My Brittany

When I have enough time I like to bake my own bread. I takes about 3 1/2 hours but don’t worry, the real work in it is only about 15 minutes .

For my basic bread I use:

400 g flour type 405
100 g fine semolina
1 package dry yeast
15 g sugar
15 g salt
330 ml tepid water

You can simply double the ingredients if you would like to have more dough or use half of it for less dough. This recipe is for two medium sized loafs of bread.

First you should mix a sponge. Add the dry yeast, the sugar and about 100ml of water in a bowl and mix it with a spoon or fork. When the yeast and the sugar dispersed in the water add about 4 to 5 spoons of your flour and semolina mixture to it. Mix it until you get a liquid dough, a bit like a thick tomato soup. Cover it with a kitchen blanket and let it rest for about 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes the sponge will be alive. You can see little bubbles coming up and it will double its size.

Now it’s time to mix the sponge with the rest of the flour, the semolina and the salt.  Knead it well and add the rest of your water slowly until you get a nice dough. If the dough sticks to your fingers, take some extra flour and “wash” your hands with it. This will get it off from your fingers easily.

In the end you should come up with something like this.

Cover the dough with some extra flour and the kitchen blanket. Let it rest for 60 minutes. It should be in a place that is warm and has no draft.

After 60 minutes the dough should have doubled or even tripled its size again.

Knead the dough again and decide how many breads you want to have. I decided for two medium sized ones but you can make one big or 6 smaller ones or whatever you like. Cover them with flour and the kitchen blanket and let them rest for 60 minutes, again.

And they doubled their size again. Dough is recession proof .

Cover a baking tray with flour, put your loaf on it and then cover the bread with some extra flour, too. This will give it a protection during the baking. It won’t get too dark this way. Put it in the oven at 200°C for about 60 minutes.

Ok, that was it. Move along .

With this basic recipe you can do most about everything you like. Use it as Pizza dough or add olives, bacon, tomatoes, bellpepper, herbs, onions, cheese, olive oil, …

Enjoy!