One of the things I love doing is making bread. The wonders of bread-making never cease to amaze me. Granted, it does take some time and patience but the end result is more than worth the effort.
Without further ado, here is the recipe:
Homemade Bread
1½ cups warm water
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp salt
3½ – 4 cups flour
- In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water and let it sit for about 10 minutes until frothy.
- Add in 1-2 cups of the flour along with the oil and salt. Mix and keep adding in the remaining flour in ½ cup increments until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes on a floured surface until it is soft and elastic.
- Put the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let it rise in a warm place for approximately an hour until it has doubled in volume.
- Deflate the dough and shape it into two loaves. Place them at least 2 inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet and cover with a damp cloth. Let it rise again in a warm place for about 30-45 minutes until it has doubled in size.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
This may be a dumb question but do you bake it in a loaf pan or just “shaped” into a loaf on a baking sheet? I am very excited to try this!
Brenda, I guess you can make the bread both ways. I like to do mine free formed on a baking sheet but a bread pan would work just as well.
That looks delish! I’d love to make breads, but my one attempt left me gun shy. Let’s say it wasn’t edible (hard as a rock). LOL I never was sure what went wrong, maybe the yeast? I may be up for another try…I am getting so sick of the placticky tasting, preservative stuffed, bread that you buy ready made at the store.
I’ve been thinking of making bread for the last 2 weeks but I don’t eat much. I just bought a loaf of Jake’s and 2 packs of bagels plus some Pilsbury biscuits. I make my grandma’s recipe and don’t have all the ingredients but I’m really craving it!
Brenda make 1 loaf on a baking sheet for garlic bread or 2 small or you can make into small buns
Chef at Home has a really nice recipe in one of his cookbooks. It’s called Country Bread/City bread. He lets his bread rise 12-14 hours, kneads it a bit, lets it rise 2-3 hours and bakes it. It’s super easy, especially if you leave it overnight and cook it in the morning.
I tried this tonight, but the dough never did rise. I made my normal recipe as well, with no issues. Really don’t know why this one didn’t rise. Same yeast in both.
@CrysJ maybe your water wasn’t the right temperature?
Wow. This totally reminds me of growing up. We didn’t know what store bread tasted like! When I reached about 12 yrs. old I started making the bread too. . .but we did 6 loaves at a time. (the first loaf was always inhaled by the family. . .warm with honey. . YUM!)
A recipe like this is great because you can use organic ingredients and make a big batch. Just stick them in the freezer!
I just bought a breadmaker (during Zeller’s 50% off sale). Haven’t even tried it yet. Does anybody have a breadmaker recipe for just plain bread?
could i make small loaves (one serving size) with this recipe instead of the 2 big one?
and maybe a dumb question but at the last step(when you let the loaves rise cover with a damp cloth)does the cloth have to touch the loaves or just hang on top ?
how long do the bread stay fresh?
and does it freeze well?
sorry, first time making bread 🙂
I so want to try this, but my kitchen is always cold (north side of our house) I’m not sure if I would have a warm place to let it rise. What temperature is warm? Is there a way to rise it in the oven on low? I appreciate any help. Thanks for the recipe.
my mom always lets her bread rise on the back of the stove while she bakes something else in the oven. We often divide the dough into 12 balls then bake them close together so they can be pulled apart when done. They are nice and soft. For christmas she did them in a tree shape 🙂 Good luck making bread – now I’m hungry!
Why dosen’t homemade bake bread taste the same as store bake bread? I have been baking bread for a while but just can’t get it to taste the same. Any suggestion?
To answer your questions:
CrysJ- It could be the temperature of the water in which you proofed your yeast. If its too cold, it doesn’t activate the yeast and if its too hot, it kills the yeast. The water should be slightly warm to the touch, between 105 degrees F. to 115 degrees F. It could also be that you didn’t give the yeast enough time to proof and bubble. Another reason could be the temperature of the room in which you left it to rise. The rising process is slowed down when the room is cold. Make sure it rises in a warm environment.
photosddd- I’ve made small buns with the recipe and it turned out wonderful. The cloth should just hand over top during the rising to prevent a crust from forming. I’ve never had a chance to freeze bread as its always gone within a day, if not a few hours.
shawnmikey716- If your kitchen is cold, set your oven to the lowest temperate possible for a minute and then shut it off completely. Leave the door of the oven slightly cracked open for a few more seconds. When the temperature inside the oven feels comfortable to your hand, then put the bread in there to rise. If you want to get technical, the temperature where yeast grows best is around 78 degrees F. You can also prepare the dough beforehand and leave it in the fridge overnight for the first rise.
