This is so easy, except the "recipes" are shite!
The things to know are:
yeast is only active upto 60 deg C, and it dies when cooked;
kneading is the same as making hard bubble gum soft, so has the same "feel" as the sweet when pliable and soft - why do recipes go on about soft and silky? The point of the process is to stretch the fibres to help the yeast to "rise" the dough, so the softer and stretchier the dough the more it will rise.....
I am making a batch as follows (but all measures are scalable down and approx - ie there is no fixed recipe!):
300ml tepid water ie up to 60 deg C
5 teaspoons of yeast (buy a tub of it, and use measuring spoons, satchets are a Royal Rip Off)
2 teaspoons of honey
leave to ferment - ie goes scummy on top
1.4kg of Bread Flour (about 60p from Lidl
)
4 teaspoons of salt
both sieved onto work top
make a well in flour\salt and pour the yeast mix in (I add it in two stages, enough to start mixing, without flooding..)
600ml tepid water (less than 60 deg C) into jug
add water as mixing the yest mix into flour
tip: I did read about only mixing in one direction to stretching the gluton fibres in the flour
Add enough water to mix into the flour, but it is worth remembering that flour takes time to absorb water, so it is best to er on the dry side. So once you can get the mix into one lump, then stop adding water.
Add 3-4 tablespoons of Olive Oil to the work top, and put the dough on top and "knead" i.e roll it into a sausage, fold it over and roll again etc, throw it on to the top (but only when the oil has gone!); press it; pull it - basically anything you want, but not breaking the surface etc. The other point of this is to get air into it, to help it rise (again not in any recipes, I have seen), so fold it over loads, too.
Once it is soft, leave it for 10 mins.
Go back, split it into 3 or 4 pieces and "knead" for a minute, or so.
Leave for another 10 mins and knead for a minute another 3 or 4 times.
The dough will rise, and remember to get the air into it.
Then form the loaves\loaf. Using hands flatten it out, about hal a cm to 1cm thich, but can be thicker. This is the time to add mixed seeds to the top, if you want them. Now loosely roll it up and tuck the ends over (ie a Swiss Roll with the seeds, if you are using them), but this is not essential. Place it with the join on the bottom, and make a few cuts in the top and brush with water. The water helps give a crispy thin crust, rather than it being all crust
Leave it to rise again, even better if you can get the oven to 50 deg C, for 10-20 mins.
Now is the only tricky bit, the oven! Mine seems to be a bot hotter than it should be, so some experimenting is required.
180 deg C for 20 ish mins, most recipes say 200.
So get oven going, and boil the kettle.
Pour boiling water into an old frying pan, or similar, and put it in oven
Then put bread in for 20 ish mins.
It is done when the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. If in doubt turn oven down to 140\60 and leave it for 5 mins.
