Week 3: Bread Week

Ah, bread week. There's nowhere to hide here. If the bake isn't perfect, Paul Hollywood will have something to say about it. This week's technical challenge is technically simple but very easy to get wrong. Slightly underproved dough, slightly overproved dough, slightly unsteady hands - any of these things can result in disaster.

This week, I used the GBBO recipe. There wasn't much to change with this one, but I've swapped out lard for butter. This makes one large loaf and takes about 3 hours to make (two hours of which is proving).

Have fun!

The Ingredients

500g strong white bread flour
7g instant dry yeast
7g fine salt
50g butter
350ml water













The Dough

1) Line a large baking tray with baking paper

2) Sieve the flour into a large bowl. Add the yeast, salt and butter.

(TOP TIP: Put the yeast and the salt on opposite sides of the bowl. Otherwise, the salt may kill off some of the yeast, causing an imbalance of ingredients)

3) Pour in half of the water and use a table knife to mix the ingredients around. Add the rest of the water, a little at a time. Stop adding water when all the flour is incorporated.

4) Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until the dough is no longer wet, but soft and smooth instead. Work methodically, holding the dough with one hand and using the heel of your other hand to press the dough outwards into an oblong, and then rolling it back in. This step took me about 15 mins.

(TOP TIP: the dough has been sufficiently kneaded when you are able stretch out the dough to create a thin window without it ripping)

5) Place the dough into a large bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise until it has doubled in size. This took me an hour in my warm kitchen, and may take longer depending on the room temperature.

6) Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and fold it inwards four or five times to knock out the air. Split off one third of the dough. Shape it into a ball by stretching the dough out into a rectangle, rolling it into an oblong, and bringing the shorter ends into the middle. Then flip it over so the folds are at the bottom, and tuck the sides under the ball to create a smooth, taut top. Shape the larger bit of dough into a ball in the same way. Place the large ball onto your baking tray, and the smaller ball on top - make sure to get it exactly in the middle!

7) Dust your middle finger and forefinger with flour and push them through the centre of the loaf all the way to the bottom. Make eight slashes that run vertically across both the top ball and bottom ball, around the side of the loaf, using a sharp knife.

(TOP TIP: try to make sure that the slashes are all even in depth. If the slash isn't deep enough, the dough will bulge out instead of growing evenly.)

8) Cover the loaf and baking tray with a clean tea towel and leave the dough to prove for one hour, or until well risen. After 30 mins, heat your oven to 230'C / fan 210'C / gas 7 and leave a roasting tray in the bottom of the oven to heat up. Remove the proved loaf and dust with flour.

(TOP TIP: Gently poke the dough when you think it is ready. It should take a couple of seconds for the dough to bounce back. If the dough bounces back immediately it is not ready. If the indentation remains, it has been over-proved and you should restart from step 4)

9) Fill the roasting try with cold water to create steam and put the bread into the oven. Bake for 15 min and then lower the oven setting to 190'C / 170'C fan / gas 5. Bake for a further 20-25 mins until crusty and golden brown.

10) Cool, cut and consume.