500 gms strong bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons of bread improver (available in the baking aisle)
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of instant yeast
280mls water
50 mls warm milk.
Place the water, milk and sugar into a jug, and microwave until just warm.
Sprinkle yeast over the surface and gently stir into the water mix
Cover with Cling wrap and leave to stand for approx 15-20 mins. yeast will be “activated” by the sugars and become frothy (warning, will not smell good … think stinky armpits)
Mix the rest of the dry ingredients together (sift if you have nothing better to do … I never bother)
Mix the water/yeast mix into the dry ingredients, until the mix develops into a firm ball (add water if too dry, flour if too wet …. little bits at a time but be patient as often mixing will fix an apparent imbalance of ingredients)
**** I use my Kenwood with a dough hook to knead my bread but this is not essential *****
Knead vigorously for 8-10 minutes until dough is stretchy and elastic.
Spray the inside of the mixing bowl with oil.
Place the dough in the bowl, turn over to coat with the oil, and then cover the bowl with cling wrap.
Leave the dough until it doubles in size. (this can be between 30mins to and hour – depending on how warm your kitchen is). This is called “proving”.
turn the dough out of the bowl, and knead gently. this is called “knocking down”.
Form into a log, and place into a bread tin (line the tin if it has been used for anything other than bread) or place in a round lump on a flat tray (to make a cob shape)
cover lightly with a tea towel and allow to prove for approx 30-40 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 190-200 degrees C.
Bake the bread until it sounds hollow when tapped on the base.
