Pâte à pain

Bread Dough

Lunch on thick slices of this rustic bread with unsalted butter and a good cheese. This is a basic bread dough and is easily flavoured – you could add chopped walnuts, fresh herbs, olives or cheese.

makes 1 loaf

2 teaspoons dried yeast or 15 g (½ oz) fresh yeast

250 g (9 oz/2 cups) strong plain (all-purpose) flour

3 tablespoons olive oil

½ teaspoon salt

Mix the yeast with 125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) warm water. Leave for 10 minutes in a warm place until the yeast becomes frothy. If it does not bubble and foam in this time, throw it away and start again.

Sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the olive oil, salt and the yeast mixture. Mix until the dough clumps together and forms a ball.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough, adding a little more flour or a few drops of warm water if necessary, until you have a soft dough that is not sticky but is dry to the touch. Knead for 10 minutes, or until smooth, and the impression made by a finger springs back immediately.

Rub the inside of a large bowl with olive oil. Roll the ball of dough around in the bowl to coat with oil, then cut a shallow cross on the top of the ball with a sharp knife. Leave the dough in the bowl, cover with a tea towel or put in a plastic bag and leave in a draught-free spot for 1–1½ hours, or until the dough has doubled in size (or leave in the fridge for 8 hours to rise slowly).

Knock back the dough by punching it with your fist several times to expel the air and then knead it again for a couple of minutes. (At this stage the dough can be stored in the fridge for 4 hours, or frozen. Bring back to room temperature before continuing.) Leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size. Place in a tin, on a baking tray or use as directed in the recipe, then bake at 230°C (450°F/Gas 8) for 30 minutes. When cooked, the base of the bread will sound hollow when tapped.

Left: Use flour that is packaged as ‘strong’ or ‘bread’ flour. You can use plain (all-purpose) flour or a mixture of plain and wholemeal, but the results won’t be as good.

Right: Knock down the bread dough by punching it with your fist several times.