Since we’re such new bakers ourselves, we thought this recipe would be useful for other new bakers still coming to terms with the basics – actually it’s more of a springboard formula than a recipe.
We got it from a friend who started baking her own bread when her kids developed food sensitivities that store-bought loaves would just aggravate – and who had a lot of flops along the way too.
She said working off such a basic, no-frills formula would help us focus on just improving our shaping skills, which were so poor that our breads were turning out quite dense, even when we'd managed to develop enough gluten. Apparently, we had the bricks, but not the frame or pillars to hold the house up 😝.
And it has helped a lot – to date, we've done over 20 practice bakes with this one formula (most have been posted on the group's Flickr account). The dough is really pleasant to handle, and it’s fared pretty well with both tin loaves and freeform bakes – boules, batards, couronnes, tear-apart rolls, cottage loaves, breads with fillings…
It was originally meant for a plain ol’ white sammie loaf, but with just a few tweaks, you can make it work for a host of other breads, until you’re ready to move on to more complex recipes or techniques.
There’s not much water in it, so it’s not sticky to work with at all, but it’s not stiff either, even though the dough is strong enough to take a fair bit of ‘abuse’. Previously, when we tried shaping wetter or weaker doughs, they often collapsed – we had to ‘pour’ them into the pan like batter.
Working with this formula has got us over those fears, so we’re slowly trying stickier doughs again, with some success.
If you’re among those who also have to factor in food sensitivities, this dough is egg-free, dairy-free, entirely vegan in fact (sadly it’s not celiac-friendly). To cut the fat content, you can even leave out the oil, but it does help give you a more supple dough.
*** Original Sandwich Loaf Recipe
We use an 8.5 x 4.5" Pullman tin for the nice square edges, which make the loaf so easy to slice, but a 9 x 5" loaf pan works fine too.
Ingredients
400g strong bread flour
5-6g fine sea salt
2-6g instant yeast (use less to slow down fermentation)
10-12g olive oil
256g water
Steps
Lightly mix everything together till no dry ingredients are left in the bowl.
Cover and leave to rest for 10-15 min.
Knead for 8-10 min till the dough turns smooth and elastic. (With this formula, that starts to happen quite fast.)
Cover and leave to ferment for 30-60 min, until it has almost doubled in volume.
Knead again for 5-8 min. Or do a set of folds. (Our friend sometimes skips this step when really pinched for time, but it’s best not to.)
Cover and leave to ferment for 30-60 min, until it has almost doubled in volume.
Prep your countertop by dusting it with flour. Before shaping (see Notes), degas the dough by gently folding it a few times. Then transfer to the tin or tray.
Cover and leave to proof for 30-60 min, until it has almost doubled in volume.
Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 180C. (If you have a ‘sluggish’ oven, turn it on earlier, while you’re shaping or during the second rise.) Prep your baking tin or tray by greasing it or lining it with parchment paper.
Bake at 180C for around 40 min. If the bottom sounds hollow when you tap it, the bread should be done. (If you have a probe thermometer, insert it into the centre of the loaf – a reading of 94C should be good enough).
If it seems a bit pale, put it back in the oven for another 5 min (minus the tin).
If you prefer a soft crust (and you’re not vegan or dairy-sensitive), brush the loaf with ghee or melted butter as soon as it comes out of the oven.
^ Caraway seed sandwich loaf with 25% rye
*** Simple Variation: Beginner’s Boule
We’re not calling this a classic French boule because it’s not – French breads have a significantly higher hydration, so they can be tricky to work with. To keep the dough more manageable, we’ve stuck with a water-to-flour ratio of 64%. If you want a more open crumb, you could start with 70% and work your way up.
Ingredients
300g strong bread flour
4-5g fine sea salt
1-4g instant yeast (use less to slow down fermentation)
7-9g olive oil
192g water
Steps
As above, till you get to the shaping stage – but preheat your oven to 230C during the second rise (most ovens need more time to get that hot). After shaping (see Notes), transfer to the baking tray.
If the dough really seems too slack, you can proof and bake it in a 7-8" round cake pan. (The bottom might be a bit squat though, or you could end up with a mushroom rather than a boule.)
Cover and leave to proof until it has almost doubled in volume.
Dust with flour and score. (We’re very poor at this, but you can take a sharp knife and do a simple score – slash the top with a cross or make a few parallel slits.)
Bake at 230C for 30-35 min, with plenty of steam during the first 10-15 min (see Notes).
^ Rye-dusted boule with caraway seeds
*** Shots of Other Variations
^ Corona con pesto rosso e acciughe (crown with sundried tomato pesto and anchovies)
^ English cottage loaf with tarragon
*** Notes
Some extra points that might help you as you expand your bakes:
Ingredients: We use Bob’s Red Mill artisan bread flour (13.8% protein content) as it’s readily available here, but our friend also uses all-purpose (11-12% protein content), quite successfully. We like a nice green olive oil, but grapeseed or other vegetable oils will work too.
Hydration: If you prefer to use all-purpose flour, you might have to reduce the water content. The current water-to-flour ratio is 64%. For breads like cottage loaves, lower it to 55-60% as your dough needs to be much stiffer to stand up to all the handling involved.
Mixing: In bakeries, the flour goes in first, but if you’re mixing by hand at home, you might find it easier and less messy if the water goes in first. (We don’t have much counter space, so we usually do everything in the bowl till it’s time to shape – all the mixing, kneading, folding, degassing.)
Kneading, folding: Chain Baker provides a detailed series of videos that explain and demonstrate these processes and much more at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8tymUqV2-4. Check out Ken Forkish and The Bread Code as well.
Shaping, scoring: The series also covers how to shape and score, and there are other clear, concise videos by The Perfect Loaf and Breadtopia.
Oven steaming, baking: Learn more through the Chain Baker series. Bake with Jack is another great resource, as is King Arthur Baking.
Fermenting, proofing times: These can vary quite a lot depending on both your room and dough temperatures. Check out why on Chain Baker. You can also read Kevin Sutherland’s detailed explanations right here at BBH. They both offer excellent advice on how to control your dough temperature and rising times, which is very useful if you need to fit your baking around a packed schedule. One way to slow down or speed up rising times is to reduce or increase the amount of yeast.
Cooling time: Tempting as it might be, don’t slice your bread right out of the oven – it could turn all gummy. We normally wait at least an hour. (If you have a probe thermometer, the bread’s internal temperature should roughly match the room temperature.) Oh and some sites say artisan breads with strong crusts are easier to cut into from the side rather than from the top, while breads baked in a tin are best sliced from the bottom – jury’s still out.
Other recipe variations: If you want to go wholegrain or try other flours, you can start by switching out 10-20% of the white flour, but you might need to lower the hydration, especially for rye. (Kevin discusses this at length in his blog posts here at BBH.) To amp up the flavour, try herbs or seeds – we love caraway or nigella seeds, as well as thyme or rosemary. If you’re craving something sweet like raisin bread, add some sugar to the dough and use milk (vegan if needed) instead of water. This way, you can enjoy different bakes while using a single formula to accumulate the skills you need to advance to other breads.