Bread machines are great and can take the messy, mechanical process out of creating your daily bread. If, like me, you’ve had a bread maker for a while, you’ll have gotten used to how your bread looks. It doesn’t look like this, does it? It can… read on to find out how.
 
 

 
 
You can use your bread machine to mix, knead and proof your dough which stops you getting messy. We’ll take advantage of that, but then do the final proving and baking away from the bread machine.
 
 
Recipe
 
 
There are more than a googol recipes in the world, and you’ll  find the perfect recipie for your own taste. Our recipe require you add the following ingredients in exactly the right quantities and in the same order into your bread machine’s pan.

1. 1 tsp sunflower oil
2. 270 ml tepid water
3. 2 tsp sugar
4. 1.5 tsp salt
5. 225 g Strong White Bread Flour
6. 225 g Multi Cereal Bread Flour
7. 1 tsp dried yeast 

 
 
Bang that into your bread machine and find the setting for ‘make raised dough without cooking’ or similar. Basically, the cycle should take around 1.5 hours. It will start by kneading everything together in the usual way, and then warm up the dough slightly for a hour until it’s ready for the second proving.
 
 
Now we’re going off piste and leaving the bread machine alone. Find a loaf tin which you think looks about the right size and tip out the dough into your tin. No need to grease the tin, just tip it in without touching the dough. Don’t knock it back or anything. You should now have a loaf tin looking a bit like this.
 
 

 
 
Leave it in the nicest, warmest place you can find. Preferably somewhere you won’t forget it because you’re going to leave it for at least an hour to proof for the second time.
 
 
After a while your bread will start to look like this, which is the right time to add an eggwash and some seeds like sesame or pine nuts if you wish.
 
 

 
 
Your bread is ready to bake when it looks like that. This part is not tricky, but there is no room for error.
 
 
Preheat your oven to ‘Fairly Hot ‘ (Gas Mark 6, 200°C 400°F)
 
 
Put your loaf in and set a timer for 30 mins. UNLESS YOU ACTUALLY SMELL BURNING…. Don’t open the door of the oven until your timer goes off. Take out the bread and let it cool. It should look like this
 
 

 
 
If your bread is slightly undercooked, set your timer to 35 mins the next time. Experiment a little to get it just right and your loaves will impress.