When baking your own bread is this simple and tastes so good, why wouldn’t you want to make your own? The hardest part is stopping yourself from eating it!

Ingredients:
1lb (5oog) Wessex Mill French Bread Flour
1/2 pint (275ml) hand-hot water
1 teaspoon of Quick Yeast (Fresh Yeast if it is available)
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 teaspoon of salt

Cooking temperature:
200C (fan assisted oven), 220C (normal oven), 425F or Gas Mark 7

How it’s done:
Add the flour to a large mixing bowl
Add the yeast and sugar to a mug
Add half of the water to the yeast & sugar (leave until it starts to foam – a minute or two)
Add salt to remaining water
Add yeast, sugar and water to flour and mix
Add water and salt to flour and mix
Add oil to the mixture and mix

A dough should start to form which you should knead into a ball in the bowl.

Remove dough ball and place on a floured surface.

Knead for about 5 minutes.

Add to a greased tin or simply form into desired shape if no tin available.

Cover with a damp tea towel and place somewhere warm such as an airing cupboard for about 30 minutes until the dough has tripled in size.

Preheat oven. Place a tray filled with about 1″ (cm) of boiling water on the bottom shelf of oven. (While this never comes into contact with your bread mixture, the water in the tray will help to make the crust crispy).

Once dough mixture has sufficiently risen, place in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes or until your loaf is brown and crispy.

Enjoy!

Editor, Third Age.