Great British Bake Off - 8 Strand Plaited Loaf

Another year... Another GREAT British Bake Off... Another Book, which OF COURSE I invested in... And, another post... Today I bring you amazing viewers, a post, that will most likely frustrate and anger you in every single way  possible. For it is no easy task, to plait bread with 8 different pieces... It is not just hard, it is almost impossible. Even the Bakers in the Great British Bake Off found it hard: Great British Bake Off Bread Episode...

Makes 1 Loaf

Ingredients

• 500g of Strong White Flour
• 10g of Salt
• 2 x 7g  Sachets of Dry Yeast
• 20ml of Olive Oil
• 340ml Water
• 1 Beaten Egg, mixed with a pinch of salt, to glaze (supposedly)

Method

1. Put the flour in a fairly big bowl. Then, put the salt on one side and the yeast on the other; ensuring they don't touch or the salt will kill the yeast. Add the oil and mix evenly with your hands or spoon.
2. Add 3/4 of the water, and bring the mixture together with you hands. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes or so until stretchy and silky. Dough requirements: Slightly soft, not sticky and tough.
3. Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly with clingfilm and leave to rise at room temperature for about an hour, or until double its size...
4. Punch the risen dough down to deflate, then put onto a floured worktop and shape it into a ball. Divide into 8 equal pieces, and with your hands, roll each piece into 40cm sausage shaped strands.
5. Lay the strands of dough out on the floured worktop like an octopus and stick the gathered ends together with your thumb.

THE PLAITING

As they are laid out in front of you, number them 1-8 and proceed to plait following the sequence below. Note: Every time you  move a strand, the order of the numbers will revert to the original 1-8 sequence.

1. Place Strand 8 under strand 7 then over strand 1
2. Strand 8 over strand 5
3. Strand 2 under strand 3, then over strand 8
4. Strand 1 over strand 4
5. Strand 7 under strand 6 then over strand 1

Repeat from step 2 until all the strands are plaited, then tuck the ends under the loaf to neaten.

Method Continued

6. Put the plaited loaf on the floured baking sheet and leave to rise at room temperature for about 1 hour until almost doubled in size. Towards the end of the rising time preheat the oven to 200°C/gas 6.

7. Brush the risen loaf with beaten egg, then bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the underside. Cool on a wire rack.

AND ENJOY!! ;)
I hope that your plaiting is more successful than mine, and that it rises well!

If you liked this post please comment, share and follow my blog!