I really embrace the concept of setting goals in order to get things done and this is very much part of my Creative Mentoring Programme.

Last January I set myself a small goal after enjoying some lovely artisan bread over the Christmas holidays - knowing that it would be too expensive to buy every week, I decided to have a go at making my own bread every other day. Almost six months of the year have passed and I have managed to bake regular batches of bread, keep a couple of loaves in the freezer and gifting the occasional loaf to friends and visitors.

There is a myth that it takes a long time to make bread, but the truth is that it just takes a little planning, so that after the dough has been proved twice, when you need to bake the loaves, it’s not going to be midnight (a mistake I made early on!!). The actual hand’s on baking takes very little time, what you do need is patience.

I really enjoy the rhythmic process of making the dough, which takes between five and ten minutes, then returning after an hour or two to pummel the dough and divide it into two loaves or one loaf and some rolls, finally coming back to the risen dough and baking it in the oven for twenty minutes, before taking the golden loaves out of the oven and placing them on an old cooling rack, I find it all quite relaxing.

I used to envy people who baked their own bread, somehow bringing to mind an aged Aga in a warm and welcoming country kitchen, full of comfort and nostalgia.

Some years ago we had an electric bread maker, I think it had been a gift, I found the taste of the bread disappointing and I think that had as much to do with the unnatural shape and the necessary ingredients including powdered milk. Eventually the machine broke and it was never replaced.

So now, my equipment and ingredients, which I keep together in the kitchen cupboard, consists of a large bowl, a clean crisp tea towel, two bags of strong bread flour, one wholemeal, the other white and a tub of Allinson Easy Bake Yeast. Close to hand is my well loved Tala Cook’s Measure, sugar, salt and a teaspoon. The only other requirement is warm water.

Having the necessary kit close to hand is part of the feeling of the event being a ‘ritual’, which indeed I think it is, a meditation, a mindful process of making something to feed those I love with good simple ingredients.

The recipe I use is a simplified version of others that I have tried.

Ingredients

400g Strong white bread flour

100g Strong wholemeal bread flour

1 level teaspoon of salt

1 heaped teaspoon of sugar

2 teaspoons of Easy Bake Yeast

A good slosh of olive or rape seed oil (I usually do two swirls of the bowl)

350ml warm water (too hot and it can kill the yeast)

Method

Place the flour in a large bowl, add the salt to one side of the bowl* (salt kills yeast) and the sugar to the other, then the yeast on top of the sugar, add the oil and then the water.

Now with your hands, work the mixture together until you have a warm soft ball and a clean bowl.

Continue to work the dough on a board/work surface if you prefer.

Now place this ball of dough back into the bowl and cover with a clean tea towel.

Leave the bowl on the kitchen worktop for one to two hours.

Return to the dough which will have doubled in size. Carefully tip it out onto the worktop (a tiny amount of oil can help it from sticking . Now knead the dough, knocking it back, for a few minutes.

Now divide the dough into two equal pieces and shape each into a slightly oval shape and place onto a baking tray with a piece of non-stick parchment, make three cuts across each loaf and cover again with the tea towel.

Return after two to three hours and the loaves will have doubled in size.

Put the baking tray with loaves into preheated hot oven for approximately twenty minutes. When the bread is ready it will be a lovely golden brown, the two loaves will be touching but will easily fall apart and when you tap the base it will sound hollow. Take care, the baking tray and the bread will be very hot !! Leave the bread to totally cool on a wire rack. I usually keep one loaf out to use and then freeze the other.

If you decide to have a go or if you already bake your own bread and have a favourite recipe, I’d love to hear, so please share. I have a sticky bun recipe which I will share in a future journal post, who can resist a sticky bun x

*keeping the salt and yeast on separate sides of the bowl is a tip I picked up from Paul Hollywood, I highly recommend his books on bread baking.