Bread dough: kneading and proving

Bread is flour, water, salt and yeast, and everything else is technique. That is good news, because technique is learnable and it does not require anything you do not already own.

Start with the flour. Strong white bread flour has more protein than plain flour, and protein is what becomes gluten, the elastic network that traps gas and lets a loaf rise. Plain flour makes bread, but a flatter, denser one. Yeast comes as fast action, which goes straight in with the flour, or dried active, which wants waking in warm water first. Either works. Salt goes in at around 2% of the flour weight, so 10g for a 500g loaf, and it is not optional: unsalted bread tastes of nothing and the dough behaves differently.

Water temperature matters more than people expect. Lukewarm, around body temperature, is right. Hot water kills yeast outright.

Mix to a shaggy mass, then leave it for 10 minutes before you knead. This is the one step that is almost always skipped and it makes kneading easier, because the flour hydrates on its own and gluten starts forming without any help.

Kneading is stretching, not squashing. Push the dough away with the heel of your hand, fold it back, turn it a quarter and repeat. It will be sticky and unpleasant for the first few minutes. Do not add more flour, because the stickiness passes as the gluten develops, and every extra handful of flour makes a drier loaf. Eight to 10 minutes by hand, or 5 in a mixer with a dough hook, gets you there. You will know it is ready when the dough is smooth, springs back when you press it, and can be stretched thin enough to see light through without tearing.

The first prove is where flavour develops. Cover the bowl and leave it until roughly doubled, which takes 1 to 2 hours in a warm kitchen and considerably longer in a cold one. Time is a guide; size is the answer. A slow, cool rise tastes better than a fast, warm one, and dough left in the fridge overnight is easier to handle the next day.

Knock it back gently, shape it, and prove again. The second prove is shorter, usually 45 minutes to an hour. Judge it with a fingertip: press the dough lightly and if the dent springs back slowly and only part of the way, it is ready. If it springs straight back it needs longer, and if it collapses it has gone too far, which is not a disaster, just a slightly flatter loaf.

Bake hot, 220°C or above, and get steam into the oven for the first 10 minutes. Steam keeps the crust soft long enough for the loaf to expand fully, then it sets and browns. A roasting tin of boiling water on the bottom shelf does it, or bake inside a lidded casserole, which traps the loaf's own moisture.

It is done when the base sounds hollow tapped, or reads 94°C inside. Cool it on a rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting. Bread is still finishing as it cools, and cutting hot bread gives you a gummy crumb.