Chef Baker Florian Gomez shares his top tips for the perfect homemade loaf
Sourdough starters and banana bread have never been so popular, with more people than ever donning aprons and whisking up a homemade bake to pass time in self-isolation.
With that in mind, Chef Baker Florian Gomez, of the Hotel Metropole Monte-Carlo in Monaco, has shared his top tips and recipe for making the perfect loaf during these months at home.
Florian’s top five tips for the perfect loaf:
1 To avoid over-elasticity, leave the oven open for 5 minutes after baking.
2 Choose the basic ingredients for the dough.
3 Never leave the salt and yeast in contact, because salt deactivates the yeast, so it is better to mix the yeast and once the dough a little bit mix it with the salt.
4 Have patience because the dough needs to rest.
5 Do not make the bread in a place too cold or too hot which will make the dough crust and activate the yeast too quickly which will be very hard to work the dough.
Ingredients
• 500g of flour (baking flour or wholemeal dependant on taste)
• 350g of water
• 8g of salt
• 8g of yeast
Method
1 Mix the baking flour, salt, baker’s yeast and water.
2 Knead the dough in a food processor as well as possible, otherwise have a good helping hand once the dough is together and knead it by folding it over itself.
3 After kneading the bread dough let it rest for 10 minutes.
4 Once the bread has been shaped as you wish, let it expand at room temperature until it doubles in volume, cover it with a damp cloth so that the dough does not become crusty.
5 Preheat the oven to 240.
6 Shape the bread in to your desired shape.
7 When putting the bread in the oven, add a small ramekin of water to the bottom of the oven, this will ensure that your bread is not dull and has a nice shine.
8 Put the oven at 210 with a baking time between 20 and 30 minutes depending on the weight and shape of your bread.
9 At the end of baking, leave the oven open for 5 minutes so that your bread is not too elastic after several hours.
Tips, images and recipe courtesy of Hotel Metropole Monte-Carlo
