Bread for beginner eaters and cooks

There is no reason at all not to make your own bread. It is simpler than a lot of the complicated dishes that people try to cook after watching Masterchef and the rewards are endless - it saves money, the product is better than anything from the supermarket and there are no preservatives. You also get to feel smug every single time you pull a loaf out of the oven.

The secret is getting the right ingredients - you don't need a bread maker but proper bread flour and decent yeast are necessary. I order my ingredients online and this is very convenient and cheap.

I chose spelt bread as the Toddler's first because it is low in gluten and high in protein (making it easy to digest and good for growing bodies). In this case, the healthiest loaf that I have made has also turned out to be my husband's favorite. My Toddler will eat as much of it as I give her - sometimes we have to hold it back back so that she eats her vegetables first.

450 grams white spelt flour (you can use wholemeal spelt flour if you wish)
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/3 cup water (cold or room temperature - not warm or hot)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup plain or Greek yoghurt

Step 1: Mix all ingredients together until combined. Cover loosely with a cloth and leave at room temperature for at least twelve hours. I like to do this step at night after dinner as it results in fresh bread for dinner the next day. The only important thing with this step is to get the right consistency - it is a very wet dough and will not form a neat ball but it should not be as wet as a pancake batter. Add more flour or water as you think necessary.

Step 2: Check the mixture. It should have slowly risen to almost double its size. Once this has happened, gently pick up the dough and stretch it gently into a rectangle and then fold it like a letter. Repeat this motion a couple of times until the dough has deflated back down to its original size. Place the dough into a loaf tin or other container that you are going to bake it in. I like to line my loaf tin with baking paper to make the whole operation easier. Cover the baking container with a cloth and let the dough rise again until it is roughly double in size (I find that this usually is by mid-afternoon if the second step occurred at breakfast time).

Step 3: When the dough is roughly double in size crank your oven up to its maximum heat. After it has warmed up place your bread in the oven and let it cook at maximum heat for 10 minutes and then drop the temperature down to 220 degrees. This gives the yeast one final chance to spring the bread up as high as possible. Bake the bread for at least 30 minutes in total and when it is very brown on top and there is dull thud when you tap the base then it is ready to be placed on a rack to cool down completely before consuming.

Notes:
* This is a forgiving recipe so don't sweat it too much. Whatever you do it will still taste better than anything you buy and your results will get better as you go on and learn more.
* This is a wet dough - it will stick to your hands.
* This bread is best eaten as soon as it has cooled but is nice for several days afterwards.
* Babies who are teething love the crusts or pieces which have been dried out in the oven.
* The Toddler loves this bread with a mixture of yoghurt, grated cheese and carrot. She also loves banana toasted spelt sandwiches for breakfast (pictured).
* Feel free to experiment - this dough makes excellent pizza and is also great if you add some dried fruit and bake in little muffin tins for fruit buns.