It’s so satisfying. It’s just a plain white loaf, made by hand. But it works every time and it’s ridiculously simple. If you think you can’t do bread, you can. This will work I PROMISE.
Ingredients
500g white strong bread flour.
7g dried yeast sachet.
1tsp salt
300ml water
3tbsp olive oil. Plus a bit extra.
The Cooking
Mix the flour, yeast and salt together in a large bowl. Pour in the water and the olive oil. Mix with wooden spoon until it’s together enough to take out of the bowl.
Kneed on a floury surface until the dough feels elastic and silky smooth the the touch, and bounces back slightly when prodded. This should take about ten minutes.
Place in a warmish area and leave to rise until doubled in size. This should take about one hour.
Knock back the dough and kneed for a minute or so. Dough will be elastic and bouncy when prodded. Mould the dough into a round-ish shape or put it in a loaf tin. Slather the surface with olive oil (this will give a soft, chewy crust).
Leave to rise for another hour or so on the tray or in the loaf tin which you are going to put it into the oven.
Pre-heat oven to 220/200 fan/gas mark 7. Bake dough for 25 – 30 minutes until a nice golden colour.
Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Ta dah! Seriously, try this recipe. Your friends will be astonished at your baking prowess.
101 Things Every Cook Should Cook 
August 26, 2008 at 9:56 pm
I would love to make the “Magical Bread Recipe”, can you convert the measurements to ounces, cups, etc.,
measures used in the United States.
Thanks so much.
Janie
August 27, 2008 at 7:40 am
500g is about 1lb. 7g of dried yeast is about 1tsp. and 300mL of water is about 1/2 pint.
Google will do conversions for you: just use convert as the first word of your search.
For example: “convert 500g to ounces” gives
500 grams = 17.636981 ounces
August 27, 2008 at 1:49 pm
The bread photo is making my mouth water. I adore homemade bread – I may have to try this one as my next loaf experiment with half wheat and half unbleached bread flour. Lovely.
All conversions below are approximate.
500g = 5 cups flour
7g = 1 teaspoon dry yeast
300ml = 1 1/3 cups (10 oz) water
*From the Cooking Calculators and Conversions section of Online Conversion.com.
August 27, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Quite a leap from roast squirrel. Keep posting! 🙂
August 27, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Is there any way to do this with whole wheat flour? I’m trying to reduce my intake of white flour.
August 28, 2008 at 7:12 am
Hi Laya. You could make this with half white flour and half whole wheat flour, that would work no problem. I can’t confidently say it would work with 100% whole wheat flour though. Perhaps I will do a wholemeal bread recipe soon…
August 28, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I’m not sure I could really make bread. I love to eat it though! – and I love your pic. (Not so convinced about the squirrel though..) 🙂
August 29, 2008 at 7:46 am
You can, Max, you can! Try it!
August 31, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I am a bit scared of bread making but you made it look very easy:-) I will try sometimes.
X M
September 2, 2008 at 9:12 am
Looks fantastic!!!
September 3, 2008 at 3:28 pm
What is “strong” bread flour?
February 23, 2011 at 6:27 am
It has 10% or more of protein which is gluten – gives bread it’s elasticity. If you use cake flour you will get cakey bread.
September 20, 2008 at 3:45 am
The bread photo is making my mouth water and I adore homemade bread
November 3, 2008 at 10:35 pm
it split at the side,what happened?
November 4, 2008 at 10:18 am
Oh, that’s a shame. Split in what way?
November 4, 2008 at 10:19 am
Vince – “strong” bread flour is flour with extra gluten added. You can use ordinary bread flour/plain flour if you can’t get hold of the strong version.
November 30, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Hi, just made a loaf, thanks so much for the recipe, so easy to do and tastes great!
December 29, 2008 at 7:45 pm
it would be better if u put it in a video
December 29, 2008 at 7:46 pm
and thinks an way it is good
February 16, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I notice in your recipe you do not say warm water… Do you not use warm water?
May 21, 2009 at 2:57 am
It looks much better than the squirrel. Keep up the great suggestions. I love your blog.
September 10, 2009 at 4:20 pm
AHA!
this helps me!
Oven Temperature Equivalents
Fahrenheit Celsius Gas Setting
300 degreesF 150 degreesC Gas Mark 2
325 degreesF 160 degreesC Gas Mark3
350 degreesF 180 degreesC Gas Mark 4
375 degreesF 190 degreesC Gas Mark 5
400 degreesF 200 degreesC Gas Mark 6
425 degreesF 220 degreesC Gas Mark 7
450 degreesF 230 degreesC Gas Mark 8
January 30, 2010 at 3:13 pm
It worked! Mine turned out great.
The conversions I used were:
500g flour = 4 cups
7g yeast = 2.25 tsp
300ml water = 1 1/3 cup
Also, it helps A LOT if you spoon the flower into a dry measuring cup and then level it off.
I didn’t have a loaf pan, but when I make it again I’m definitely getting one.
January 30, 2010 at 3:19 pm
haha I meant flour, not flower.
And I baked it at 425F for 26 minutes
May 23, 2010 at 6:41 am
Getting simple bread baking is tough. It’s something my mum tried when I was a kid and ended up creating rocks of dough for us to take into school to impress our friends. I wish she’d had this recipe back then.
June 25, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Oops. I accidentally baked it at 200 degrees Farenheit…
It took about twice as long but it tastes good!
August 23, 2010 at 2:28 pm
I’m definitely bookmarking this. I haven’t made much bread but any recipe that has a promise attached to it is definitely on my list. It looks wonderful.
February 22, 2011 at 5:16 am
I have been looking forward to making this sandwich all week and just had it for dinner. Sweet Lord. It is perfect.
November 22, 2011 at 12:06 pm
your post is impressive, just bookmarked and share with my friends on facebook. Hope to seeing more updates from you
December 1, 2011 at 11:59 pm
Thank you for another fantastic article. Where else could anybody get that type of information in such a perfect way of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I’m on the look for such info.
December 7, 2011 at 9:04 am
Thank you for another essential article. Where else could anyone get that kind of information in such a complete way of writing? I have a presentation incoming week, and I was on the lookout for such information.
December 12, 2011 at 2:56 pm
do you got any fb fanpage or twitte? really wanna listen more from you!
December 14, 2011 at 4:11 pm
thanks for the recipe, i will follow it plus adding raisins, it must be delicious
December 17, 2011 at 10:26 am
it looks yummy, i will make one in xmas, thanks for the recipe, i love it
May 18, 2012 at 9:16 pm
i have got a good suggestion to make my son has mad a yogurt loaf at school and it tasted great just add a tub of yogart to all ingredients when you put in tin when its done it should have a hint of that flavour
August 17, 2012 at 2:06 pm
Absolutely fantastic recipe………..works every time. I’m making 2 loaves as I type this message. Just waiting for the mix to prove. I’ve always enjoyed making bread and, this is the best and most idiot proof recipe I have ever seen.
Try it……..you know it makes sense.
November 7, 2012 at 5:36 pm
Mine is in the oven right now and it smells great! This is a brilliant blog, so many fantastic ideas! Thank you 🙂
xx