After attending a bread making class early last year (before lockdown) I have been baking my own bread (not all the time) because I know exactly what goes in it, I can bake it when I want and enjoy a variety of different flavours I love.

After many tries and learning from many different recipes, I feel I have finally mastered a simple recipe to create bread rolls, focaccia and small loaves. Please try these and let me know how you get on.

Ingredients

500g strong bread flour (can be white or wholemeal)
2 tsp yeast
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp sugar (I used caster sugar for white bread and coconut sugar for wholemeal)
300ml luke warm water (I mix 100ml just boiled water with 200ml cold water)
3 tbsp oil (I use olive oil)
Extra oil for brushing on top before baking

For focaccia I add a tsp of mixed herbs when mixing the dough and for the topping I keep aside 1/4 cup sliced black olives and a few sprigs of fresh rosemary with some additional sprinkling of sea salt and olive oil before baking

Method

1. In a large bowl add all the dry ingredients and mix well. Made a well in the middle.

2. Add the water and oil and bring together with a spoon before getting in with your hands

3. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until the mixture comes together into a ball

4. Leave the dough in the bowl in a warm corner of your kitchen and cover with a clean cloth for at least an hour (the longer the better)

5. After an hour, knead the dough again for another 5 minutes and leave covered for an additional 30 minutes (the longer the better)

6. Once the dough is ready to be baked, grease a baking tin

7. Pre-heat oven to 200C at this point

8. Depending on the style of bread you want to make will depend how you roll out the dough, please see below:

· This amount of dough will make 2 small bread loaves. Half the dough and shape into round loaf. Put on the baking tin, brush the top with some oil and score (with a knife) 2 lines at the top of each loaf. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes

· This amount will make 9 rolls. Cut the dough into 9 equal balls and shape before putting onto baking tray. Once on baking tray, brush the top with some oil and score (with a knife) 2 lines at the top of each loaf. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Optional toppings: add nuts and seeds as desired.

· This amount will make a large focaccia. Using a baking tray (16(H) x 370(L) x 257(W)mm) flatten the dough out to about an inch thickness, pushing the dough out with your fingers (to leave finger indents in the top – not holes) and tope with the black olives and rosemary. Sprinkle some sea salt on the top and drizzle with a little olive oil and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

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