This recipe is adapted for use in a stand mixer with a dough hook (read about my food processor) and makes two loaves of lovely white bread. It doesn’t take a lot of hands on time, but it does require you to be around for a few hours while you wait for it to rise. I’ll be testing this recipe with other flours and sugar alternatives and willIMG_20140718_195122[1] update this page to share what I find out – but if you get there before me please leave a comment below to share what’s worked for you.

Ingredients

850g bread flour (try strong white flour, malted multi-grain, or half white/half wholemeal)

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp dried yeast

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp olive oil

550ml warm water

a little vegan-friendly margarine for greasing

 

Method

1.  Put the yeast in the bottom of your mixer bowl, add about a third of the warm water and the sugar and stir. The water needs to be warm but not hot – the heat helps to speed up the activation process, but if it’s too hot it will kill the yeast. Leave for ten minutes or so – when you come back the mixture should have gone foamy/frothy. If it doesn’t do this, you need to get some new yeast – throw it away and start again with new yeast.

2. Once the yeast mixture has gone foamy, add about half the flour and the salt, fix the dough hook to your mixer and turn it on. Pour in the remaining water with the machine running, and when the flour has been incorporated pause the machine and add rest of flour and the oil. Once this flour too has been incorporated into a sticky dough, let the machine  knead it for you for a further five-ten minutes.

3. Turn off the mixer and lift out the dough hook. Leave the bowl somewhere warm for at least an hour, until the dough has risen until approximately doubled in size.

4. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to punch the dough back down and then gently knead it again for a minute or so (you can skip this bit if you’re in a hurry). Turn the dough out on to a floured surface and turn it over a few times by hand – you’ll feel you have a lovely soft springy dough. Cut the dough in two and put one half to one side for the moment. Taking the other half, press it out flat until you have something about the size of an A4 piece of paper (though much thicker!). Fold the ends inwards in thirds (like folding paper to fit a long envelope) and then place this seam down in a greased loaf tin. Repeat with the other half. Leave to rise in the tins for another hour (ish).

5. Bake in a preheated oven (Fan 170C) for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and empty out of the tins onto a cooling rack. You’ll know it’s done if it sounds hollow when you knock on the bottom of the loaf with your knuckles.

 

 

Brilliant Basic Bread (with your Stand Mixer)
 
This recipe is adapted for use in a stand mixer with a dough hook and makes two loaves of lovely white bread. It doesn't take a lot of hands on time, but it does require you to be around for a few hours while you wait for it to rise.
Author:
Ingredients
  • 850g bread flour (try strong white flour, malted multi-grain, or half white/half wholemeal)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp dried yeast
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 550ml warm water
  • a little vegan-friendly margarine for greasing
Instructions
  1. Put the yeast in the bottom of your mixer bowl, add about a third of the warm water and the sugar and stir. The water needs to be warm but not hot - the heat helps to speed up the activation process, but if it's too hot it will kill the yeast. Leave for ten minutes or so - when you come back the mixture should have gone foamy/frothy. If it doesn't do this, you need to get some new yeast - throw it away and start again with new yeast.
  2. Once the yeast mixture has gone foamy, add about half the flour and the salt, fix the dough hook to your mixer and turn it on. Pour in the remaining water with the machine running, and when the flour has been incorporated pause the machine and add rest of flour and the oil. Once this flour too has been incorporated into a sticky dough, let the machine knead it for you for a further five-ten minutes.
  3. Turn off the mixer and lift out the dough hook. Leave the bowl somewhere warm for at least an hour, until the dough has risen until approximately doubled in size.
  4. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to punch the dough back down and then gently knead it again for a minute or so (you can skip this bit if you're in a hurry). Turn the dough out on to a floured surface and turn it over a few times by hand - you'll feel you have a lovely soft springy dough. Cut the dough in two and put one half to one side for the moment. Taking the other half, press it out flat until you have something about the size of an A4 piece of paper (though much thicker!). Fold the ends inwards in thirds (like folding paper to fit a long envelope) and then place this seam down in a greased loaf tin. Repeat with the other half. Leave to rise in the tins for another hour (ish).
  5. Bake in a preheated oven (Fan 170C) for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and empty out of the tins onto a cooling rack. You'll know it's done if it sounds hollow when you knock on the bottom of the loaf with your knuckles.