Easy Soft White Loaf Recipe

Here is a recipe for the bread I eat on a daily basis. At the moment I make this loaf every other day. It is very soft and thus makes a great sandwich. I store it in a plastic lined bread bag, wrapped in a tea towel which keeps it fresh for days.

This bread takes about 4 hours to make, however it's only about 15-20 minutes of my time, the rest is leaving the yeast to do it's thing and baking.

Ingredients

• 500g strong white bread flour
• 40g real butter
• 12g instant dry yeast
• 300ml water
• 7g salt

Method

1. Add the flour, butter, yeast and most of the water to a mixing bowl and give it a good mix. Once mixed, add the salt and the rest of the water, then give it all a final mix.
2. Tip the dough onto a floured surface and knead. It'll be sticky at first, but after a few minutes of kneading, the dough will become much more workable.
3. Place the dough back in the bowl, cover with a tea towel and then leave the dough for 2 hours.
4. Tip the dough onto a floured surface. Try to do this so that the dough that was at the top of the bowl is now at the bottom. This should mean that the top surface of the dough is a bit sticky.
5. Stab the dough with your fingers and stretch the dough out away from you to make a long, thin rectangle.
6. Roll up the rectangle into a sausage shape, this should stick well due to the top of the dough being a bit sticky.
7. Place the dough on a buttered baking tray so that the seam is underneath. Tuck in all the edges to make a loaf shape with no visible seams.
8. Leave the dough for 1 hour (after 35 minutes, I turn the oven on to preheat).
9. After 1 hour, the dough should be much bigger. Flick some water on the dough with your fingers, then cover it in some flour and gently rub the flour over the dough.
10. Make slashes across the top of the dough at an angle.
11. Place the dough in the preheated oven at 220 degrees Celsius for 25 to 30 minutes. I also place a tray of boiled water at the bottom of the oven to improve the crust.
12. Once the bread looks like it is beginning to burn, pull it out and place it on a cooling rack with a tea towel over it. Let the bread cool before cutting it.

How I knead
I knead the same way Paul Hollywood does:

• I push the heel of my palm into the dough ball and push the dough away from me.
• Fold the stretched bit of dough back into the middle.
• Pick up the dough and place it back down turned 90%.
• Repeat.