Bread

Every scenario so far was measured in minutes. Bread is measured in hours, and something in it is alive: the yeast speeds up and slows down with the temperature of your kitchen. That is why the times in a bread recipe are estimates, and the measure is the dough itself.

1. 0 minutes

   Mix the flour and water and leave it twenty minutes. No salt or yeast yet.

   The moment flour is wet its own enzymes start working and gluten begins forming without being kneaded. This wait buys back half the kneading you would otherwise spend. Salt is held back because at this stage it slows that formation.

   What to look for Shaggy and lumpy is correct; it does not need to look tidy.

2. 20 minutes

   Add the salt and yeast and knead until smooth. Warm water, never hot.

   Yeast is alive and comfortable between 25 and 30 °C; above 40 it struggles and at 55 it dies. Water that feels hot to the hand is usually past 45, so the water heated to "wake the yeast up" is the water that kills it. Salt slows it too, but does not kill it — it is enough not to tip it straight on top.

   What to look for The dough should stretch into a thin window without tearing.

3. 30 minutes
   Critical point

   Cover and prove until it is close to double. Watch the dough, not the clock.

   This step is the whole time axis of the scenario. The yeast turns sugars into carbon dioxide and alcohol, the gluten network holds the gas, and the dough grows. But the duration is an outcome rather than a cause: a prove that takes four hours at 20 °C finishes in ninety minutes at 28, with the same dough. The hour in the recipe is a guess; the measure is the volume and the poke test.

   What to look for A poked dent should fill back slowly. Instantly means early; not at all means late.

4. 2,5 hours

   Turn it out gently, fold it into shape and pull the surface tight.

   Shaping builds a taut skin on the outside, and that skin is what makes the loaf open upwards in the oven. A slack skin sends it sideways instead. Knocking the dough about here throws away most of the gas two hours produced.

   What to look for A smooth, tight surface with the seam underneath.

5. 2,7 hours

   A second prove, until it has grown by about seventy per cent.

   The second is shorter than the first and is deliberately left incomplete. The dough expands once more in the oven, where heat rapidly grows the gas and the steam, and it needs room left for that. A loaf already fully doubled has nothing more to give.

   What to look for The dent should fill back about halfway.

6. 4 hours 230 °C

   Slash the top and bake in a very hot oven with steam for the first fifteen minutes, then dry.

   Steam delays the crust drying, and a dried crust hardens and stops the dough expanding, so the first minutes need moisture. The slash gives that expansion a door; without one the loaf tears at its own weakest point. Then the steam goes, the surface dries, passes 140 °C, and Maillard and caramelisation colour the crust.

   What to look for An internal temperature of 96–99 °C, and a hollow sound when the base is tapped.

7. 4 hours 60 °C

   Cool on a rack for at least an hour. Do not cut it hot.

   Bread is still cooking when it leaves the oven: as the starch gel cools it redistributes its water and the crumb sets. Cut it hot and it looks gummy — not because it is underbaked but because it has not finished.

   What to look for The cut face should look moist without sticking to the knife.