- 400 grams Plain Flour
- 100 grams Wholemeal Flour
- 2 tablespoons Powdered Milk optional
- 1 teaspoon Bread Improver
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Sugar (or Splenda)
- 1½ teaspoons Yeast
- 360 ml Water warm
- 1 Egg beaten
- 1 tablespoon Honey
- 2 teaspoons Olive Oil
- Add the ingredients to your bread maker in the order recommended by the manufacturer. For example, my bread maker requires me to put the wet ingredients in first and then the dry, then make a small burrow in the flour mixture and add the yeast last. If planning to use the bread maker for the full baking cycle, choose ‘White Bread’ from the menu and start it. Otherwise, select the ‘Dough’ cycle.
- Let the bread maker knead the bread for about 10 minutes then open the lid and check the dough. You want it to be a nice smooth ball that’s slightly tacky (like the back of a post-it note) when you touch it with your finger. If it’s too wet and the dough sticks to your finger, (which I’ve found with this recipe it often is), add 1 tablespoon of flour until the dough is the right consistency. If it’s really dry and crumbly, add 1 tablespoon of water until it becomes a smooth round ball and is slightly sticky as described above.
- If you will be baking the bread in your oven, once it’s finished the dough cycle, remove it from the pan and shape it to fit in your bread pan. If you wish, you can spray the top with an olive oil cooking spray.
- Set the bread aside in a warm area that doesn’t have drafts. Let it rise until double in size. Once it’s risen, preheat the oven to about 190c (375f). Bake for 30-45 minutes. I’ve found about 30 minutes is perfect but this varies with ovens when it comes to bread.
- The bread is finished when it makes a hollow sound when you tap the crust.
- Cool the bread for 10 minutes on a baking rack. Remove from the pan and allow to cool completely on the baking rack. (I usually fail at this last part and enjoy it warm from the oven!)
- My mother always smoothed a bit of butter over the top of the bread crust when it came out of the oven and I do this too – I don’t know what benefit this has but it sure doesn’t hurt it and always brings back warm memories for me. So if you wish to add this last touch, go for it.
Don’t put the bread away in plastic wrap until it’s completely cooled. Otherwise condensation will make it soggy.
This is my absolute favourite bread, and my other half has told me never to lose the recipe as he quite likes it too. With such a ringing endorsement I thought I’d share it online as well.
This started as a mash up – a mixture of two different recipes. One was for plain white bread and the other was for wheat bread. White bread bores me, and often home made wheat bread is too dense and heavy. This recipe is compromise between the two and uses wholemeal flour.
Ideally this is a full 1kg loaf of bread, however it can be made in a 750g bread maker if you don’t mind the dough reaching and sticking to the top. OR alternatively, just use the dough cycle of your maker and then put the dough in a bread pan to rise and bake. (Instructions included below). We used a ‘Family Loaf’ sized pan for the bread included in the photos and it turned out great.