Basic Bread Recipe
This is a simple, basic bread recipe, suitable for a freestanding loaf such as a boule (ball) or batard (torpedo), a tin sandwich loaf, or bread rolls. The dough and fermentation are exactly the same whatever shape you want to bake, but the shaping and baking techniques are slightly different. Instructions for all these shapes are given below.
As we saw in the "Understanding Bread" section, time is the key to making great tasting bread. This recipe gives you three slightly different ways to use a long slow fermentation to get the best flavour, so just pick the method that fits in best with your schedule.
If you haven't already done so, I'd strongly recommend that you read the Understanding Bread and Equipment and Techniques sections before you begin.
Ingredients
For two loaves, or about 15 rolls
800g/28 oz Strong bread flour - white, wholemeal, or a mixture
480g/17 oz water
16g/2 tsp salt
30g/1oz butter, lard or solid vegetable oil (optional)
1½ tsp "easyblend" dried yeast
Note that a high proportion of wholemeal flour will give a lower rise and a more densely textured loaf: I recommend using exclusively white flour the first time you bake and gradually increasing the proportion of wholemeal (should you so wish) as you become confident with the process. The addition of butter enriches the flavour of the bread and enhances the volume and keeping properties, but it is not necessary to add any fat to get delicious bread: French bread is traditionally fat-free or "lean".
Sponge and dough method
Put half the flour, half the water and half a teaspoon of the yeast in a bowl and mix until the flour is all wet. This mixture is called the sponge. Cover the bowl with cling film (plastic wrap) and leave at cool room temperature or in the fridge for 12-24 hours. Add the remaining ingredients (don't forget the remaining yeast and the salt!) and knead for around five minutes in a stand mixer with a dough hook, or around ten minutes by hand, until the dough passes the windowpane test. Cover again (it is worth oiling your cling film very lightly so that if the dough rises past the top of your bowl, it won't stick) and leave at room temperature for at least two hours, so that it rises to double its original height. So long as it isn't too warm, the dough will come to no particular harm if left for up to 12 hours.
Delayed fermentation method
For this method, you must make sure the water is cold, not at room temperature. Mix all the ingredients together and knead using your preferred method until the dough passes the windowpane test. Place in a bowl and cover with lightly oiled cling film. Place this bowl in the fridge for 12-48 hours. The dough will rise very slowly: you must then move it to a warm room for a few hours to rise as normal. It should double in height from the initial size before shaping, final proof, and baking.
Old dough method
To use the old dough method, you should initially make one batch using either of the methods described above, but use 20% extra of each ingredient (or just use 20% extra flour and water - you won't notice the difference with the yeast and salt). When you are ready to shape your dough and put it in the tin, weigh the dough and remove one sixth (remember that we now have 120% of the desired quantity). Put this spare bit of dough in a plastic bag and freeze it, or put it in the fridge if you are going to bake the same sort of bread again in the next 48 hours. Make a note of the weight, then you can add your old dough each time you make this type of bread and remove the same amount before shaping, and repeat the process. The mixture of old and new dough should then be fermented at a cool room temperature until doubled in height. If this takes less than two hours, you can (if you wish) "knock back" the dough by gently stretching and folding it back into a ball and allow it to rise again before shaping for further flavour development.
When you make another batch with the old dough added, you will not need to ferment it for so long to get the benefits of the prefermentation.