Homemade Bread

I started making bread on a regular basis in 2006. This recipe was passed down by my dad. In the UK we like to weigh things so you'll need your scales as I haven't figured the cups volume for the flour. Very simple to make - makes 2 loaves.

Stuff you'll need....
2 lbs	Wholewheat/Bread flour
2 tbsp	Active Dry Yeast
1 tbsp	Salt
1 tbsp	Cooking Oil
2 1/2 cups	Warm Water
1 cup	Raisins
1 cup	Chopped walnuts or oatmeal, muesli etc

Put the flour, yeast, salt and oil into the bowl of your electric mixer and set it going at slow speed

Nuke up some water. The last two ingredients are embellishments over the basic recipe, but make it more interesting - purely optional. If you're using them, chop up the raisins and nuts and mix these in, then add the water. After a few minutes it should have turned into one lump. Take it out and do a bit of kneading on it, then put that in a warm place for a couple of hours to rise .

The dough should have risen quite a bit. Take it out and do some more kneading and then cut the dough into two pieces and place it into baking tins. I've started to use the rubbery ones which work great, but if you use them, then it's a good idea at this stage to place them on an ovenproof tray for easier handling - the problem is that the rubber containers are so floppy the delicately risen dough can sink down in a disappointing way as you move them to the oven. Now let it rise again a couple of hours, and pre-heat the oven to 350F.

Transfer the loaves to the oven and bake for 45-55 minutes.