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Basic White Bread


Course Breakfast, Brunch, Tea Time
Difficulty Medium
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Proofing time 1 hour 20 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 500 g bred - 1 mould of 22x11cm or 12 buns / rolls
Author Lorena Salinas from Cravings Journal

Ingredients

Dough

  • 375 g all purpose flour
  • 30 g sugar
  • 6 g salt
  • 11 g instant yeast or 44g of fresh yeast or 22g of fry yeast. See note for method of use.
  • 23 g unsalted butter melted and cooled to room temperature
  • 225 ml lukewarm water

To paint and garnish the bread

  • 1 huevo
  • 2 tbsp water
  • seeds and nuts to decorate optional

Instructions

  1. Put everything in a stand mixer bowl and use the hook accessory to knead it for 15-20min or until it passes a window test. You can also knead by hand. To see it it passes a window test you take a small section of dough and stretch it from the sides gently. If you can see the light on the other side without it breaking then you've kneaded enough.

  2. Put the dough in a clean bowl, cover it with a kitchen cloth and let proof in a warm spot until it doubles its size (40min - 1 hour).

To make the bread loaf

  1. If you want to make a regular breadloaf then stretch it to the length of the mould using a rolling pin and roll it onto itself, keeping the length of the mould. Then it goes inside a lightly oiled mould to proof.

  2. To braid divide the dough in 3 portions of equal weight and roll it to double the length of the mould. Braid them, fold the ends underneath it (leaving the prettier section on top) and then into a lightly oiled mould to proof.
  3. Proof covered by a kitchen towel in a warm spot for another 40min-1 hour or until it doubles in size.

  4. Paint with the mix of egg and water and decorate with seeds and / or nuts (optional)

  5. Take to a preheated oven at 180C for 30min or until nicely golden.

For the buns / rolls

  1. Weight 45g pieces per bun. Make sure the dough is always covered with a kitchen towel while you work with a piece of dough as it tends to dry out.

  2. Flatten out the dough and fold the outside edges in, forming a sort of parcel. Then turn it around so the place where it joins is underneath the bun.

  3. Use your hand to roll the bun, adding a bit of pressure down towards the table. The join should always be underneath. For more information watch the video above.

  4. Let them proof on the countertop covered with a kitchen towel for 20min.
  5. Now dip the top of the bun into the egg and water mix and then roll them through the seeds or nuts so they're completely covered. Alternatively you can paint them with the egg mix once transferred to the baking tray and sprinkle them with seeds. Also you can just paint them and not add seeds or nuts.

  6. Take to a preheated oven at 180C for 15-20min or until golden on top and on the bottom.

Recipe Notes

** If you're using dry or fresh yeast you need to first dissolve it in the lukewarm water along with the sugar and let it rest for 10min. If you don't see any foam forming on the water surface that means the yeast is dead and you need to discard it. After this time you can add it with the rest of the ingredients for kneading.