Jamie's basic bread recipe

Finally got it together to cook and have a camera ready all at the same time. This bread recipe is very simple although I have not been able to fine semolina flour. Is it the same as semolina? Wasn't prepared to take the risk so followed the recipe and used plain flour instead.




Easy to follow text. It does seem to contain a huge amount of salt and I for one can't abide weighing honey, spoon measures all the time for the sticky stuff please. No flunkies to do my washing up here! There are no timings for cooking the basic bread recipe once you have made the dough. Jamie assumes you will make the bread up to stage 8 and then turn it into beer bread, foccaccia or a pizza base etc etc. I just wanted a basic loaf of white bread so that was a bit of a problem. I used the beer bread timings for my loaf and also the idea of using a cake tin for the bread shape.



Success, lovely crusty bread with a light slightly yeasty interior. One problem I do have is that the loaf is quite large and my bread knife although a standard size is not long enough to cut the loaf cleanly. Perhaps when the loaf is older it will be easier but the speed with which the children are devouring it I doubt I will find that out.

Cook this recipe, it really works well, tastes delicious and is frankly very easy. Not as easy as popping to the shops for a cheap loaf but home made fresh bread is in another league. Try it and let me know what you think.

Where to begin?

Do cook books help or hinder?
Do they improve your skills or make you feel inadequate?
Do we buy books to learn from them or are they simply gastroporn ?

Join me in an attempt to cook the books and see. But where to begin?

Bread seems to be a good place to start. It crosses cultures and is the staff of life. Even if you are avoiding carbs at all costs there is nothing more comforting than hot buttered toast or crumpets. In the same way that bacon sandwiches can convert a vegetarian to fully paid up member of the nose to tail eating club the smell of fresh bread can tempt many a carbophobe to take the lid off the butter dish.

Bread making is percieved as a form of alchemy and often the excuse is that if you can buy a loaf for 18p why bother making your own?

Taste, taste and taste are just three reasons. Yes it can be fiddly, yes it does take time but is it possible to follow a simple recipe and be successful?

Can I find a recipe in a book that works well and allows me a keen but untrained home cook to produce a loaf my children will eat?

I'm off to try and will let you know how I get on and there will be photographic evidence of my successes or failures.

Wish me luck, I promise to follow the recipes to the letter. Wish the recipe writers luck too, I hope they tested their recipes carefully. We are about to find out!

The first recipe I'm off to try is the Basic bread recipe from Jamie Oliver, The Naked Chef.

Come back and see how I got on.