I always felt that I was rather failing as a wannabe domestic goddess because the one thing that always turned out rubbish was bread.  Humans have been making bread in some form for thousands of years, yet mine always turned out stodgy and tasteless.  On top of that, as a witch the seasonal festivals are very important to me, and I really wanted to make and eat my own bread for the harvest sabbat of Lammas.  With this in mind, I finally mastered the art of bread making thanks to my wonderful friend Vickie, and although the festival of Lammas traditionally involves bread – it is a celebration of the grain harvest and the end of summer after all – I think this is one skill we can all learn and apply all year round. There really is nothing better than the smell of freshly baked bread, and it really is simple once you lose your fear of the process. This recipe is the one I was given, but it comes from Paul Hollywood’s book so I will put an affiliate link at the end of the post should you want to learn more about bread from the master.  It is worth mentioning that I use an electric mixer but this recipe works whether you use one or not, it just takes a little longer and more muscles.

A basic white loaf

500g strong white bread flour
one 7g sachet of fast acting yeast
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp olive oil
300 – 320 ml tepid water

Method

• Put the flour in a bowl, then add the yeast to one side and the salt to the other, keeping them separate.  Add the oil to the bowl but keeping it off the yeast, then add the warm water on top of the yeast to activate it.
• Mix all the ingredients together until it’s not sticky.  If you’re making your bread by hand then it’s much better to get your hands in there rather than using a utensil.  If you’re using a mixer then it’ll take around 5 minutes to get it all into a nice smooth ball that’s soft but not sticky to the touch.
• Now you have to knead it.  This works the dough and stretches the gluten strands to give bread its texture.  What you’re looking for is a nice smooth stretchy dough; if you’re using a mixer then it’ll take a good 5 minutes before removing it from the mixing bowl and finishing off by hand for a couple of minutes, whereas if you’re making it by hand you’re looking at 10-15 minutes.  Either way, if it sticks to the work surface when hand-kneading then either use a little olive oil or a light dusting of flour.
  

  The dough ready to prove

• Place your ball of dough into a lightly greased bowl (a little olive oil on paper towel works best) then cover it with cling film and leave it to rise until it has at least tripled in size.  You will notice condensation forming on the inside of the clingfilm; this is perfectly normal and is a sign the yeast is happy.  You don’t have to keep it warm, but keeping it out of draughts stops the yeast from being affected by cool spots.  In a warm house this process can take 90 minutes, though I have known it take more like 3 hours.  Don’t rush it – in many ways the longer it takes the better the end result, so relax and do something else for a bit, but remember to keep an eye on it.
• Once it’s tripled in size, remove it from the bowl and knock the air out of it by kneading a little for 30 seconds, then hand roll it into a sausage shape.  Place it in a 2lb loaf tin.  You can get non-stick ones, but if you have doubts either line yours with greaseproof paper or use a little olive oil again to grease it.
  

  The dough once it’s risen

• Cut 3 or 4 slashes into the top to allow steam to escape, then place it in a large plastic bag to rise again.  The key here is to make sure the dough doesn’t touch the bag, else when you remove it you will lose some of the rise. Leave it to double in size, about an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 200ºc/400ºf then when the loaf is ready place it towards the top of the oven and bake it for 27-30 minutes.  Resist the temptation to open the door to check on it as losing the heat will have an impact on the quality.
• Once cooked, remove from the loaf tin straight away. Turn it over and tap the bottom; if it sounds hollow it is cooked.  Leave it to cool before eating, though I always give in and cut my first slice while it is still a little warm.