4. Melt/soften the butter
5. Mix the flour and the salt in a food processor (using the dough tool)
6. Add the melted/softened butter to the flour and mix (in the food processor)
7. Turn the food process on low (no.1) and pour the yeast and sugar liquid into the flour, butter and salt mixture.
8. It will form a nice ball.
9. Process/mix for 2 minutes maximum
10. Grease your surface, put the dough ball onto the surface.
11. Place a large bowl over the top of the dough and allow it to proof for an hour or until the dough doubles in size
12. Do not put in the oven as the yeast will proof too quickly
13. Knock out the air and put it back into the food processor for 1 minute maximum
14. Roll out and put into a greased loaf tin (there’s enough for two small loaves)
15. Leave to proof again for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size
16. Preheat the oven at 200°C (fan assisted)
17. Place a roasting tin with water at the bottom of the oven
18. Carefully sprinkle the dough with flour and score thinly with a sharp knife – be careful not to deflate it (I’ve not managed to score without deflating so I don’t bother!)
19. Place the dough (in the loaf tins) into the oven and cook for 30 minutes
20. Take out and leave to cool

Another note: this is delicious as toast the next day – if you can get it to last that long!