Basic White Loaf

Ingredients

For 12 portions

• 🌾 500g bread flour
• 🥄 7g yeast
• 🧂 10g salt
• 🍚 5g sugar
• 🏺 15ml sunflower oil
• 🥤 320ml tap water

Method

1. Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl, keeping the salt and yeast on opposite sides until you stir. Add the oil and lukewarm water and mix to a shaggy dough.
2. Tip onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. The dough should spring back when pressed.
3. Put it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave somewhere warm for 1 to 1.5 hours, until doubled in size.
4. Knock the air out, pat into a rectangle and roll up tightly from the short end. Pinch the seam closed and place seam-down in an oiled 900 g loaf tin.
5. Cover and leave to rise for 45 minutes, until the dough sits just above the rim of the tin. Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan) towards the end of this time.
6. Dust the top with a little flour and slash it lengthways with a sharp knife.
7. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until deep golden and hollow-sounding when tapped underneath. Turn out of the tin for the last 5 minutes if the base is pale.
8. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.