Basic Dough for Bread, Buns, Rolls and Pizza Bases

This is a good, basic yeast dough that can be used for bread loaves, buns, rolls, pizza bases etc. Uses the ratios as explained in the hydration ratio post, so is easily scalable.

Quantity here makes 1 bread loaf, or split into 6 - 8 burger buns, 12 dinner rolls, or 2 - 3 pizza bases.

Try with different types of sugar, fats and liquid to vary the flavour. It works nicely using honey and all milk with a couple of tablespoons of cream as the liquid. Make sure to use bread making flour rather than plain baking flour too, as it is less likely to collapse when rising.

Quantity: 1 loaf or 8 burger buns or 12 dinner rolls or 2 - 3 pizza bases

Prep time: about 30 minutes hands on + 90 minutes rising

Cook time: 20 minutes for bread, 10-12 minutes for buns

Ingredients 

Quantity	Ingredient
450 gm	Flour (high protein bread making flour)
6 gm	Active dried yeast
9 gm	Salt
25 gm	White sugar. Try honey, brown sugar, molasses, or golden syrup to vary the flavour
285 gm	Milk. This could be  just water, 50/50 milk and water etc. Make sure to weigh out the quantity
25 gm	Butter. You could also use an oil such as olive or coconut oil. Use olive oil for pizza bases

Method

1. Put the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl
2. Add the liquid and mix together until until it roughly comes together
3. Tip out onto a clean bench and start kneading. I do this by holding the dough on the side closest to me then using the heel of the other hand to push the dough away, stretching it out, then fold the stretched bit it back towards the other hand, spin the dough 1/4 of a turn and repeat
4. Knead for about 3 minutes. The dough should be coming together and look a bit less rough
5. Add the butter/oil/fat and get that well mixed into the dough. This step is pretty messy and it seems like it's not going to mix but it will after a few minutes. I find it easier to sort of squeeze the dough alternating each hand
6. Knead for about 8 - 10 minutes
7. Shape the dough into a ball. Put about a tablespoon of oil on the bench and roll the dough ball around in it, then place the dough back in the bowl and cover with a tea towel
8. Leave to rise until the dough is double the size. This will take about an hour
9. Once risen, punch (literally punch) the dough so it  collapses, turn onto the bench and knead for about 1 minute to knock all the air out.
10. Shape into whatever you're making. If making bread shape into a loaf and either use a loaf tin or place on a tray. For buns divide equally and place on a tray leaving about a fingers space between to allow for rising. If using this for pizza, divide into 2 or 3 bits, depending on whether you want a thicker or thinner crust, then roll them out and add the toppings. You could also slash the top of the bread if you want to look fancy
11. Leave to rise again for about 30 minutes (don't do this step for pizza, just roll out, put on a tray and add toppings). They should look nice and smoothly puffed up. Turn on the oven to 180°C to preheat while the dough is rising. 
12. Optionally sprinkle with flour. This helps stop the top from burning and is really useful if using honey as the sugar. Looks fancy too. 
13. Bake in the middle of the oven. 20 minutes for bread and pizzas, 10 - 12 minutes for buns
14. Remove from the oven and leave to cool a bit before placing onto  For buns, brush the tops with butter once they come out of the oven. The bread should sound hollow if you tap it on the bottom

Options and Ideas

This is a good starter dough for a number of different bread products. Here're some ideas:

• Add some fresh or dried herbs, minced garlic and grated parmesan cheese to make garlic and herb dinner rolls
• To make a cinnamon fruit bread, replace the sugar with 50 gm brown sugar and add 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon. After the dough has completed the first rise, knead in about 1 cup sultanas or other dried fruit then shape into a loaf, rise and bake
• Leave out the butter/oil and use only water for the liquid, shape into long rolls to make french bread or baguettes. Add a pan of water on the rack below the bread when baking to get a crispier crust