From time to time I enjoy making the odd loaf of bread. It's a sort of mini-hobby – something that I do when I fancy it rather than all the time. Considering bread is one of our staple food it is surprising how many people can't make a simple loaf. I, when I first made a loaf, was amazed at how difficult it was to get something out the far end that was appealing to the palate (although my partner always told me it was lovely). Looking at the simplicity of the ingredients and the method you would think only a fool could get it wrong.

In reality, however, making good bread by hand is very dependent on getting the quantities of the ingredients right and using the right flour. in particular using the correct amount of water is the make or break ingredient – too much and you have a dough that can't be kneaded, too little and it just won't knead or rise properly.

Ingredients

• 750g of good quality strong (bread making) flour. I use Hovis as I find it produces the nicest bread for loaves. Allinson is fairly good but I find it makes quite a heavy loaf.
• 1 to 2 teaspoons of salt. This aids the yeast, it can be left out but the bread takes longer to rise and isn't as good at the end.
• 25g (or one knob) of butter or margarine. Alternativly use olive oil. This can be left out but it greatly increases the life of the bread by stopping it from going stale within 24 hours.
• One sachet of quick action yeast. Live yeast can be used but quick action freeze dried yeast is far more convenient.
• 450ml of warm water. I find 450ml to be a little to much. Aim for more like 430 to 450ml. It might no seem like much but that 20ml makes a lot of difference.

Method

1. Grease the loaf tin with oil, butter or margarine. You can also use flour to dry the inside of the tin and help prevent sticking if you want to watch the calories.
2. Add all the ingredients to a large bowl. Adding the water last. Make sure the water is no more than 50 deg C or you will kill the yeast and try not to pour it directly onto the yeast (put the yeast in first and cover it with the other ingredients).
3. Mix the ingredients by hand in the bowl until a dough is formed.
4. Lift the dough out and knead it on the work surface for 10 minutes. The dough might be very sticky for the first couple of minutes. Try to avoid adding extra flour but if it continues to be difficult to knead a little extra flour can dry the bread up a bit.
5. Once kneaded you have a choice of what to make. The most common thing to do would be to make one loaf alternativly divide it into two and make two smaller loaves or into six and make six buns. I'll assume you will make a single loaf.
6. Place the dough into the bread tin (assuming it is big enough to hold a 750g loaf) and cover the top with a tea towel. Place the tin somewhere warm such as an airing cupboard to let it rise. The bread will rise if it is simply left out on the side but it will take much longer.
7. Once the bread has doubled in size remove the cloth and place straight into an oven pre-heated to 210 deg C.
8. Bake for approximately 25 minutes (in a fan oven) or until the top is a dark golden brown.
9. Remove from the oven and turn out. If you tap on the base it should sound hollow. This is an indication that the bread is complete.
10. Allow to cool on a wire rack.