To Make White Bread in the London Manner
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the dough
Mix flour and salt in a bowl.
Dissolve yeast in warm water.
Combine the yeast mixture with the flour and knead until smooth.
Let the dough rise until doubled in size.
Shape and bake
Shape the dough into a loaf and place it in a greased pan.
Allow it to rise again before baking.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.
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
- Forms the gluten network that gives the bread its structure and chew.
- Water
- Hydrates the flour so gluten can develop and activates the yeast.
- Yeast
- Ferments sugars to produce carbon dioxide, which makes the dough rise.
- Salt
- Strengthens gluten and controls the pace of yeast fermentation for better flavour.
The step that matters
Letting the dough rise until doubled. Yeast needs time and warmth to produce enough carbon dioxide to expand the dough. Underproofed dough bakes dense, while overproofed dough can collapse and lose structure.
“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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