Jamie Oliver's Homemade Bread Review

I've been wanting to make bread for a while and this simple recipe from Jamie seemed like a good place to start. The last time I made bread, I think I was in primary school and this took me right back to mess, mess and more mess, but also absolute fun! Bread is great to make with kids, and adults who act like kids (so basically everyone) and also if you only have small periods of time free throughout your day.

First of all, I halved the recipe and after making it I can tell you that half comfortably made two good sized loaves. No, they weren't anything like the size of something you can get from the supermarket, but one of my loaves (1/4 0f Jamie's recipe) would satisfy one person for about 2-3 days.

Jamie says to leave the bread for the first proof for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, but I left mine for 3, until I thought it had doubled in size, and proceeded to the next stage then. I would say that the second proof, when left on the oven tray, is slightly more important to stick to the suggested time of 1 hour. Mine rose very quickly during the second proof and had definitely doubled by the time the hour was up. If you left this one for 3 hours, then the air bubbles would probably pop and you would have wasted your patience and time on a mass of dough.

When shaping the dough is the time where you can get really creative. Some fun ideas are a plait, knot or I've even seen some cute animals like tortoises if you're up for it!

The recipe was really simple and the bread tastes great. My only criticism would be that when kneading, my dough was not as elastic and definitely stickier than Jamie's looks in the video. I expect that this has something to do with the fact that, you know, I'm not a trained chef and this was my first go, but adding lots of flour to the work surface and giving it a good knead really helped. I would also add more salt. While my bread is delicious and fresh, I can't shake the feeling that it is a little tasteless. It's great with something that can give it a little flavour though, like my own recipe for tzatziki you can read on my blog, or alternatively you could add sugar or honey like Jamie suggests in the video.

Overall:

Easy to Make - Super simple!

Time taken - Very quick when actively making the dough, but a long time throughout the day

Taste - Fresh, soft. The texture is great, just a little bland for my liking

See my totally unfiltered, candid pictures below and click on the link for the recipe video. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFr38fjmMGE