This recipe is quite common in England. It results in a very raised bread, with a spongy dough and very good flavor that can be used to make sandwiches or toasts. As it is easy to do, it is usual to cook it in homes as they are much better than the loaves sold in supermarkets.
INGREDIENTS (for a half kilo - 17 oz - bread):
For the ferment:
- 200 grams ( 7oz) of flour
- 1 cup of water (200 ml)
- 15 grams (3 tsp) of fresh yeast (or 5 grams - 1 tsp - of dry baker's yeast, since the ratio is approximately 1: 3 with fresh one)
For the dough:
- 300 grams (10.5 oz) of flour
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 85 grams (3 oz) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 10 grams salt (two teaspoons)
- 100 ml water (half a cup of water)
As with all fermented bread, the first thing to do is to "fatten up" the fungi that make up the yeast. In some cases they are given sugar directly but in this case we will use the sugars that the flour carbohydrate contains. To do this we pour the warm water in a large bowl, dissolve in it the yeast and add the sifted flour (200 grams), mixing well. It is left in a dry and warm place covered by a cloth until it doubles the volume (it will take about 2 hours).
If you want to speed up the process you can put the dough in the oven at 60 degrees, but you must watch well since it will bend quite quickly and it is not convenient for time to pass.
Once we have the ferment we make the bread itself.
We dissolve the honey and salt in half a cup of warm water (heat it in the microwave). It is then added to the flour (300 grams - 10.5 oz). We mix it well.
Next we add the butter, mix well, and then we add the dough that we have raised previously.
We dust our hands with flour and proceed to knead the bread for at least 30 minutes. If you have a kneading machine, it's time to use it.
Once we have finished kneading, we can leave it as it is again, or divide it into smaller portions (two 250 gram - 8.8 oz - breads, for example) but also leave it to double its volume.
In a rectangular mold, preferably of silicone and if we do not have a rectangular one greased with butter, we pour the dough and we take to the oven preheated to 180 degrees celsius (356 F). As it will rise because the hot, do not fill to the brim.
It is preferable that you cover the bread with a piece of foil and thus prevent it from being too roasted. Leave for 40-50 minutes and 15 minutes before the end you can remove the foil to brown.
The result is a spongy bread and an incredible flavor that has little or nothing to do with those loaves of bread they sell and that makes a ball in your throat that does not kill you by miracle.