Air Fryer Crusty Loaf
How to make a crusty loaf of bread in your air fryer, simple step by step instructions, from start to finish.
Ingredients
Method
- 380g / 13½oz Strong white bread flour
- 210g / 210mls Lukewarm water 40°C / 104°F
- 6g / 1½tsp Instant or Active dried yeast
- 8g / 1tsp Salt
- 15g / 1tbls Butter (softened)
- 6g / 1tsp Sugar
- 1 Small egg + a dash of milk (egg-wash)
- Add the sugar to the warm water and stir, once dissolved add the yeast and stir it in thoroughly, set it aside until it activates.
- Once activated, add the yeast mixture to a bowl.
- Place the rest of the ingredients into your stand mixer bowl, and using the dough hook, knead for 10 minutes.
- If you are kneading this recipe by hand, add all of the ingredients to a bowl and partially mix it all together, tip it out onto your worktop and knead the dough for 10 minutes, then carry on with recipe.
- Turn out the dough from the mixer and form it into a ball, place it into a lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl and let it proof for 1 hour, the dough should double in size (this may take longer depending on the temperature of your kitchen) if you can, proof your dough in the oven, with just the light bulb on.
- Grease a suitable loaf tin that will fit your air fryer drawer, see video for my loaf tin dimensions.
- After the 60 minutes, turn out the now risen dough onto a non-floured surface, knock the dough back, this simply means force all of the built up gas out of it.
- Form the dough into a sausage shape, and place it in the greased loaf tin, firmly pressing it down to fill in any gaps in the sides and corners.
- Lightly flour the top of the dough, then cover it with a dry light-weight cloth, and allow it to proof until it has risen approximately 4cm / 1½ inches, over the top of the loaf tin, this should take around 45 minutes.
- Once risen, place the loaf tin in the air fryer food basket.
- Set your fryer to bake, or the equivalent function on your machine.
- Set the temperature to 160°C / 320°F.
- Set the timer for 25 minutes, hit start.
- When there is only 12 minutes left, pause the air fryer and carefully take the loaf out of the tin, place the naked loaf back into the food basket and resume baking.
- Once there is only 5 minutes left, pause the machine again, take out the loaf using oven mitts, and brush the top of the loaf with the egg-wash.
- Resume the baking process for the last 5 minutes.
- Once the time is up and you are happy with the colour, take out the loaf and let it cool on a wire rack, for 15 to 30 minutes.
- If you prefer yours a bit darker, simple bake for a further 5 minutes at a time, until you reach your desired colour.
- Slice and serve, with lashings of butter.
- Enjoy.
Equipment & products used in my kitchen and videos
