Everyday White Tin Loaf

Whisk the flour, yeast and fine salt together in a large bowl.

Pour in the lukewarm water and mix to a shaggy dough with no dry flour left in the bowl.

Rest the dough for 10 minutes so the flour hydrates and the kneading goes faster.

Squeeze in the softened butter, working it through until the dough stops looking greasy.

Knead for 8-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and a stretched corner goes thin enough to see light through before it tears.

Cover and prove at room temperature for 1-1.5 hours, until doubled and domed.

Oil a 900g loaf tin, corners included.

Tip the dough onto a lightly floured worktop and press it out to a rectangle of roughly 20x30cm, knocking the big bubbles out as you go.

Fold the two long sides in to the middle, so the strip sits a little shorter than the tin.

Roll the strip up tightly from one short end, pressing down at each turn to keep it snug.

Pinch the final seam closed.

Set the loaf seam-side down in the tin. A slack roll slumps sideways in the oven; the tight skin you build here is what forces the rise upwards instead of outwards.

Cover and prove a second time for 45-60 minutes, until the dough crowns about 2cm over the rim and a floured fingertip leaves a dent that fills back slowly.

Heat the oven to 220C/425F once the second prove is halfway through.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the top is deep brown and firm.

Turn the loaf out and tap the base — a hollow, drum-like sound means it is done, and a dull thud means another 5 minutes in the oven, out of the tin.

Cool on a rack for at least an hour. Cutting into a warm loaf drags the crumb into a gummy paste that never recovers.

The soft milk rolls in this collection are this same dough enriched with milk, butter and egg, while the seeded rye loaf swaps most of the wheat for a flour that forms almost no gluten at all.

Cut the cooled loaf thick for the mushrooms on toast in this collection, which wants a slice firm enough to take the weight without going soft.