Ingredients:

  • 500 g strong white bread flour
  • 7 g fast action dried yeast
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 350 ml lukewarm water

Instructions:

  1. Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl, add the olive oil and stir. Slowly add the water, stirring constantly. Mix until you have a dough.
  2. Knead for 10 minutes: put the dough on a floured surface and stretch it away from you with the heel of your hand, fold it over, rotate 90 degrees and repeat.
  3. Shape the dough into a ball and put it back in the bowl you used for mixing. Leave it to rise for 45 minutes at room temperature, covered lightly with a piece of oiled clingfilm.
  4. After 45 minutes, take the dough out of the bowl, knock the air out of it and shape into an oval loaf shape.
  5. Put it on an oiled baking sheet and cover lightly with the oiled clingfilm. Leave for another 45 minutes to prove.
  6. Preheat your oven to 220C / 200C fan / gas mark 7 / 425F during the last 15 minutes of proving.
  7. Slash the top of the loaf a few times and sprinkle it with flour.
  8. Cook the bread in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
  9. Check if it
  10. Place the cooked loaf onto a wire cooling rack to cool before slicing.