There’s nothing better than fresh bread, sliced warm out of the oven, butter melting. It smells glorious, tastes glorious, and it’s simple.

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Bread is surprisingly cheap to make, and also surprisingly easy. You won’t regret it once you’ve given it a go.

The gentle art of making bread is a regular part of our weekends, for young and old. The kids explore food science, moulding and shaping the dough, and of course eating it with great pleasure.

The science

Apart from its starch content, bread is basically just a ball of protein filled with gas (very much like my dog, in that respect).

Her ‘not impressed with my comment’ face.

When flour is mixed with liquid, two proteins naturally present in wheat, glutenin and gliadin, link together to form the resilient, stretchy protein matrix we know as gluten.

In leavened breads, air bubbles are formed in this matrix and expand, creating the familiar hole structure we see inside a loaf of bread (or a good pizza crust, for that matter).

With traditional, or ‘slow’ breads, that leavening agent is a living fungus we all know as yeast. As the yeast consumes sugars present in the flour, it releases carbon dioxide gas, forming thousands of tiny little air pockets inside the dough, and causing it to rise.

Once you pop that dough into the oven, those air pockets heat up and expand even more, and a phenomenon known as oven spring takes place.

Finally, as the gluten and starches get hot enough, they set into a semi-solid form, giving structure to the bread, and turning it from wet and stretchy into the dry and spongy texture we all love so much.

Want to know why bread smells so good straight out of the oven?

The Maillard reaction is named after Louise Camille Maillard, who first described it in the early 20th century. It is the set of reactions responsible for that delicious browning on your steak, and the beautiful deep colour of a good loaf of bread.

Aside from looking great, the reaction also produces hundreds of aromatic compounds that add an inimitable savouriness and complexity to foods.

The art

 I’m going to give you my basic bread recipe. I add things to it and shape it in different ways, depending on the day. This way, I can use the one recipe for a whole selection of interesting breads such as rolls, pizza, pita bread, calzone, focaccia and breadsticks.

The mixture makes about 600g of bread, and costs very little.

Remember to use high grade flour, not your normal baking flour. Also called Baker's Flour or strong flour, high grade flour is made from semi-hard wheat and has a medium to high protein content.

Mix 2 teaspoons of dry yeast granules in a bowl, with 2 teaspoons sugar and 1 cup of lukewarm water. Lightly stir through1 tablespoon of olive oil. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to stand in a warm place, until the yeast starts to froth. Depending on the temperature in your room, this will take about 10 minutes.

Make sure your flour is at room temperature, not straight out of a cool pantry. You will need between 2-3 cups of high grade flour for this recipe.

Stir enough flour into the bubbly yeast to make a dough firm enough to knead. Sprinkle more flour over your bench, and turn out the dough. Flour your hands and knead the dough, incorporating more flour a little at a time, until it loses any sticky patches and you feel it change under your hands and become velvety and smooth.

Dribble a little olive oil into a clean bowl, turn your dough in the oil to coat it, cover the bowl with your damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place.

I use a clear bowl and place it up high, on top of the fridge. We can watch it rise, and it is warm up there.

When your dough has doubled in size, turn it out again onto your floured bench. Flatten it out with your hands, and sprinkle over 1 teaspoon of salt. It is now that you can add any herbs or spices you may want to use.

Knead the dough thoroughly again - you won’t need to incorporate as much flour this time to stop it sticking. It should feel elastic, and the salt should be well incorporated.

Shape the bread as you like it.

If making a loaf, brush the loaf tin with olive oil, then I like to sprinkle over a few sesame seeds. These give a lovely savoury sesame flavour and the seeds are great to stop the loaf sticking to the pan.

Cover again and leave to rise.

If you forget about it and your dough rises too much, don't panic! Just give it another short knead, cover and rise again.

Now, everyone’s oven is different, and it all depends on whether you’re making a loaf or rolls. My rule of thumb is to bake at 220°C for 20 minutes if you’re making a loaf, and 10-15 minutes if you’re making rolls.

Disclaimer: my oven cost a box of beer and leaks like a sieve, so if you’ve got a more modern oven you may find 210°C is sufficient.