You can enjoy many accompaniments with your soups, but one of the most common is bread. People love to dip it into their soup to soak up the juices, and adding bread to a soup makes it a heartier meal. You can choose from many varieties, but a simple white loaf recipe is a popular option. If you want to make bread to accompany your soup or to enjoy as part of other meals at home, you might wonder which bread recipe you should use. There are plenty of recipes for white loaves, but ours is a simple method with excellent results. Here is our white loaf recipe for you to try.
Useful Information
Preparation time: | 1 hour 30 minutes, including kneading and rising time |
Cooking time: | 30-40 minutes |
Servings: | One loaf |
Vegan? | NO |
Vegetarian? | YES |
Gluten-free? | NO |
Dairy-free? | NO |
Ingredients for the White Loaf Recipe
- 450g/ 1lb strong white bread flour
- 300 ml/ ½ pint of milk
- 1 sachet fast-acting yeast
- 25g/ 1 oz butter
- 1 tsp salt
How to Make the White Loaf Recipe
- Warm the milk a little over low heat on the hob.
- Pour a little of the milk into a bowl with the yeast and mix.
- In a larger bowl, add the flour, salt, and butter.
- Rub the butter into the flour.
- Next, pour the yeast and milk mixture and the rest of the warm milk into the flour bowl and mix the ingredients with your hand or a wooden spoon.
- Use your hands to form the ingredients into a soft dough.
- Sprinkle some flour over your worktop and turn the dough from the bowl to the work surface.
- Knead the dough for at least 10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic.
- Return the dough to the bowl and cover with cling film.
- Leave the bowl in a warm place for one hour to allow the dough to rise.
- After an hour, turn the dough back out onto the work surface and knead for another 10 minutes before shaping it into a loaf and putting it into a loaf tin. Cover the loaf tin and leave to rise for a further 10 minutes.
- While waiting for the dough to rise, preheat the oven to 220C/ 425F/ Gas Mark 7.
- Put the loaf tin in the oven and cook for 30 minutes before checking the loaf. If the loaf is golden and has a hollow sound when you tap it, it is ready. Otherwise, return to the oven for a further 10 minutes.
- When the loaf is cooked, turn it out of the tin and place it on a wire rack to cool.
Additional Tips for Making White Bread
- You might wonder if you can make a white loaf with plain flour instead of strong white bread flour. The answer is yes; you can make a white loaf recipe with plain flour. However, the way the gluten acts in plain flour is slightly different, so switching flours may alter the texture of the bread slightly.
- You can add various flavours to your bread dough to try different breads. Adding dried onions, grated cheese, or various herbs or spices can elevate a white loaf into a delicious soup accompaniment.
- The bread is best straight from the oven, although it is harder to slice while it is still warm. You can eat the bread up to four days after baking if you store it at room temperature, says Healthline.
- If the bread begins to go stale, dice it to make croutons, add it as a thickener to another soup, or make some breadcrumbs for a meal topping.
- Slicing a white loaf is easier if you turn it onto its side. You should use a proper bread knife and slide the knife backwards and forwards while holding the knife level and applying only a little pressure.
Have you tried using our white loaf recipe to make white bread as a soup accompaniment? Let us know in the comments below.
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