Bread and cakes seem to take on a whole new meaning with a bread machine, as you can have fresh bread every day. The challenge is getting the recipe right, and using the right setting. As often if there’s an error you’ll end up with a sunken loaf of bread that is like a brick, and completely inedible.

This recipe is for a standard 1.5lb loaf (you can up the quantity for a larger loaf), and is for what I call savoury white, which is just plain white bread with very little extra sweetness.

You will need:

• 500g Strong Bread Flour
• 320ml Water
• 1 teaspoon Yeast (Instant/dried)
• 1 tablespoon Oil (any general cooking oil is fine)
• 1 tablespoon Sugar
• 1.5 teaspoon Salt

Method:

1. First take your pan out of your bread machine and put the water in the bottom, try and make sure the water is warm but not hot, test it with your hand first.
2. Then put in your flour, if you are economising you can mix 250g Bread flour with 250g normal plain (all purpose) flour. There is no need to sift it, although you can if you wish.
3. Then put in the yeast, oil and sugar. The sugar is there to help the yeast to make the bread rise, and the salt is for flavour (use less if you need to).
4. Then set the pan into the machine and set it on a normal bread cycle. On some machines this can be a little confusing, so use the setting that is for 4 hours. Try not to use any quick cycles for this bread as it will probably fall.
5. If you can use fresh ingredient, the bread is much better quality that way. And if your bread fails to rise, the yeast may be too old, or the water was too hot, so make sure you check before you put the ingredients in.