Make Paul Hollywood’s Cottage Loaf Recipe
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Paul Hollywood’s Cottage Loaf recipe goes hand in hand with my Great British Baking Show Bake-Along. But ANYONE who loves a good old fashioned loaf of bread is going to enjoy it! If you LOVE to bake and try new recipes, make this bread recipe!
My bakers were given a very sparse cottage loaf recipe on our Bake-Along group. It had measurements only and very few directions to follow. It’s kind of like a real technical challenge on the GBBO.
Of course, I wasn’t THAT cruel. I linked them to the REAL recipe. And I also gave them a link to this version of a cottage loaf recipe as well.
This post is for anyone looking to bake Paul Hollywood’s Cottage Loaf with American Measurements, no scale is needed. And it’s also for anyone participating in my Great British Baking Show Bake-Along. You could be both if you join our baking group!
Why Paul Hollywood’s Cottage Loaf with American Measurements?
This is a bake I thought long and hard about. I wanted to give the bakers a real technical challenge, yet I didn’t want to scare anyone off.
My plan was to give them only the measurements and a few directions for Paul Hollywood’s Cottage Loaf and then direct them here for weights and measurement translations and more baking directions as needed.
One of the things I wanted to avoid with this Bake-Along forcing people to use weights if they’re not comfortable baking with them. So I convert all recipes to cups as best I can.
No one is left out of Bread Week because they didn’t have a kitchen scale. My Bake-Along is ALL inclusive, you only have to want to do it.
Do I need a scale for successful baking?
Using a scale means you never get too much or too little of any ingredient, your baking WILL be better, but it won’t be perfect. There are a lot of things that make bakes fail OR succeed, and a scale can help. But I would say that practice and trial and error are the best ways to be a better baker.
How to Correctly Measure Flour
When you’re measuring flour for this recipe, remember to loosen it or lighten it with a slotted spoon. THEN scoop it into your measuring cup over the top of the rim. THEN scrape it off with a flat knife or edge of something to get the correct amount of flour.
The recipe and directions for Paul Hollywood’s Cottage Loaf
The recipe and directions I gave were minimal. In fact, this is exactly what my bakers received in the Bake-Along group.
- Make a dough using 500 grams of flour, 7 grams of yeast, 7 grams of salt, 50 grams of butter or lard, 300-450 ML of water
- Knead until done
- Prove
- Shape loaf
- Let Rise
- Bake until done
This is such a FABULOUS loaf of bread! It looks rustic and tastes as if it came from a bakery. Plus with that topknot, it just looks over the top awesome!
How to Eat a Cottage Loaf
I had a question from a reader and I thought I’d share it here if anyone is interested. She asked HOW to eat a cottage loaf. When I make it I’m serving it with a hearty soup, like this Mushroom Wild Rice Soup, and I simply cut it in wedges.
I cut it from the top down through both loaves making big wedges. Set them out with butter and big bowl of soup, and you’ve got dinner.
Some of my Favorite GBBO Bakes
That’s one of the joys of this group, baking new things everyone will enjoy trying. My recent favorites have been, Chocolate Fudge Cake, Jaffa Cakes and Povitica and this classic the British Iced Bun! But perhaps my all-time favorite bake was when we made Bedfordshire Clangers.
I love festival week when we made a loaf of bread for a festival. I’d been planning to make Pan de Muertos already but when festival week came up I had to make it right then.
FAQs about this Cottage Loaf Recipe:
- Can I bake this in a loaf pan? I don’t recommend baking this bread in a bread pan, use another recipe for that. This is really made to be formed and baked like a classic cottage loaf. Even if the shaping of it intimidates you try it anyway!
- Mine turned into a lumpy mess, what did I do wrong? That’s probably a measuring issue. If you’ve added the called for flour and it still looks like the dough is too soft to even stay in a ball you may have added too much liquid or your flour measuring was off. Try adding small amounts of flour and kneading them in until a nice dough is formed.
