Brilliant Bread

An underproved bread will be dense, with a tight and small-bubbled crumb. It may rise a lot in the oven, but the dough will cook before the bubbles have had a chance to stretch to as big as they can be. The crust will be pale, because the yeast and the bacteria haven’t had long enough to break down the starch to sugars in order to caramelise on the

When scoring, you want to decisively peel away the surface of the bread in one very fast motion, forming a little flap. This flap will curve open gradually during cooking, allowing the crust to form and the inside to expand. Scoring gives a beautiful tear on the top of the bread, as well as the best potential rise possible.

Instant dried yeast is cheap, consistent, gives fantastic results and doesn’t require any special treatment. Of course, if you still want to use fresh you can, just take the quantities I specify for instant dried yeast and double

a little vague, I know, I know… In a well-proved dough, it will be instantly noticeable that your dough is distinctly bigger than your original shaped dough. If you’re not sure, come back in 10 minutes.

dough is helpful because you are free to go off and have a life. But don’t forget that it will also make your bread awesome. A longer, cooler rise helps all sorts of wonderful flavours develop and the crust will become beautiful and brown as the sugars break down. Your dough will stay fresh for at least twice as long.

you want a thick, chewy crust then you want to turn your oven temperature down and cook for longer. If you want thin, soft rolls then turn your temperature right up, and by the time your rolls are dark brown your crust will still be superficial.

A good way to understand gluten strands is to imagine hundreds of very sticky elastic bands. As they are stretched out and folded across one other, they get more and more tangled, sticking together in more and more places. Leave them to rest and the stickiness subdues slightly, so they begin to flatten out. Then, as the yeasts churn out gas, they s

The more water you can smuggle into your dough, the better the resulting texture – most of the time. Adding extra water can make doughs a little tricky to handle, especially if you’re already used to working with dry doughs, but you’ll instantly see the difference in your bread.

STARTER CARE – OR WHY YOUR SOURDOUGH ISN’T WORKING Feed your starter every day if you are keeping it at room temperature. You can keep your starter in the fridge during periods of baking inactivity or holidays – feed it once every week or so. If you want to use it, take it out of the fridge, let it warm up and give it a big feed. You can make your