Bread - bingo wing buster & taste sensation!

I made bread! I followed a recipe from Mrs Beeton's "Baking and Cakes" book, and with a minor alteration made a fantastic loaf...

Use your loaf

Ingredients (for a 23 x 13 x 7.5cm loaf tin):

400g strong white flour (about the amount you can fit in a big cereal bowl)

1 tsp salt

12.5g lard

0.5 tablespoon dried yeast

0.25 tsp sugar

250ml luke warm water

flour for kneading

water for glazing (makes a crusty top)

sunflower seeds - I added these to the top

What I did:

1. Sifted the flour and salt into a large glass mixing bowl, then rubbed in the lard.
2. In a jug I measured the luke warm water, stirred in the sugar till it dissolved then sprinkled the dried yeast onto the water and left it in a warm room (utility room!) for 5 minutes until it frothed.
3. Then I mixed the yeast fluid into the flour by making a well in the middle, pouring the fluid in and bringing it together with my hands.
4. I dusted the worktop with flour, then turned the dough out and kneaded it for 8 minutes until it was smooth and really springy - fantastic work out for your arms, just remember to use both or you'll end up lop-sided! 
5. Then put the back into the bowl (it stuck a bit so put some flour up the sides of the bowl), covered it in clingfilm and left it in a warm room for 2 hours.
6. After 2 hours it had at least doubled in size, so I took it out of the bowl and kneaded it for about 5 mins more till it was springy and smooth again.
7. Then it was popped into the loaf tin - no greasing but the tin I've got is really good non-stick, wrapped it in cling film and put it back in the warm room for another 45 minutes.
8. Then I preheated the oven to 210 degrees (it's a fan oven), and while it heated up I brushed water on the top of the loaf and sprinkled a generous helping of sunflower seeds on top.
9. I put the loaf in the oven for 35 minutes - I did turn the temperature down a little to around 160 degrees after 30 minutes because it smelled like it was too warm.
10. Then it got turned out onto a board and left to cool for a while, before slicing and serving with some margarine to accompany a chicken and bacon salad dressed with honey and mustard. Yum!

Breakfast this morning was a few more slices, with coffee and a good read!

I'm trying another loaf today - Honey and Sunflower Seed - I've replaced the sugar with a generous teaspoon of honey (mixed with the warm water as before) and I measured by eye rather than weight. It's sitting in the utility room proving at the moment... we'll see how it turns out later!

Making bread from scratch without a bread machine sounds like it takes ages... but activity-wise it takes next to no time; prep takes 5 minutes and that's only to let the yeast activate, kneading takes in total about 12 minutes, so really under 20 minutes effort is required. With the rest of the time you can go off and do something or nothing, whatever you fancy! And the pay off / effort:result ratio is off the scale! Well worth a go and it means no extra kitchen contraptions to find a home for!