Bread. The staff of life so they say. The ability to make a good home made loaf of bread is something to be treasured because a lot of the artistry of bread making has been lost to the "Tesco Generation" where everything is available all of the time so why bother making food yourself if you can go and buy it 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

To take a slice of fresh, out of the oven bread made with simple ingredients with home made butter is truly a taste to savour and once tried never forgotten.

For a simple white loaf you need only three ingredients.

1, 500 g of strong white flour.

2, 7 g of dried yeast.

3, 300 mls of tepid water[43 deg C] made with 1 part boiled water and 2 parts cold.

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Of course you can add a whole variety of ingredients into this basic mix such as salt, sugar, herbs, spices, oils, butters, the list is endless.

Method.

For the basic white loaf measure out 500g of strong white premium flour into a large bowl. Add to this 2 tsp or 1 sachet of dried yeast and to this dry mixture add your 300 mls of tepid water.

Mix all these ingredients together and you will have a lump of dough. Tip this out onto the bench and work it with your hands holding it with one hand and pushing part of it away with the other hand. Keep doing this for 10 minutes and then form into a ball shape. Place this back in the bowl and cover with oiled cling film or a damp, clean tea towel.

Leave in a warm place for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the dough doubles in size.

Tip it out onto the bench again and "knock back" or re knead the dough to remove the gasses that have built up in the dough during the first "proving" or first rise. knead this dough for another 5 minutes.

Place on an oiled baking tray and slash the top with a serrated knife.

Dust with some flour on the top as this makes for a soft crust. Leave the flour off for a crusty finish. Leave the bread to prove a second time for at least 45 minutes, the longer the better really. After this time heat your oven to 230 deg C and bake the bread in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes. after 15 min's turn the oven down to 180 Deg C and continue t bake for another 15-20 minutes.

To tell if a loaf is cooked you can turn it upside down and tap on the base. If it sounds hollow then it is cooked. Leave on a wire rack to cool if you can.

In the picture above the top left loaf is made with chilies inside. The top right loaf is oiled and sprinkled with sea salt and will also it will have a soft crust. The bottom loaf has no flour on it so will be crusty bread.

The finished loaf and below the crumb texture on display.