This is the bread I make every couple of weeks. The quantities will make four loaves, which is just about enough to keep us going that long.
I discovered that the amount of stirring and folding described is enough to get a great result... and that tons of kneading isn't needed. Feel free to knead if you feel the need, of course.
Similarly, you don't need to follow the instructions on the yeast packet about mixing it with water first... just stick it in with flour.
The following is enough for a batch of ~4 loaves. You can scale up or down, but this is a good oven-load, and will keep you going.
- 1kg strong white flour
- 500g wholemeal flour
- 30g yeast (Doves is one I've found works well)
- 20-30g salt
- 1l water (plus a splash more, depending on seeds etc.)
Plus:
- a healthy amount (~300g?) of seeds: pumpkin, sunflower, linseed, sesame, poppy...
And very optionally (i.e. don't bother):
- a few handfuls of toasted hemp seeds, and/or
- 300g wheat grains
Put the flour, yeast and salt into a large metal bowl, and mix it up. Add the seeds: I tend to go for two or three types from the list above, depending on what we have, but you can go for the whole lot if you like. Lots of linseed and pumpkin seeds, whatever happens.
For the hemp seeds (which add an earthy, dark flavour, but that's all) dry-fry a couple of handfuls in a pan until they're smoking and popping. Grind with a pestle and mortar until you have a fragrant brown powder, and add to the flour. Remember, this is optional... so try it some time but don't worry.
For the wheat grains, it's a bit more effort, because you have to remember to prepare them the night before, but it's really worth it. Before you go to bed, put them in a bowl with some water to soak. In the morning, change the water and then simmer them in a pan for 20-30 minutes. Drain, and then spread them out on a couple of baking sheets (nice and thin - if they pile on top of each other, they'll get steamy and not toast properly.) Put them in the oven at about 200°C, and shake them every so often until they're starting to look golden and toasted (not too dark). Eat one: they taste amazing. You can add them along with the seeds, or instead of them... you get the idea.
Add the water to the flour, yeast, salt and seeds and stir. Use a big wooden spoon, or one of those handheld dough scraper things, and mix everything together until all the dry ingredients come together. If it looks like it's too dry, and the flour is hanging around at the bottom, add a splash of water.
Importantly, don't add any more flour. You're not worried about the dough being too wet, you just don't want it too dry. You're after something that's somewhere between what you imagine dough is like and a very thick porridge, something that you can stir and move around with a lot of effort.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and grab a chunk of it in one hand. Firmly fold the chunk into the centre, and turn the dough round with the other hand... and keep going, pulling handfuls into the centre until you're back to where you started. You'll have a thin layer of flour from the surface you're working on evenly coating the ball of dough, and it'll look like a ball of dough, rather than a pile of seedy porridge.
Throw a bit of flour into the original mixing bowl, and stick the dough on top. Put a damp tea towel on top, and leave it somewhere warmish (if the kitchen is freezing or I'm in a hurry, I put the bowl in the top oven while I preheat the bottom oven).
Do something else until the dough has doubled in size. (This should take an hour or so, but it depends on lots of things, like how warm everything is. It's one of those judgements that gets easier with trial-and-error... if you leave it too long, and let it rise too much now, there won't be enough get-up-and-go in the yeast to get the loaves over the finishing line once they're in the oven.)
Apart from preheating your oven to the highest setting (~250°C), one of the things you can do while you wait is prepare the bread tins so nothing sticks. (Even "non-stick" tins can get into a nasty mess...) Rub a bit of butter or oil around the sides, shake flour around inside them and then knock the excess flour out, leaving an even, thin layer. Your loaves should fall out perfectly when the time comes.
When all's done, tip out the risen dough onto your lightly-floured surface, and cut it into four pieces (divided in proportion to the sizes of your tins: I have two large and two smaller ones.) Fold the dough in on itself a couple of times from one side and then the other, working to create a loaf shape that has a symmetrical backbone of foldedness within it. This stops the loaf rising in random directions in the tin, and ending up looking like a bomb went off.
Drop the dough into the tins, and use your fingers to prod it down evenly inside them, into the corners and ready to rise in the shape you want: higher in the middle than at the edges.
Allow the loaves to rise for a final 10 minutes or so, covered with tea towels.
If you like, just before you put them in the oven, you can slash the top surfaces of the loaves with a sharp knife. Use quick movements, not slow ones, or it'll look like someone's stuck a knife in the top of your bread. The cuts help the expansion to happen evenly, rather than in random explosive directions, adds extra crunchy crusts, and looks pretty good.
You can also add seeds to the top, if you fancy: I flick a bit of water on the top with my fingers and then sprinkle over pumpkin or sesame seeds.
Time for the oven: pile your loaves in, wait until they're looking good. It'll take half an hour, plus a bit more at a lower heat, probably. Tip them out of their tins into the tea towels, and then put them back into the oven just to let the crusts finish off. You can test that things are all done inside by drumming on the bottoms: they should sound pleasing and resonant, not dull and... uncooked.
Out of the oven, let them stand for a bit, then... well, you know the next bit.