Bread in the Kenwood - for Fay!

Here is how I make our weekly bread in my fabulouso Kenwood mixer... This makes 2 standards loaves.

First weigh out 2lb of flour and a big pinch of salt into a bowl, then add 1 sachet of yeast, 1 pint of tepid water and a couple of tablespoons of oil:

 

Then put the bowl on the mixer and mix until it all comes together....

I then add a bit of flour and give it a couple of turns with my hand in the bowl to bring it together and make it smooth.

Take the bowl off the mixer, cover with a cloth and leave to rise.  NB do not be tempted to leave the bowl on the mixer under the plastic cover - I have done this and when the bread rises you end up with bread in every nook and cranny of the mixer - it's not good...

When the bread is risen prod it a couple of times to release the air and then scoop it out onto a floured bench to knock back (do not put it back on the machine to knock it back as this will kill it!).  I just turn it over a few times to make it nice and smooth again.

Then when it's nice and smooth I gently cut in in half, then turn the halves over to smooth them off and pop them into a greased and floured tin.

Cover the tins with the tea towel and leave to rise again.  I also put my oven on as high as it will go to warm up, but it depends on how long your oven takes to heat up for when you should do this.  

When it's nicely risen pop the bread in the oven - in my oven it takes 25 mins to be done in the loaf tins I use, but your timing will depend on your oven and whether you use tins or do it freestylee!

Here's our bread for the week.