Different Basic Dough Recipes

1.  Basic Bread Dough Recipe

Ingredients
450g (3 cups) plain bread flour (see note)
1 tbs (12g/2 sachets) dried yeast
2 tsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
250ml (1 cup) warm milk
2 tbs melted butter

Procedure
Combine flour, yeast and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in salt. Make a well in the centre. Add milk and butter.
Use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture until well combined, then use your hands to bring the dough together in the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Brush a large bowl with olive oil to grease. Place the dough in the bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Set aside in a warm, draught-free place to prove for 45 minutes-1 hour or until the dough has almost doubled in size.
Punch down the centre of the dough with your fist. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 2 minutes or until the dough is elastic and has returned to its original size.

2.  Basic Bread Dough (Happy Days with the Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver)

Ingredients
1kg strong bread flour
625ml tepid water
30g fresh yeast or 3 x 7g sachets dried yeast
 2 tablespoons sugar
1 level tablespoon fine sea salt
extra flour for dusting
Procedure
Stage 1: making a well
Pile the flour on to a clean surface and make a large well in the centre. Pour half your water into the well, then add your yeast, sugar and salt and stir with a fork.

Stage 2: getting it together
Slowly, but confidently, bring in the flour from the inside of the well. (You don't want to break the walls of the well, or the water will go everywhere.) Continue to bring the flour in to the centre until you get a stodgy, porridgey consistency – then add the remaining water. Continue to mix until it's stodgy again, then you can be more aggressive, bringing in all the flour, making the mix less sticky. Flour your hands and pat and push the dough together with all the remaining flour. (Certain flours need a little more or less water, so feel free to adjust.)

Stage 3: kneading!
This is where you get stuck in. With a bit of elbow grease, simply push, fold, slap and roll the dough around, over and over, for 4 or 5 minutes until you have a silky and elastic dough.

Stage 4: first prove
Flour the top of your dough. Put it in a bowl, cover with cling film, and allow it to prove for about half an hour until doubled in size – ideally in a warm, moist, draught-free place. This will improve the flavour and texture of your dough and it's always exciting to know that the old yeast has kicked into action.

Stage 5: second prove, flavouring and shaping
Once the dough has doubled in size, knock the air out for 30 seconds by bashing it and squashing it. You can now shape it or flavour it as required – folded, filled, tray-baked, whatever – and leave it to prove for a second time for 30 minutes to an hour until it has doubled in size once more. This is the most important part, as the second prove will give it the air that finally ends up being cooked into your bread, giving you the really light, soft texture that we all love in fresh bread. So remember – don't fiddle with it, just let it do its thing.

Stage 6: cooking your bread
Very gently place your bread dough on to a flour-dusted baking tray and into a preheated oven. Don't slam the door or you'll lose the air that you need. Bake according to the time and temperature given with your chosen recipe. You can tell if it's cooked by tapping its bottom – if it sounds hollow it's done, if it doesn't then pop it back in for a little longer. Once cooked, place on a rack and allow it to cool for at least 30 minutes – fandabidozi. Feel free to freeze any leftover bread.


3.  Basic Bread Dough (breadworld.com)
Ingredients
1-1 / 2 to 2 cups all-purpose flour
1 envelope yeast
2 teaspoons herb seasoning
3 / 4 teaspoon salt
2 / 3 cup very warm water (120° to 130°F)
1 tablespoon olive oil

Procedure

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, undissolved yeast, herb seasoning, and salt. Gradually add very warm water and oil to flour mixture. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cover; let rest 10 minutes.

Roll dough to 12 x 10-inch rectangle. Place on greased baking sheet. Layer filling ingredients lengthwise over center third of dough. With sharp knife, make cuts from filling to dough edges at 1-inch intervals along sides of filling. Alternating sides, fold strips at an angle across the filling. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

4.  Simple Dough Recipe (efoodi.com)
3 cups flour
3 cups lukewarm water
3 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons yeast (active dry)

Procedure
Heat the water until it is slightly warm to the touch, but not any more than that (it will kill the yeast).
Mix the water, sugar, and salt, and stir to dissolve.
Mix in the flour, 1/2 cup at a time. For the first two cups, add the flour very slowly (preferably with a sifter) and stir vigorously to ensure that it spreads throughout the liquid. For the last cup of flour, you can be more careless, since there's no risk of generating little localized pockets of flour.
Roll the dough out on a non-stick floured surface, and separate (or cut) into three roughly equal portions. Knead each vigorously for 5 minutes.
Place in an oven at 150 _Fahrenheit_ and let rise for 30-45 minutes; when it's done, you can quickly bake it as bread, or incorporate it into any other recipes you like.

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