Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Knead the dough as usual.
Divide the dough into loaves weighing 1¼ to 1½ pounds each.
Bake
Place the loaves in the oven and bake for two hours or longer, adjusting time to taste.
Change the position of the loaves halfway through baking, moving those on the top shelf to the bottom and vice versa.
For a nuttier crust, continue baking longer.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Provides the starch and proteins that form the structure of the loaf.
- Water
- Hydrates the flour so gluten can form, giving the dough its stretch and moisture.
- Yeast
- Produces carbon dioxide gas that makes the dough rise and gives the bread an open crumb.
The step that matters
Changing the position of the loaves halfway through baking. Ovens heat unevenly, with hotter zones near the top or back. Swapping shelves helps the loaves bake and brown evenly, so one side does not end up over-baked or pale.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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