This recipe is pretty much the one I have used for YEARS, it’s from The Five O’Clock Apron by Claire Thompson…. I have adjusted the measurements a little for my cold kitchen and my oven - don’t be afraid to mess with the yeast and salt to your taste.
Step one is best done the night before but the original recipe says a few hours… in the summer it definitely doesn’t take as long.

You need:
A mixing bowl
A loaf tin

Ingredients:
500g strong white bread flour (or 300g white and 200g seeded/wholemeal)
10g dried yeast
10g sea salt (fine)
380g water

1. Mix the flour, yeast, salt and water in a bowl and cover with a damp tea towel (wet with cold water and squeeze so its very damp)… I leave this overnight to give it plenty of time to rise, leaving somewhere warm will speed this up.

2. Move your dough into the tin. Cover tight the damp tea towel again. Let this rise again at least for an hour, but you don’t want it going over the sides.

3. Preheat your oven to 250c/gas mark 7

4. Bake at 250c/gas mark 7 for 10 minutes then turn the temp down to 180c/gas mark 5 and bake for another 30 minutes

5. That’s it - let it cool for as long as you can - but a warm slice with salted butter to ‘test’ is highly recommended.