Homemade Baked Bread

Salwaa Smith – Cape Malay Cooking & Other Delights

From My Kitchen To Yours – keeping our traditions alive!

Fancy making your own bread? Baking homemade bread needn’t be difficult, here’s my easy recipe for a delicious crusty loaf of bread. My recipe makes 2 medium size loaves.

Ingredients:

4 cups bread flour

1 sachet instant yeast (7g)

1 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 ½  – 1 ¾ cups lukewarm water

Oil for greasing

1 Tbsp melted butter

Method:

In a large bowl add the flour, salt, sugar and yeast. Stir to mix, make a little well in the centre, add the water. Start with one and half cups first. If the dough is too dry add the remaining quarter cup water little bit at a time. You may not need all the water. A wet dough is better than a dry one which will result in a tough bread texture.

Knead well for 10 – 15 minutes. The dough should be smooth and shouldn’t stick to your hands after kneading.

Grease a bowl with little oil. One to two teaspoons oil should be enough. You just want to prevent the dough from sticking to the bowl. Place dough in the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm place. Depending on the weather it can take between 1½ to 2 hours.

Punch down. Place in prepared loaf tins, (grease the tins well with oil) and leave to rise until double in volume.

Bake at 190°C for 35-40 minutes.

Turn out and cool on wire rack. To check if the bread is baked through, tap bottom of the loaf, it should sound hollow. Brush melted butter over the loaf whilst still warm.

Shaped in a fluted mould pan

Served with butter and homemade fig jam

Dusted with flour before baking

This bread was made from my basic bread recipe. Shaped in a fluted mould pan, dusted with dry flour before baking. Served with butter and homemade fig jam. Learn how to make my fig jam here.

Dusted with flour before baking

Common bread faults and causes

Lack of volume, heavy and closed texture.

• Dough is too tight due to insufficient liquid.
• Too much salt added.
• Not enough yeast.
• Dough over fermented, causing the gas pockets to break down.
• Low gluten content due to incorrect flour used
• Insufficient kneading or proving

Dough collapsing when placed into the oven

• Over proving

Lack of crust colour

• Dough over fermented
• Lack of salt
• Oven too cool

Uneven texture with holes and crust breaks away

• Oven too hot
• Insufficient proving
• Dough left uncovered during proving and surface dried out

Bread is doughy in the middle

Taken out of the oven too early, not enough baking time.

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