For the love of Bread
by
Infusing Sunshine
- April 26, 2019
Homemade Bread
Have you ever wondered how to make
homemade bread? Well, let’s try and turn your wonder into action. The making of
bread, the technique of kneading the dough and the patience of allowing the
dough to rise at its own leisure and having your home smell like a bakery is
somewhat therapeutic.
The preparation may seem like ages (well honestly its mainly you waiting around while the dough does all the work) but its definitely worth the
time when you have the golden-crusted loaf of your lovely bread before
you.
I could continue at length about my love for baking and the perks of creating
good wholesome food from scratch, but let’s be honest we are all here for the
recipe and the method.
I hope you do find delight in
creating your own masterpiece while following my step by step
method and hopefully a new found
love for handmade bread.
*
Refer to notes at the end
Firstly, begin by adding 500ml of milk and 2 tablespoons of
butter to a saucepan
(preferably one that can hold at least 1 to and 1½ liters
of liquid).
In a
large bowl, sift 6 cups of flour and add the 2 tablespoons of sugar. You can
choose to mix the dough by hand or with a kitchen mixer on medium speed.
In another
bowl combine 8 ml of yeast, ¼ cup of lukewarm water and
the cooled milk mixture.
Mix
until the dough becomes easy to handle. If you
decide to use a mixer, beat the dough at medium speed for approximately 2 to
4 minutes.
Transfer
the dough to a lightly floured surface to knead*
the dough for approximately 10 minutes.
Mold the dough into a ball.
Place the
ball of dough into a large greased bowl (I prefer to use butter) and
lightly brush the
ball of dough with butter.
Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draught
free area to rise double in size for approximately 1½ - 2 hours.
Your dough
is ready once the dough has risen and if you poke or press the dough and the
impression made remains.
Start by
punching down the dough to allow the excess air to escape.
Begin to
transfer your dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out the dough.
Divide your dough in half if you wish to make 2 loaves.
Begin by
rolling out your dough into a rectangle and fold the dough by means of a trifold, as follows:
Allow the dough to rise for a further 1 hour.
Once the
bread dough has risen, heat oven to 200℃ and bake for 25 to 40 minutes, or
until the bread sounds hollow when tapped.
(Please do
proceed with caution. Use a bread knife/spoon to lightly tap the surface
of the bread to hear a hollow sound).
Your wait
will be over soon...
via GIPHY
Serving suggestion: brush the top of the loaf of bread with butter before serving