Bread Porn

I love bread.  Who in their right mind doesn't?  I love toast, I love cheese on toast.  I love tomato toast. I love sandwiches.  I love the taste, the smell, the texture...  I love all of it.  Together. At once. Not exactly healthy but I have made an exciting discovery.

I can make bread. 

If I make it I value it more and I don't just throw it in my face like a child with a tube of smarties and it it is so much easier to make than I had ever dreamed.  I have a favourite kind of bread too... Sour-dough.  It also turns out that sour-dough is one of the easiest breads to make a good job of, with little effort and it is cheap -it costs me around 30p to make a loaf!  If you have water (from the tap), some fast action yeast (£1 for 100g in your local supermarket) 10g of salt (not even 1p!) and some strong bread flour (around 85p for 1.5kg)  then you have no excuse not to make some bread porn for yourself.  

But I need a starter I hear you cry!  Well, you sort of do, but you also sort of don't.  I am planning to embark on starting a starter in the near future so I shall report back on it's lovely bubbly, smelly, glorious-ness in due course.  However if you don't have access to a starter you can still make sour-dough that looks like this:

Please excuse the tattiest breadboard in the whole of the bloody universe but it's what I have. 

So, on to the fun bit.  How do I make this glorious lump of happiness?  This is based on a recipe from River Cottage Every Day by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (which has fast become my favourite kitchen book, but more about that later) and although it takes time it takes it's own time, not yours.  What I mean by that is that you can start it and let it do it's thing while you do yours.  By evening it's ready to go in your face with dinner and by the morning it is perfect to toast, or to eggy up and millions of other options... then the rest is ready for bread crumbs, for sandwiches, for anything you take your mind to.  

So now you know how it fits into my eating day let me tell you what goes into it.

250g and then 250g of strong white bread flour

5g of fast action yeast

325ml of warm water

10g of table salt (or milled, so long as it's fine)

Any time of an evening (for me normally about 2100 when I make Brian's packed lunch): Combine the 250g of the flour, the yeast and the water together to make a firm dough.  Leave it in the bowl, cover it loosely with film and let it sit over night in a warm place (but not hot, we don't not want a dough monster all over anywhere).  

In the morning I put the dough hook in the Kenwood, add the remaining 250g of flour and the 10g of salt and leave the dough to kneed it self while I have my shower, anywhere between 0700 and 0900.  Then I take the hook out and leave it again in your warm place of choice.  

Come elevenses (predictably 1100) I knock the dough back (which is a posh way of saying that one should give it a good thump. I find it helps if you throw it about a bit too... Then leave it again in the warm and lovely place. 

After lunch (anywhere from 1230 to 1330) I knock it back and shape it into a ball.  I am hoping that some kind birthday husband will bring me a bread basket for my birthday, but till then I am using a big old melaware bowl, oiled and floured.  

Threeses (again, predictably 1500) the oven is preheated to 250 deg C, which is as high as my oven goes and I put a small pyrex bowl of water in the oven along with a flat baking sheet. As the water evaporates it makes a lovely steam in the oven, hence the bread crust comes along nicely. Once the oven is up to temperature I flour the baking sheet, put the dough on it and then put it in the oven for 15 minutes at the high heat.  After that I turn the temperature down to about 210 deg C and leave it for anywhere from 25 to 35 minutes.  

Take it out, tap it's bum and make sure it sounds hollow. Then have patience and  let it cool for at least 20 minutes (or you will ruin it, I promise it's worth the wait) and there you have it.  Loaf.  It will be cool in time for dinner at around 1800.  This is how it works in my day, which I am lucky to do as I am at home all day at the moment, how this will translate to the working day I need to figure out... wish me luck on that one!

Plonk it on the table in front of an unsuspecting guest or a hungry house-fellow and you will have a friend for life (and if you're lucky people will ask you for a loaf and if you deliver...).