Have buns of fun baking your own!

Some years ago, I conducted an experiment:  Just two slices from a loaf of a well-known brand of American bread were eaten and the remainder kept in its original packaging at room temperature.  After one month, I was astonished to find that the bread still hadn't gone mouldy!  The BIG question was — I'm eating this bread so what are the preservatives doing to my insides?

This was the pivotal factor for creating my own bread and the almost complete cessation of buying it, unless I'm travelling of course.

The great thing about baking your own bread, apart from the sheer, therapeutic joy of kneading is that you can exercise complete control over exactly what ingredients go into the recipe. Generally the less wholemeal flour ratio, the lighter the loaf or rolls will be.  My personal preference is to make this particular recipe using all butter and full-cream milk for flavour and texture but it is all about your choice at the end of the day.

This recipe uses traditional methods for making bread.   If using a bread making machine, use the following ingredients and make up according to the manufacturer's instructions.

INGREDIENTS

12 fl. oz (350 ml) full cream milk
12 fl. oz (350 ml) water
1 teaspoon castor sugar
2 tablespoons dried yeast (or fresh 42g)
4 oz (114g) butter at room temperature
2 lb 3 oz (1000g) strong bread flour, two thirds white, one third plain wholemeal, plus extra
2-3 teaspoons salt

Combine the milk, water and sugar in a jug.  Warm so that it is fairly hot — but not so hot that you can't stick your finger in it which will kill the yeast — and whisk in the yeast.  Leave for approximately 10-15 minutes or until there is a good frothy head.
Sieve the flour into a large bowl along with the salt and rub in the butter until the dough resembles breadcrumbs.
Make a well in the centre and add the yeast mixture.  Incorporate with a wooden spoon and then as soon as the water has been absorbed, dust the hands with flour and knead the dough for 10-15 minutes until elastic and pliable on a smooth worktop — e.g. marble, using extra flour if necessary. Use the left hand to punch down and away and the right to pull and punch down in the opposite direction, quarter-twist and repeat until the dough is soft and pliable.
Make a cross in the dough, lightly flour it and leave it in the same bowl to rise.  Cover with a clean tea towel and leave for an hour, or until the dough has risen to twice its original size.
Line two large baking trays with parchment paper.  Very lightly flour.  If using half the dough to make a loaf, sprinkle a little flour into a rectangular 2 lb (1000 gr) loaf tin.
Knead the dough again for 2-3 minutes. Divide the dough equally into 24 pieces (approximately 3 oz (75g each) or place around a half of the dough into the loaf tin, gently stretching it into the corners. 
Then, using virtually no extra flour or you won't be able to get any torque on the rolling out, make strips around 12 inches (30 cm) long using both hands.  Coil the dough and pinch the end in so that the roll doesn't unravel. These can be done at speed.
Place the coiled dough on the trays one at a time and lightly flour the surface of the dough.  Cover with the tea-towel again and leave for approximately 20—30 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 200 deg. C (400 F).
Bake the rolls in the middle of the oven for 14—15 minutes or until golden and the loaf for about 30 minutes.  It should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.  Slide the parchment paper with rolls onto a cake rack, empty the loaf directly onto the rack and leave to cool.  Eat fresh whilst still warm or freeze both the bread rolls and loaf for up to three months.  When sufficiently cooled, the loaf can be sliced and interlaced with rectangles of baking paper which will enable individual slices to be defrosted.

Top Row: Left to Right: No. 1: Unbaked Awesome Buns. No. 3: Higgledy-Piggledy Rolls
Second Row, No. 1: Egg-cellent Brekkie with a smile, or is it a grimace? No. 3:  Hot Dog in Disguise.  No. 4: Awesome Buns bursting at the seams with salad, an awful lot of chicken, avocado mash and Tina's Tantalisingly Tasty Titbits.
Fourth Row: No. 1: Unbaked Awesome Loaf. Nos. 2 and 4: Awesome Eggy Buns!