Chef Thomas
A Proper White Tin Loaf
A simple white loaf made from flour, water, yeast, and salt. The kind of bread that fills the kitchen with the smell of a Saturday morning and teaches you, slowly, everything you need to know about baking.
Culinary Explorer
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A Bloomer
Created by Chef Thomas
A proper British bloomer, slashed deep and baked until the cuts open wide and the crust turns deep, glossy gold. The kind of loaf that makes the rest of the day feel deliberate.
Breads
British
Weeknight
Make Ahead
25 min
Active Time
35 min cook•3 hr total
Yield1 large loaf
There's a particular smell that comes out of an oven when bread is nearly done. Warm, yeasty, faintly nutty, with something almost sweet underneath. It fills the whole house and makes everyone in it slightly hungrier than they were a minute ago. This is the smell of a Saturday morning that's gone right.
A bloomer is the loaf I come back to. Not sourdough with its rituals and starters, not enriched brioche or anything that asks for milk and eggs and patience I don't always have. Just flour, water, yeast, salt, and a hot oven. The shape is freeform, oval, fat in the middle, slashed across the top so the cuts bloom open as it bakes. The name comes from those cuts. Look at a finished loaf and you'll see why.
I make one most weekends, sometimes more, and the kitchen always feels better for it. It's the kind of bread that turns Tuesday's cheese into a proper lunch, that makes a soup feel like a meal, that you tear straight from the loaf and eat warm with butter while standing at the counter pretending you'll save the rest. Trust your nose. It knows when the loaf is done before any timer does.
We're only making bread. But there are few better feelings than putting a warm loaf on the table and watching someone reach for the knife.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
strong white bread flour
Quantity
500g
plus extra for dusting
fine sea salt
Quantity
10g
fast-action dried yeast
Quantity
7g
lukewarm water
Quantity
320ml
olive oil
Quantity
1 tablespoon
egg
Quantity
1
beaten, for glazing
poppy seeds (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for the top
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| strong white bread flourplus extra for dusting | 500g |
| fine sea salt | 10g |
| fast-action dried yeast | 7g |
| lukewarm water | 320ml |
| olive oil | 1 tablespoon |
| eggbeaten, for glazing | 1 |
| poppy seeds (optional)for the top | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Large mixing bowl
- •Baking tray and parchment
- •Roasting tin (for steam)
- •Sharp knife or razor blade for slashing
- •Wire cooling rack
- •Pastry brush
Instructions
- 1
Mix the dough
Tip the flour into a large bowl. Add the salt to one side and the yeast to the other. Salt and yeast aren't friends until the flour is between them, so keep them apart for a moment. Pour in the olive oil and most of the water, holding back a splash. Bring it together with your hand, working in circles around the bowl until you have a shaggy, slightly sticky dough. Add the rest of the water if it feels dry. Bread flour drinks more some days than others.
Lukewarm means warm to the inside of your wrist, no more. Hot water kills yeast and cold water sends it to sleep. - 2
Knead until smooth
Tip the dough onto a lightly oiled surface and knead for ten minutes. Push it away with the heel of your hand, fold it back, turn it a quarter, push again. Find a rhythm. The dough starts rough and tacky and slowly turns smooth, elastic, almost satiny. When you can stretch a small piece between your fingers and see light through it before it tears, you're done. If it tears straight away, give it another two minutes.
Resist the urge to add more flour while kneading. A wetter dough makes a better crumb. Trust your hands to learn the texture. - 3
First prove
Shape the dough into a loose ball and put it back in the bowl. Cover with a damp tea towel or a plate and leave it somewhere warmish for an hour and a half, maybe two. It should double in size and feel pillowy when you press a finger into it. The dent should spring back slowly, not bounce straight out. A cool kitchen will take longer. There's no rush.
- 4
Shape the bloomer
Tip the risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knock it back gently, just a few presses to release the big air bubbles. Pat it into a rough rectangle, about the size of a sheet of paper. Roll it up tightly from the long edge, pinching the seam as you go, then tuck the ends under. You want a fat, oval log with a smooth, taut top. Place it seam-side down on a baking tray lined with parchment.
The tighter you roll, the better the loaf holds its shape and the more dramatic the bloom when you slash it. - 5
Second prove
Cover the shaped loaf loosely with the tea towel and leave it to rise again for forty-five minutes to an hour. It should look puffed and slightly wobbly, about half again as big as it started. While it proves, heat the oven to 220C/200C fan. Put a roasting tin on the bottom shelf to heat at the same time.
- 6
Slash and glaze
Brush the top of the loaf gently with the beaten egg. This is what gives the bloomer its deep, glossy crust. Scatter the poppy seeds over if you're using them. Now the slashing. Take a very sharp knife or a razor blade and make four or five deep diagonal cuts across the top, about a centimetre deep. Be confident. Hesitant cuts don't bloom; they just look sad.
A serrated knife works in a pinch but a clean, sharp blade is better. The cleaner the cut, the more the loaf opens up in the oven. - 7
Bake with steam
Slide the tray into the oven. Pour a small jug of cold water into the hot roasting tin at the bottom and shut the door quickly. The burst of steam is what gives a bloomer its proper crust. Bake for thirty to thirty-five minutes, until the loaf is deep golden brown, the cuts have opened wide, and the bottom sounds hollow when you tap it. If it's browning too fast, turn the heat down a touch in the last ten minutes.
Mind your face when you pour the water in. Stand back. The steam comes up fast and angry. - 8
Cool before cutting
Lift the loaf onto a wire rack and let it cool for at least half an hour before you cut into it. I know. The smell is unfair. But cutting a hot loaf squashes the crumb and lets all the steam out at once, and you'll regret it. Wait. Make a cup of tea. The bread will still be warm when you come back.
Chef Tips
- •The flour matters. Use proper strong white bread flour, not plain. The higher protein content is what gives a bloomer its chew and structure. A cheap flour will make a cheap loaf, no matter how well you knead it.
- •Steam is the secret to a great crust. The water in the hot tin creates a burst of moisture in the first few minutes of baking, which keeps the surface soft long enough for the loaf to expand fully before the crust sets. Without it you get a thicker, paler crust and less bloom.
- •If you want a softer crust for sandwiches, brush the loaf with melted butter the moment it comes out of the oven. The butter melts into the hot crust and softens it slightly. Heretical to some, useful for ham sandwiches.
- •Day-old bloomer makes the best toast you'll eat all week. Cut thick slices, toast them properly, and put real butter on while they're still hot enough to melt it.
- •If your kitchen is cold, the dough will rise slowly. That's fine. A long, slow prove builds more flavour than a fast warm one. You can even put the dough in the fridge overnight after the first knead and shape it cold the next morning.
Advance Preparation
- •The dough can be made the day before. After the first knead, cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate overnight. Bring back to room temperature for an hour before shaping and proving the second time.
- •A baked bloomer keeps well wrapped in a clean tea towel for two days. After that, it's better as toast or breadcrumbs than as fresh bread.
- •Slice and freeze any leftover loaf in a bag. Frozen slices go straight into the toaster, no defrosting needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 65g)
Calories
165 calories
Total Fat
2 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
2 g
Cholesterol
15 mg
Sodium
325 mg
Total Carbohydrates
30 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
6 g
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