How do I make bread without a bread machine?

Bread needs flour, water, salt, yeast and time. A machine automates the mixing and the warmth, neither of which is difficult by hand. What hand-making gives you is control over the dough's feel, which is how you learn what bread should be like.

What you'll need

• Strong bread flour
• Dried yeast
• Salt
• Large bowl
• Loaf tin or baking sheet (optional)

Step by step

1. Put the flour in a bowl with yeast on one side and salt on the other.Keeping them apart until the water goes in prevents the salt killing the yeast on contact.
2. Add most of the warm water and mix to a rough dough.Around 320ml for 500g flour, held back slightly. Flours absorb differently — add the last of it only if the dough is dry.
3. Knead for about 10 minutes on a lightly oiled surface.Push away with the heel of your hand, fold back, turn. The dough should become smooth and elastic rather than shaggy.
4. Test with the windowpane test.Stretch a small piece thin. If it goes translucent without tearing immediately, the gluten is developed enough.
5. Cover and leave to rise until roughly doubled.One to two hours in a warm kitchen. Longer if cold. Judge by size, not by the clock.
6. Knock back, shape, and place in a tin or on a tray.Press the air out, then shape into a tight ball or log. Surface tension is what gives the loaf its lift.
7. Cover and prove again for 30-60 minutes until visibly puffy.It should look risen but still spring back slowly when poked.
8. Slash the top and bake at 220°C for 25-30 minutes.It is done when the base sounds hollow tapped, or reads about 95°C inside. Cool on a rack before cutting.

Tips

• A roasting tin of boiling water on the oven floor creates steam for the first ten minutes, which gives a much better crust.
• If kneading is uncomfortable, use the stretch-and-fold method instead: fold the dough over itself every twenty minutes for an hour and let time develop the gluten.
• Cutting bread while hot tears the crumb and lets steam escape. Waiting thirty minutes genuinely improves it.

Common mistakes

• Adding all the water at once — Flour absorbency varies by brand and season. Hold back 20ml and add it only if needed — wet dough is hard to recover.
• Adding flour during kneading because the dough is sticky — Sticky is normal at the start. Extra flour makes a dry, dense loaf. Oil the surface instead.
• Using plain flour — It lacks the protein to build gluten structure, so the loaf rises and then collapses into something dense.

Questions people ask