Homemade white bread

My adventures as a home baker started many months ago. I live in the outskirts of a town and do not have a nearby bakery where I could go walking, and to be honest I don’t feel like driving just to buy bread. Normally, I buy bread at the supermarket and freeze it, but half the time is burned or undercooked. On the other hand, my kids do not like the industrial sandwich bread. Result: I started making bread myself.

I did not have any kneading machine so I had to do all the work by hand. Something very comforting to the first two or three times, but since I don’t have much spare time, I soon got bored of my baking-hobby (in addition, hand kneading is very tiring!).

And that was it, until a couple of months ago when I got a bread machine; one of those they sell in Lidl. You just have to put the ingredients into the container, press the program and it does everything by itself! You do not have to worry about rising time or about not burning the bread in the oven. Fantastic!

Since then I make bread almost every week. This is the basic recipe for white bread. It is based on one included in the book "Pan" by Xavier Barriga, I just add some olive oil.

WHITE BREAD (for 750 g bread)

500 g flour (I use all-purpose flour)

2 teaspoons salt

300 ml of water

5 g of fresh yeast

1 tablespoon olive oil

• Using a bread machine

The procedure is very simple. Put all ingredients in the container, starting with the liquids. Chose program 1 (Normal) that lasts 3 hours, weight 750g, medium roast (or more you like it). When the bread is ready, remove from the container and put it in a rack to cool.

• Mixing by hand

Put all ingredients except the yeast and water in a bowl. Add the water slowly while mix by hand.

When the dough has absorbed all the water take it out of the bowl and put it on a floured surface. Stretch and fold the dough over itself several times until the dough acquires a smooth appearance. It's time to put the yeast and a little water in the center of the dough and continue kneading until fully incorporated. Form a ball with the dough and put it in a bowl covered with a damp cloth in a warm place until doubles its volume.

Then, shape the bread. For example, you can make baguettes, or put the dough into a rectangular mold. Cover with a damp cloth and let the dough ferment, i.e. doubles its volume again.

Preheat oven to 230 degrees C and placed inside a small saucepan with wet rags (this will generate steam during the baking and it will help to form the crust).

With a sharp knife, make a couple of cuts in the bread and put it in the oven. Lower the temperature to 200 degrees C. Cook the bread until it is ready (the time depends on the shape and size of the bread). To find out if it's cooked inside, when tapping the bottom of the bread it should sound hollow.