Bread basics

I bake bread quite often nowadays, ever since discovering Martin Johansson's excellent book and blog some time ago baking rather than buying bread have become the norm.

The basic recipe I use over and over is rather simple, there's barely any kneading involved. I don't go about it very scientifically, never used a scale and nowadays I only really use a measure for the water, so the outcome is rarely the same.

For variation I mix in seeds and substituting part of the flour for other than wheat. I've noticed that part oat or spelt keeps the bread fresh for longer. Durum helps the bread rise and is good to combine with the spelt and oat flours don't rise so well otherwise.  A favourite of mine is with wholemeal wheat flour, spelt flour, sunflower seeds and whole spelt grains to make a really satisfying bread which keeps you going for long. Great everyday staple, tasting fresh even 4 days in. Another favourite is a simple white loaf with dried fruits and nuts to serve with a cheese platter.

A dough based on 2 litres of water, making 40 something burger buns

For 1 loaf of bread just stir together:

3 dl cold water

sea salt to taste, I like it as salty as the ocean

~10g of fresh yeast

and then stir in:

~6,5 dl flour

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Don't worry if it looks like sticky porridge at this point, it should. If it looks too much like a dough and feels tough, add some water and stir a little more. You can then choose to:

Let it rest for a half-hour, fold the dough over a few times, rest again, fold again, rest again and fold a third time before wrapping it loosely in tea towel well covered in flour and let rise for an hour while heating the oven with the baking tray (and pizza stone if you have one) to 275C.

or

Let it rest for four hours, fold the dough over, wrap in a tea towel covered in flour and let rise while heating the oven and the baking tray.

or 

Let it rest in the fridge overnight, fold the dough over, again wrap in the tea towel and let rise while heating the oven and the baking tray.

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Once the oven is hot and the dough have risen nicely transfer the dough to the hot oven tray. I often just grab the dough at two ends and twist it over before laying it down on the tray, to give it nice shape. When the tray is hot it will close up the dough which makes it not stick, paper will easily burn at 275. 

Bake in the middle of the oven for approx 25 mins. After half the time, turn the heat down to 250.

or

If you at this point notice that you are running out of time and don't have 1,5 hours. Start heating the oven, form 8-10 buns or two baguettes and let rise while the oven heats up, then bake for approx 15 mins.

Let the loaf or buns cool on a grid or in a basket without covering.

The burger buns a few hours later

To really make it rise high in the oven you need to bring up the humidity. Fancy ovens even have a function to spray in moisture, mine doesn't. When baking all-white ciabatta type loaves, I place a small dish with a little water in it on the bottom of the oven to build moisture.

The other trick, to make the crust really crispy, is to let the moisture out after half the time. And of course, to use part durum flour (pasta flour) in the dough.