New Cooking Series – 4) Freshly Baked Bread

The gorgeous aroma of freshly baked bread is a pleasure enjoyed the world over. As the flames flicker away in your stove cooking range, any room will be transformed into a warm and cosy space that will truly feel like home! We used our Little Range Cook Stove for this recipe.

Making freshly baked bread in your stove cooking range is a wholesome process that provides fulfilment and a welcome echo of the past, when people were dependent on fire for their daily needs. Instead of having to always pop to the shop to buy a loaf of freshly baked bread, why not spend a slow day by the fire making some dough and seeing what you can create?!

We’ve made a short video that will show you how we made our loaf of freshly baked bread, but we have also provided a more detailed recipe below.

Ingredients:
350g Strong bread flour (we used a mixture of white and wholemeal, but you could use any kind of bread flour. We think granary would be nice too!)
1tsp Yeast
1tbsp Olive oil
1tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Sugar
Approximately 225ml of lukewarm water
80g Mixed seeds, such as sunflower, pumpkin, millet, poppy and linseed

Here’s how we made our loaf of freshly baked bread:

1. Add the flour, salt and oil to a bowl. Gently rub the ingredients together before adding the yeast and the sugar and stirring these in.
2. Slowly add the water and bring together to form a wet dough.
3. Lightly flour a clean surface and your hands and work the dough until you can knead it to a soft ball – approx. 10 minutes. This stretches the gluten strands to create a fluffy loaf of bread.
4. When you are happy with the dough, add the seeds and gently knead these in until evenly distributed.
5. Return to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Put in a warm place until doubled in size (around 1 hour)
6. Remove dough from the bowl and knock back – gently stretch to release the air and then form into a ball. You want to make sure the ball is quite tight so that it holds its shape.
7. Dust a baking tray with flour and add the bread. Lightly dust with flour and cover with the damp tea towel again. Leave to prove for the second time in a warm place for around 30 minutes.

To make the best crust on your freshly baked bread, the oven of your Little Range will need to be really hot. Once you’ve got a really good fire going, position the oven control to the ‘1’ position. This will direct the maximum amount of heat around the oven. Using smaller logs and regularly refuelling the firebox is the best way to achieve higher oven temperatures.

When the oven temperature gauge reaches the start of the red zone, the oven is ready to bake.

8. Place the bread on a baking sheet, slash the top and dust with flour. Adding some deep cuts to the top of the loaf will allow the steam to escape.

9. Add a small amount of water to an ovenproof dish and place it in the bottom of the oven – this will create steam and help your bread to get its oven spring!

10. Pop the bread into the oven and quickly close the door to lock the steam inside. Bake for around 30-40 mins. Rotate the loaf once for an even crusting. You can remove the loaf and tap the underside to test if fully baked.

This bread recipe can be tweaked to include olives, sun-dried tomatoes, nuts and seeds. The fine tuning of the oven temperature may take a little practice to master, so it’s a good excuse to make a lot of freshly baked bread!