Alice Ardnell's bread recipe
There is nothing better than the smell of a freshly baked loaf of bread. Luckily, with just a few ingredients, you can make your own homemade bread! Put your own twist on this basic bread recipe by adding your favourite flavours.
Ingredients
Method
Ingredients
- 4 cups high grade flour
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 4 teaspoons bread maker yeast (or 5 teaspoons active dried yeast, activated as per package’s instructions)
- 20 ml olive oil or vegetable oil
- 340 ml water, room temperature
Cookware: Baking tray, baking sheet or loaf pans
Method
- Combine bread flour, salt, yeast, olive oil and most of the water in a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer) and mix until combined.
- Add the rest of the water if needed. The dough should be very sticky and wet at this stage and stick to your fingers and side of the bowl.
- Clear a work surface and knead dough until smooth (about 10 minutes by hand or 5-10 with a stand mixer using a dough hook). The bread dough should be smooth, satiny and stretch like elastic.
- Tip the dough into a large lightly oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size (about 2 hours).
- Knock the risen dough back lightly with your fingertips then divide into two equal balls (weigh for accuracy). Shape dough as wished (loaf, round, sausage) and place it back in the warm place to let the dough rise until doubled in size again (1-2 hours depending on the size of your loaf).
- Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- To check it is proved properly, press lightly with your fingertip. If it springs back slowly it is ready to bake. If it springs back quickly it needs more time. If it doesn’t spring back at all it is over proved and needs to go in the oven immediately.
- Bake the bread in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. It should sound hollow when tapped underneath. Cool on a wire rack.
Recipe notes
Yeast – This recipe can be created using rapid rise or instant yeas, or active dry yeast – if using the latter, you just need to change the order of the steps and dissolve the yeast in water first.
Flour – If you have it available, use bread flour. Bread flour has more protein than normal flour, which means more gluten. This makes the dough more elastic, fluffy and chewy. You can also use normal flour if you don’t have bread flour available.
You can adapt this recipe to your taste by adding sundried tomatoes, herbs and cheese of your liking just before point 5, as you go to shape the dough.
FAQ
What type of flour is best to use in bread recipes?
See Recipe Notes – Flour.
How should I store my bread?
This bread will be great fresh for two days then after that, will be better toasted or warmed. Store it in an airtight container or ziplock bag.
What’s best to serve with homemade bread?
Soup and bread is a classic for a reason! Try accompanying your bread with some of our favourites like our Kumara soup or our Broccoli and blue cheese soup. Or, if you’re looking for something a bit heartier, try our BBQ steak open sandwiches.
© Alice Arndell 2013 www.aliceinbakingland.com