On my one day off work this week I decided to get up early and make bread. (Madness, I know!) I'm determined to master bread because fresh homemade bread is so much nicer than shop bought loaves.
Bread dough is surprisingly easy to make: strong bread flour, fast action yeast and salt into the mixer. Beat lightly on minimum speed whilst adding lukewarm water gradually. I freaked out a bit here at how quickly it balled up around the dough hook and worried about it being dry and added a little bit more water. This, as it turned out, was not needed. The dough remained a bit too wet and sticky for the remainder of the baking process. But I left this to prove over an hour and a half (while I gymmed and did the laundry) and came back to it more than double the size! This amazes me every time.
Next I knocked the dough back in the mixer for a couple of minutes and tipped it out onto a floured surface to knead and fold a little more. This was really difficult due to how sticky I'd made the dough and I didn't want to add too much extra flour to my hands and the surface incase it changed the dough before baking. I remember the Great British Bake Off telling me to use minimal flour. I think. It was only here I decided on making cobs instead of a loaf as I figured it would cook more evenly if I really had screwed up the mixture.
I cut up the dough into eight pieces and used the Paul Hollywood technique to roll into balls under cupped hands. It works extremely well! These were left on a tray for another hour to rise (and became huge!) before baking for 20 minutes.
It smelt amazing while they baked and when I took them out of the oven they felt firm on top, but soft when squeezed a little. Once they had cooled I obviously made a sandwich! It tasted amazing. I like making bread!
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