Make Paul Hollywood's Cottage Loaf with American Measurements (2024)

Home » Recipe Index »Bread Recipes

ByLauraPublished onOctober 21, 2018January 4, 2024Updated onJanuary 4, 2024

Make one of the GBBO's most ICONIC bread recipes, the Cottage loaf!

Jump to Recipe

This post has affiliate links.As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support.

Paul Hollywood’s Cottage Loaf recipe goes hand in hand with myGreat BritishBaking 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!

Make Paul Hollywood's Cottage Loaf with American Measurements (1)

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!

What We're Loving Right Now!

Bake Like A Boss with these Baking Essentials-Pick the Perfect Gift with Our Gift List for Bakers

READ NOW

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.

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.

Make Paul Hollywood's Cottage Loaf with American Measurements (4)

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

Make Paul Hollywood's Cottage Loaf with American Measurements (5)

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

4.84 from 61 votes

Make one of the GBBO's most ICONIC bread recipes, the Cottage loaf!

Course: Bread Recipes

Cuisine: English Inspired

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 12 slices

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