FOR many years now I've been baking my own bread and sharing my passion, knowledge and skills around the community.

I've been aiming to give people of all ages the confidence to have ago, helping take the fear away from this complicated science lesson and at the same time introduce people to real bread!

So, in this month's column I wanted to get back to basics and share with you an all-purpose beginners guide to baking everyday bread.

The fact is, if you're looking to bake just good bread, rather than amazing bread, read on.

Yes, you'll have plenty of little mishaps along the way, but rarely will any of those make your end product wholly inedible.

So here are my five essential bread making tips.

(1) The basic recipe. Use a good branded strong bread flour which will have a higher protein content then normal flour. I always recommend the dough being leavened with fresh yeast, which can be purchased from the bakery counter on request.

A little salt is added for flavour, oil or butter for texture, and sugar to feed the yeast combining all with lukewarm water.

Once you have mastered the basic recipe you'll soon be able to go off and make all sorts of other amazing breads by adding different toppings, ingredients and flours.

(2) Bread machines can be a gimmick and soon gather dust, so try and knead by hand if you can. It's more fun! Get personal as you will therefore soon get to know your dough's texture and feel, giving you a therapeutic gentle workout at the same time.

(3) Between kneading, rising, shaping, proving and baking, bread making will take a little time. So make sure you use your time well, allocating around three hours for good bread.

(4) It is important to pay attention to how your dough is performing and reacting. Many factors can affect your finished product, such as room temperature and humidity.

You need to feel comfortable with sometimes veering away from the recipe book. For example, this can mean adding more flour to a wet dough or adding more water to a dry dough. With time and practice you soon develop a sense of when a dough just feels right.

(5) Now take a well deserved break and let the yeast do its magic. But don't forget to cover your dough with a tea towel first.

Once it has risen well, simply punch down and pat out to deflate before shaping it up.

There are countless options for shaping bread, with most of them having silly French names like Boules and Batards, but for me the simplest shapes work best like a bloomer, cob or tin loaf.

When ready for the oven you might want to slash your bread before always baking it in a very hot preheated oven.

Bake it for 30 minutes or longer for a darker crust, check for soggy bottoms then place on a cooling wire, which is essential as a lot of internal baking is still going on. Finally, get out the best butter and dig in!