Nothing beats the smell and taste of freshly baked homemade bread. Sometimes people shy away from baking their own bread because they think it's too difficult, or shop-bought bread is fine, or it can be too time consuming. But once you bake your own bread a few times you'll be hooked on the creations, variations and delicious recipes there are to discover and conjure up in your kitchen.
You’ll also find that baking bread brings company! Children love to measure out the ingredients with you, knead the dough and when the bread is made everyone wants a taste!
Here are some simple and easy to prepare recipes to start you off to becoming ‘Star Baker’!
Simple White Loaf
A simple homemade baked loaf of white bread is an instant crowd pleaser and rarely
lasts long. A whole loaf can quickly disappear and tastes delicious when it's still warm just with some butter spread on top.
Ingredients:
500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
25g butter
1 tbsp sugar
7g sachet dried yeast
oil, for greasing
You Will Need:
A 1kg Loaf Tin
Method:
Put the flour in a large mixing bowl and add the butter.
Rub the flour and butter together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Add the sugar, 1 tsp salt and the yeast and gradually pour in 325ml warm water, mixing continuously to form a soft dough.
Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead well for 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Put the bread dough back into the mixing bowl and cover loosely with lightly oiled cling film.
Leave in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Grease your 1kg loaf tin and turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and then knead again.
Place your dough into the prepared loaf tin and loosely cover with a fresh sheet of oiled cling film.
Set aside in a warm place and leave to prove for about 30 minutes, or until it has doubled in size again.
Preheat the oven to gas 6, 200°C, fan 180°C.
Make 3 shallow incisions across the top of the dough (tol ensure it rises evenly in the oven).
Sprinkle the surface with flour and bake for 30-35 minutes, until risen and golden and the base sounds hollow when tapped.
Seeded Wholemeal Sandwich Bread
This hearty, wholesome sandwich bread will become a firm family favourite and is packed flavour and with seeds - try pumpkin, sunflower or poppy seeds.
Ingredients:
400g strong wholemeal bread flour
100g spelt flour
7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
1 tbsp black treacle
oil, for greasing
50g mixed seeds (we used pumpkin, sunflower and poppy seeds)
1 egg yolk, loosened with a fork
You Will Need:
A 900g Loaf Tin
Method:
Combine both flours in a large bowl with the yeast and 1 tsp fine salt.
Mix the treacle with 250ml warm water until well combined, then stir into the flour to make a slightly sticky dough.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 10 minutes.
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, flip the dough over to coat it in oil, then cover with a sheet of oiled cling film.
Leave in a warm place until doubled in size – this will take about 1 hour.
Lightly oil your 900g loaf tin.
Once doubled in size, knead the dough again for 3-5 minutes to knock out the air bubbles, then add most of the seeds and work these into the dough as you knead.
Shape the dough into an oval roughly the same length as your tin.
Place in the tin and leave to prove, covered with oiled cling film, for 30-45 minutes until it has nearly doubled in size again.
Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
Gently press a finger into the loaf to check if it has had enough proving time (If the dough doesn’t spring back straight away it’s ready).
Glaze the top of the loaf with the egg yolk and sprinkle over the remaining seeds.
Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes until golden brown (if you tip the loaf out of the tin and tap the bottom, it should sound hollow).
Leave to cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
Easy-Peasy Pizza Dough
Get your mini-chef’s to join you for this recipe! They’ll love making the dough with you and you can encourage them to try new flavours by putting the toppings on their own
pizza too.
Ingredients:
For the dough:
For the toppings choose your favourite toppings, such as:
Passata or homemade tomato sauce
Mozzarella or grated cheddar cheese
Salami, pepperoni or chorizo slices
Chopped peppers, mushrooms or artichokes
Method:
To make the dough, mix the flour, yeast and salt together in a large bowl.
Stir in the olive oil and milk, then gradually add the water, mixing well to form a soft dough.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Put the dough into a clean bowl and cover with a damp tea towel.
Leave to rise for about 1½ hours, until doubled in size.
When the dough has risen, knock it back, then knead again until smooth.
Roll the dough into a ball and set aside for 30 minutes to 1 hour until risen again.
Preheat your oven to its highest setting.
Divide the dough into six balls and roll each out on a lightly floured work surface until 20cm/8in in diameter, or you can make your dough into one big pizza.
Spread a little passata (or homemade tomato sauce) over each pizza base and top with your favourite toppings.
Bake the pizzas in the oven for 10–12 minutes until the bases are crisp and golden brown around the edges and any cheese on top has melted.
Garlic Dough Balls
This easy recipe from blogger Jane Ashley makes 12 delicious dough balls. They go with so many meals or are great as a starter with parma ham and sundried tomatoes.
Ingredients:
For the dough balls
250g strong white bread flour
1 tsp caster or granulated sugar
1⁄2 tsp fast action dried yeast
1 tsp soft butter
150ml warm water
For the garlic butter
1 tbsp soft butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tbsp chopped parsley, or 1 tsp dried parsley
Method:
Put the flour and 1⁄2 teaspoon of salt in a large bowl, then stir in the sugar and yeast, then rub in the butter.
Add 150ml warm water to form a soft, slightly sticky dough.
Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes until smooth and springy.
Divide the dough into 12 small pieces and roll them into balls.
Place on a baking tray and make sure they are not touching.
Cover the dough balls with clingfilm and leave in a warm place for 40-50 minutes, or until doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 230°C, fan 210°C, gas 8.
Bake the dough balls for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6 and cook for a further 10 minutes, or until risen, golden brown and cooked through.
Cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.
Mix the soft butter and olive oil together, and mash in the garlic and parsley.
Serve the warm dough balls with the garlic mixture brushed over them.
Spiced Fruity Tea Loaf
This sweet, fruity tea loaf is bursting with flavour and tasty fruit! It can also be frozen and popped into the toaster for breakfast with jam or for a fancy afternoon snack.
Ingredients:
30g dried cherries
125g mixed golden sultanas and raisins
50g dried apricots, finely chopped
250ml strong Lady Grey or Earl Grey tea, cold
400g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
7g sachet (2 tsp) active dried yeast
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
½ tsp salt
Grated zest of 1 orange
55g butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus a little extra for brushing
1 medium free-range egg, beaten
150ml full-fat milk, warmed
Oil, for greasing
You Will Need:
A 900g Loaf Tin
Method:
Place the cherries, sultanas, raisins and apricots in a large bowl and pour over the cooled tea.
Leave to steep for a couple of hours and then drain well.
Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the yeast, cinnamon, sugar, salt and orange zest, and stir to combine.
Make a well in the centre and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine the butter, egg and milk, then pour into the well in the flour mixture.
Use a wooden spoon to mix to a soft dough and when the dough has nearly come together, add the fruit and combine.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, until the dough is elastic and smooth, adding a little extra flour if it’s too sticky.
Place the dough in a large, well-oiled bowl, cover with well-oiled cling film and leave in a warm place for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.
Knock back the dough by punching it gently, then transfer to a lightly floured surface.
Shape the dough into a rectangular shape and place into your lightly greased and floured loaf tin.
Cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6.
Brush the top of the bread with melted butter and scatter with a little sugar.
Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes until the top is golden brown and the loaf makes a hollow sound when tapped on the bottom.
Cool on a wire rack.
We hope that you enjoyed our recipes and that these will become family favourites to be enjoyed for a long time!
