A simple loaf

I have recently been getting into baking bread. It all started when I found that the children were getting a bit too used to eating that sliced 50/50 bread and any bread that looked too brown in colour began to get rejected.

I thought I had better see if I could remedy this problem by getting them to make some mini rolls, brown of course, but not too brown to begin with.
I found a recipe in my “Childrens book of baking” by Sara Lewis for soft seeded granary rolls. They love seeds and I initially followed the recipe but used half white, half brown/granary flour to get them used to the flavour.

This worked a treat, mainly because they enjoyed shaping and glazing and seeding the rolls themselves. They couldn’t wait to get their hands on them, warm from the oven and smelling irresistible. Did they mention the rolls being brown of colour? No chance.

That was a turning point in the bread department for us all,  as I wanted to encourage and feed their bread habit whilst slowly  cranking up the ratio of brown to white flour. Sublety is ALL where kids are concerned. You could call it sneaky, cheating, dubious but, whatever, it works!

Since then, I have tried out a few variations on the theme of our bread recipe. My personal favourite is the pretzel. I can eat them anytime, anywhere. Focaccia with olives comes a close second with Parker house rolls following close behind (a sort of brioche type roll).

In fact, I don’t remember making any bread ever that hasn’t tasted half decent, probably because home-made bread has to be one of life’s great pleasures. Do not think that because I have the advantage of knowing how to cook,  I would naturally make a decent loaf. I still fear the sourdough and anything that needs a starter mix of fermented bubbling goo. I am also always in a rush, so it HAS to be easy.

A simple loaf is easy, otherwise it wouldn’t feature in a kids baking book. Just to prove it, the recipe for this loaf came off the back of a supermarket strong white bread flour packet. All I did was replace a small amount of the white flour with rye flour as it was going out of date and needed using up.

If ever there was a food to make you feel good about life , a simple loaf is it. It’s been around long enough and every nation has it’s own version. The sense of achievement after pulling your loaf out of the oven never dims either!

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Our daily bread recipe

A simple to prepare daily bread recipe which tastes far batter than shop bought bread.

Course Breakfast, Lunch, Tea Time

Cuisine British

Keyword our daily bread recipe

Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 5 minutes

Servings 10

Author Laura Scott

Ingredients

• 450 g strong white flour
• 50 g strong wholemeal or rye flour
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 350 g lukewarm water

Instructions

1. Place the flour in a large bowl with the sugar, salt, yeast and oil

2. Rub the mixture together with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs - like you would for crumble mix or pastry

3. Add the water to form a soft dough, keeping back a small amount as you may not need it all
4. Knead the mixture well on a floured surface for 10 minutes
5. After kneading put the dough back in the bowl, cover with oiled cling film or a tea towel and leave it to prove for an hour
   
6. Knead the dough briefly again then shape it . A large round circlular shape is easy to achieve

7. Place the loaf onto a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and cover again. Let it prove for another half hour

8. Pre-heat your oven to 220 degrees

9. After half an hour bake for 30 minutes then turn the oven down to 180 degrees and bake for a further 10 minutes

10. Remover from the oven and let the bread cool on a wire rack for at least an hour