• 300g Strong white flour (or plain white if that’s all you have)
• 150ml Water
• 1tsp/ 7g Instant yeast
• 1tsp/ 7g Sugar
• 1tps/ 7g Salt
• 2 tbsps sunflower oil

1. Add the water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl and leave for 5-10 minutes until the yeast has activated (bubbly and smelly)
2. Put the flour, salt and yeast mix in a big bowl and mix until well combined
3. If you have a food mixer with a dough-hook, put all of the ingredients in the bowl and knead on medium for 5 minutes. Add more water if needed
4. If not, then mix all the ingredients in a bowl until well combined. Tip the mix onto a floured or lightly oiled surface and knead for 10 minutes. Add more water if needed
5. Put the dough back in the bowl and cover with cling-film for an hour or until it has doubled in size
6. Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to knock all the air out
7. Put the dough in a lined loaf tin/cake tin and leave to rise for another half hour/until doubled in size
8. Bake for 30 minutes at 220c
9. Let it cool in the tin for 10 minutes then remove and leave it to cool on a cooling rack

Once you have perfected the basic dough you can start swapping out ingredients. If you are experimenting with different flours start by using half white flour and half of the other flour (wholemeal, spelt, etc.), if using rye use 2/3 white flour and 1/3 rye because rye has very little gluten and won’t rise on its own. For a typical rye bread flavour add some caraway seeds.

If adding seeds/grated cheese/onion/fruit/nuts/herbs add them after the first rise.

If you want a good thick crust fill a roasting tin with boiling water when you put the dough in the oven.

Try full white flour, swap the water for milk, swap the oil for melted butter, knead and rise as above then add a half handful of sunflower seeds, half handful of pumpkin seeds, a teaspoon of poppy seeds and a teaspoon of caraway seeds. Sprinkle a mix of the seeds on top then leave for the second rise. After it is cooked, toast slices butter well