Ciara's Little Eats: Rustic Crusty Loaf

I know there is quiche here too- but focus on the bread

Crusty Loaf then! My favourite!

This is a really delicious, fluffy and crunchy loaf. It is all crispy on the outside and fluffy and soft on the inside. It literally hugs you as you eat it. It is like your stomach is hugging a pillow. Yum- so yum! I love bread, and I know I've said it already, but this is so beautiful and full of flavour.

You know the way sometimes bread can have that yeast taste, and it isn't exactly appealing? Well, this is like the real deal. I am actually so jazzed about this bread- it is the bomb!

This is a Paul Hollywood recipe.

The ingredients that you'll need are:

- 500g Strong, White Bread Flour, plus a little more in case the bread gets too wet
- 10g Salt
- 10g Fast Action Yeast
- 370ml warm water

To Make This Beautiful Bread:

- Set the oven to 220C and place a deep baking dish at the bottom of the oven to heat up.

- Put the flour and salt into a bowl and combine.

- Put the yeast into a measuring jug, along with the warm water and allow to sit for 5 minutes

- Pour the watery yeast into the flour mix in three batches. Pour/ Mix x3 times.

Pouring the yeast water into the flour and salt

Bread after 1/3 of the yeast water is combined

Bread with all the yeast water before being combined

- Start off combining the flour and water using a wooden spoon. But you'll find that the more watery yeast you add, the stickier it will become. This will make it harder to mix and you'll have to start kneading with your hand.

- What I do is coat my hands in a little sunflower oil, this will stop the dough sticking all over my hands and will also stop me from adding too much flour, making the dough tough.

Bread kneaded and proving

- Knead the dough for 15 minutes, or until the dough is more elastic and smooth and not as sticky. Keep in mind that this dough will be naturally sticky, so don't expect it to become non-sticky. :)

- To knead, you want to grip the dough at one end and then pull the other end away from itself. Imagine you are trying to form it into an oval shape, except you aren't. Once stretched, fold the dough back over itself to regain its' ball shape and repeat this until the dough comes together and is smooth looking.

- Pop into an oiled container, that has an air-tight lid to allow the bread to prove.

- Leave for around 1-2 hours until doubled in size.

Dough proving after 1 hour

- Take out of the air-tight container and shape into a baguette shape. I didn't have a mold big enough to aid me in keeping the shape, but that doesn't really matter to me. It all adds to the homemade charm.

Dough straight out of the container- full of air pockets (:

- Place this onto a floured baking tray. Make a long slit down the length of the bread. This will give it its' iconic shape and will also allow the steam out and to cook on the inside of the bread.

Dough shaped in its own weird and wonderful homemade way on a floured baking tray

- Pop into the oven to bake for 40 minutes. Now you want to make use of that baking tin you've been heating. Pour cold water into it until it steams and begins to bubble. Shut the door to the oven quickly as you want to contain that steam to the oven, to benefit the bread in forming its' crust. The steam will help the bread to form a really crunchy and beautiful crust.

- Once cooked, you'll know when you tap it and it feels firm to the touch and also sounds hollow when tapping it on the bottom, take out of the oven and allow to cool completely.