Home made Dry Yeast Bread

This recipe is still in an experimental phase and the article is still work in progress.

• flour
  • any kind that you would like to use
  • (as much as you want to make) to give you an idea 500gr makes a small loaf for our community of c. 7 to 9 people this is gone pretty quickly. We consume about 2 loaves per day on days when people eat bread for more than 1 meal.
• luke warm water (check with you finger it should not be hotter than body temperature)
• dry yeast (check the package for quantity per kg)
• salt - 1 teaspoon for every kg of flour
• seeds - whichever you prefer or grow easily in your area, here we have an abundance of sunflower seeds but linseeds are also easily available

In a large bowl, mix the flour with the yeast. Now starting slowly mixing in the lukewarm water, the quantity for the water depends on the type of flour you use. Prepare some lukewarm water in a large container so that you don't have to start and stop the process to warm up more water. Start pouring the water slowly and stir, continue the process until the mixture is a a stick dough. I use a wooden spoon to mix the dough in a metal pot that is room temperature, so you don't have to worry if you want to bake but haven't got the standard baking equipment.

In this case I used 700ml of water for 700gr of flour but not all flours react the same so keeping an eye on the texture is more important than exact measurements here.

Once mixed cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel. Now the dough needs to proof, this gives time for the yeast to take care of the fermentation process. During this time the dough will increase in size. The amount of increase when done right depends on the type of flour you use. White flour for example rises to more than double its size. Once it has reached this size it is ready to be baked. If you want to leave it longer as long as the yeast is active you can leave it covered overnight. The fermentation process will continue provided that the yeast still has flour to digest.

Mix in the salt 1 teaspoon for every kg of flour.

Leave the dough to proof for 30 min.

If you are using bread molds now is the time to oil them, you can also use cooking oil for this. You can line the tin with seeds if you like.

If you are not using a mold you should make the dough firm and non sticky to the touch.

If you are using a gas oven use gas mark 4 / 5 which is about 180 degrees Celsius or 360 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for about 1 hr 30min. The oven we use here is not a fan oven and it is hotter at the front and doesn't circulate the heat. Check the bread after an hour, sticking a knife in will tell you whether the bread is ready. The knife should come out with small bits of bread for you to taste. If it comes out wet your bread isn't done yet.

If you are using a wood oven start baking at 200 degrees. You can use a cooking thermometer to measure the temperature.

The higher the number of the flour, the darker the bread will be (997 and 1050 are the darkest). To make the bread lighter in color, use more light flour (405 or 550) and add a tsp of sugar or honey per 500g of flour, and let the bread rise longer (1.5 to 2 hours). Be sure to move it gently so it doesn't deflate. If you wish to create a denser bread, knead the dough vigorously for 10 minutes or so and instead of sugar, add an additional 1/2 tsp of salt per 1 kg flour.

In general:

• whiter flours (smaller number) produce lighter colored breads
• salt causes yeast to work more slowly and causes the bread structure to be denser/stronger, adds flavor
• small amounts of sugar plus a longer rising time makes bread 'fluffier' (the yeast needs the time to eat the sugar, so the bread doesn't end up sweet!)
• kneading the dough longer makes a bread more dense, and kneading it very little while capturing air pockets in the dough makes it come out less dense

You can score your bread with a knife for a personal artistic touch!