I wish I had stumbled across this recipe way back when I first started baking bread. It such an easy way to make a versatile staple in your kitchen and if you're looking to improve your ingredients in your food this is so much better than the shop bought stuff which is full of such unnecessary ingredients. Bread is such a cheap, great base for a meal or a fantastic side to spin out a meal so it's a really good one to lean on when you need.
It's a really flexible recipe so don't worry if you're not exact in your measurements, its all about the feel of a nice stretchy dough. This is my go to recipe now for bread. I use it every week! It really is as simple as pop it all in a bowl, mix, kneed, prove, shape, prove, bake. I hope you come to love it as much as I do when you taste your efforts.
If you try my basic 5 ingredient bread recipe be sure to tag me and let me know on my socials.
Basic 5 ingredient Homemade Bread Loaf
Equipment
Ingredients
500g Strong White Bread Flour
2tsp Salt
7g Active Dry Yeast
3tbsp Olive Oil + 1tbsp for proving
325ml Tepid Water
2 tsp Honey
Method
Put the flour, salt and yeast in the bowl
Add your tepid water, honey and 3 tbsp of olive oil.
Combine the ingredients in the bowl, If you are using a stand mixer use a low speed to gently combine. You may need to scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure everything well mixed.
Once combined, continue to knead on a low-medium speed for aprox. 10 minutes. If kneading by hand, empty they contents of your bowl on to a clean surface and knead your dough for aprox. 10 minutes.
Lift out the dough from your bowl and shape into a ball using your hands and tucking the dough under its self to create tension on the top of the ball of dough
Put the olive oil you saved for proving in the bottom of the bowl, and roll it to coat it in the oil. to stop any sticking.
Cover with cling film or a damp tea towel and place in a warm place and leave to let rise for about 1 hour or until it has doubled in size. (TIP. You can use this time to line your loaf tin with baking parchment.)
Once your dough has doubled in size, pull your dough out of the bowl and roll and shape into a somewhat loaf like shape, insuring you tuck any ends underneath, and place in your lined loaf tin.
Cover it again with the cling film or a damp tea towel and leave it for its final rise in a warm place again for aprox. 1 hour.
You can start preheating your oven at 200 'C Fan/ 220 'C Oven/ Gas Mark 5 when there's about 15-20 minutes proving to go.
When your dough is looking nice and fluffy and bounces back when you gently poke it, your ready to bake. Remove the cling film or tea towel and score the top with a sharp knife down the centre around 1 cm deep
Pop in the the centre of the oven (leaving room for it to rise) for 20 minutes.
After the first 20 minutes drop the temperature of the oven to 180 'C Fan/ 200 'C Oven/ Gas Mark 4 and bake for a further 20 minutes.
Leave to cool in the tin. For a softer crust- wrap your loaf in a dry tea towel during the cooling process. Avoid cutting into your loaf until it has completely cooled.
Best stored in a bread bin or bread bag, rather than plastic, and will last aprox 4 days.
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
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