Slow rising at room temperature gives the best texture and flavour to your bread. In hot weather keep the bowl of dough away from direct sunlight and when weather is very cold the bowl of dough can be kept at an even temperature by standing it over a saucepan of warm water.
Keep your dough covered with a piece of polythene to prevent a skin forming. This applies particularly to a dough not baked in a tin. While shaping one loaf keep other piece of dough covered.
Warm the bread tins before using a warm dough placed in cold tins will result in an unevenly risen bread. Always brush tins with melted lard or white cooking fat so the bread won’t stick.
When bread loaves go into a hot oven the sudden heat causes a rapid expansion of the dough bakers call this ‘oven spring’; make certain you allow sufficient space between oven shelves for the bread to rise without touching the rack above.
Bake all breads, white bread in particular, to a really attractive golden crust. For an extra crusty finish, turn white bread loaves out of the, tins and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes.
When bread is baked, loaves or rolls should sound hollow when the bottom is tapped sharply with the knuckles. Allow baked bread to cool on wire racks, not in the tins. Delicate breads, like currant bread, are best cooled lying on their sides.