Paul Hollywood’s Cottage Loaf with American Measurements
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 3/4 cups flour plus additional for dusting
- 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 3 1/2 TBSP butter softened, or lard, cut in pieces
- 2 cups warm water Not quite 2 cups, it translates to 1.9 cups
- oil
Instructions
- put flour, yeast, and salt in a mixing bowl
- add butter or lard and 1 1/4 cups warm water, stir together
- once stirred togther add the remaining water, remember you may need a little more or a little less, so add it a small amount at a time until the mix is pulling together in a ball
- dust your counter with flour, tip the dough out and knead for 5-10 minutes until the dough is soft and smooth
- place in an oiled bowl, cover and let prove until the dough is doubled in size
- once it’s doubled, punch it down, folding the dough to the center
- divide the dough into 1/3 and 2/3 chunks
- take the 2/3 piece and pat it to a rectangle, fold over in thirds long ways, then fold each end in, use your hands to pat and strech the dough into a circle
- repeat with the smaller piece of dough
- place the smaller circle on top of the bigger circle, pat down gently, flour up two fingers and plunge them down through both circles to bind them together
- cover completley and let rise about one hour or until the dough is soft and springy
- meanwhile pre-heat the oven to 425˚ and out a large roasting pan of water on the bottom rack
- once the bread is done rising, remove the plastic wrap, slash it in 8 places, dust lightly with flour and bake at 415˚ for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 375˚ and bake for another 20-25 minutes or until the bread is done
- test for doneness by knocking on the bottom of loaf, if it sounds hollow it's done
- cool and slice into 12 wedges
This looks beautiful! I love this idea to do a bake a long- and a test just like they do on the show with minimal information- so challenging! I am afraid that my baking often fails even given the best information!
Thanks for the US measurements! Can’t wait to try it!
You are welcome!
I have been wanting to try this thanks for the conversions
Enjoy your Cottage loaf!
Hello! Found this with a basic Google search for the ‘cottage loaf,’ and I cannot believe that was the basic recipe that was given! I am so excited to try this as I have only ever made three breads before this one. I have ordered a basic bread cookbook, and am awaiting it’s arrival. Any advice for a beginning baker? Also, what kind of weighing scale do you use for your kitchen? (Or which do you recommend getting?)
Thanks for your time!!
I’m not 100% sure that was recipe given. When I’ve seen peeks at the technical challenge recipes on the show the details are SCARCE! So I tried to make mine scarce as well.
My advice for a beginner baker is try and keep trying until you get it right. A LOT can go wrong but at least you get to eat your mistakes, right?
The first loaf of bread I made ! Still one of my favorites but have gotten better since
Bread is my favorite thing to bake but I do love to make enriched dough and play.,,
Love apricot corouune… but I play with that one too! The one bread I still have trouble with is Paul’s chocolate and cherry loaf, maybe one day
Thanks for the American measurements
Can this be made in regular loaf pans instead of the freestanding loaf?
I have never tried it! I have only ever seen a Cottage Loaf as a freestanding loaf!
I’ve made this twice and it’s really good. But each time, the dough melted into one big blob during the second proof. What am I doing wrong?
I would say try adding a 1/4 cup of flour to the mix and see how that works. When you’re kneading it give it a feel, does it feel super soft and squishy, if it does add more flour. It should be a bit of a more substantial dough to hold up to the double layer.
This might be a dumb question, but how are you supposed to eat this? Slice and make sandwiches? Tear it up and dip it? I’m lost?
I cut it in big wedges like any round loaf. I *think* it’s best with soups and stews!
I’m having the same problem Chris is above. Mine turns into a big blob and looks like Jabba the Hutt. I’ll try adding more flour and see if that helps.
This happened to me too, but it’s only my first try. I think a little more flour and don’t let it over-rise (which I did).
What kind of lard would you use for this loaf?
Leaf lard. or some other good fresh lard.
It would help if you had pictures to show how you shaped the loaf. Visual on shaping breads is so helpful.
Good idea! I’m getting a new range this week so I’ll remake it and add new photos!
Thanks a lot for sharing this amazing and super easy to make recipe! It tasted so delicious and flavorful! Loved it, will surely have this again! Highly recommended!
Thank you for providing the conversions — I wanted a good Hollywood recipe with the US measurements and this fit the bill. I would add a little more salt for flavoring. Mine came out gorgeous but I did not prove enough the second time, and that made for a slightly dense, wet interior, but the crust was excellent. Once I cut a slice I put it back in the oven just to dry out a bit. And my oven was a little slow. In any event, the loaf is almost gone! Thank you!