Bread (including recipe for a white loaf)

Made my first loaf of white bread today. And it was good. So much so that I just could not resist having a warm slice slathered in butter.

Quickly followed by another and some excellent Tiptree raspberry jam.

It was a very satisfying process at each stage from the physical exertions of kneading to cutting through the thin crisp crust for the first time.

This bread has six simple ingredients compared to the 10+ in the last loaf I bought (if you want to know the ingredients were: wheat flour, water, yeast, salt, spirit vinegar, soya flour, emulsifier: mono- and diacetyl tartaric acid esters of mono and diglycerides of fatty acids, vegetable oil (rapeseed, sunflower, palm), flour treatment agent: asorbic acid)

Tasty as it was, I think I'm on the edge of obsession though. Thoughts of researching kneading method, using different flours and making more interesting loaves have been occupying most of my idle moments...

White loaf recipe

Ingredients:
500g strong white bread flour
1oz butter
1tbsp sugar
1½tsp salt
1 sachet dried yeast (7g)
~12fl oz warm water

Method:
1. In a large bowl rub together the butter and flour
2. Add the sugar, salt and yeast. Slowly mix in the warm water to make a soft dough.
3. Knead, on a lightly floured surface, for about 10mins, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
4. Put the dough back in the bowl, covered with a tea towel, and leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour.
5. Knock back the then place in a 1½lb loaf tin. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place for about ½ an hour, until it has doubled in size.
6. Bake at 230°C for 15 mins then turn down the oven to 200°C and bake for another 15mins.
7. After this time is up, take the bread out f the oven and the tin. Tap on the bottom of the loaf. If it sounds hollow then the bread is ready.