Here’s my favorite bread recipe and it never fails!
White Bread
2 Cups Warm Water 110F
1/2 cup Sugar
1 1/2 TBSP yeast
6 cup flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 TSP salt
Put warm water, sugar and yeast and let sit till foamy!
Then add vegetable oil, salt and slowly add the flour while mixing.
Then let mix for about 2 more minutes then put in a well grease bowl and flip doe over.
Let it rise for a hour in a warm room! Then punch it down cut in half and roll in a square then fold twice and seal seams.
Put in well greased bread pan and let rise till 1 inch over aprox 30 minutes to hour!
then cook at 350 for 30 minutes!
enjoy!
TY Midnight. I am going to try this first thing tomorrow. I can’t wait.
My mom made bread at home all the time. I remember waking up at 5am to watch her make it so that we would have fresh bread for lunchtime. Question and it may not be required in your recipe, but where are the eggs. Bread is usually made with eggs or at least my moms and her moms and my aunts and sisters etc. Perhaps yours just doesn’t require eggs in it.
I have been making Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day. It is super easy. I have been doing this since last summer and my family and I cannot even think about store bought. Great way to save money as well.
No one does not need eggs all breads are not the same . none of mine takes eggs .
I use my breadmaker all the time and love it. It has more than paid for itself. I use a mix of 3 flours – white, wholewheat and multigrain. It makes a delicious loaf, we freeze half of it as we don’t eat a huge amount of bread. It defrosts well and still tastes great. Sometimes I let the mix do the forst rese in the breadmaker and then punch it down and make a French stick or small bread buns and the second rise outside of the breadmaker.
A few extra’s that can be added: sustitute some oatmeal for flour, or you can make oatmeal flour in the blender. Add a few tablespoons of sunflower seeds, flax, wheat bran, to make it a bit healthier. Peter Reinhart has a few great videos out there and wonderful books on bread making that are so educational. I borrowed a few from the library and it really improved my bread making. If only whole grain flour is used some vital gluten would help it rise.
Suggestions from someone who has been venturing into bread baking recently and enjoying it:
– Sunbeam’s bread machine is very reliable, highly rated by many users, and comparatively inexpensive.
– There are plenty of good recipes and tips to be found at allrecipes.com as well as at various websites devoted specifically to bread baking.
– Jim Lahey’s no-knead system works extremely well if you like crusty European-style bread. It doesn’t require a bread machine, but you will want to have an enamelled cast-iron pot for best results (keep an eye on the Canadian Tire ads and get the Kitchen-Aid one when it comes up at $30). The method is well documented online in text and video form, and is further developed in his book titled “My Bread,” which your local library may own.
– Use good-quality bread flour, whether white or whole wheat or whatever. Experiment with different combinations of different flours, including some proportion of unbleached all-purpose. Good ingredients make all the difference, and over time you’ll figure out which combinations give you the results you personally prefer.
– Read up on pizza baking. The dough can be made easily in the bread machine, and from that point on there’s lots to be learned by simple trial and error. Good-quality cheeses make a big difference.
Love88 I have a great breadmaker recipe my mom perfected (after years of making it by hand she converted! LOL)… I don’t have it on hand but PM me and I will send it to you:)
In regards to Jean’s comment, I agree with the No-Knead recipe, it turns out perfect everytime, it’s simple to make and it’s amazing. I’ve actually made it successfully in a stainless steel dutch oven (be sure it can handle the high temp.) bottom lined with parchment.
Jaden at Steamy Kitchen had a great tutorial showing how her 4 year old can make it, it’s that easy!
http://steamykitchen.com/168-no-knead-bread-revisited.html
Hi guys, I got my breadmaker in the summer and have been using it every week. I usually use the dough setting only and then make buns out of it. I feel less guilty because I don’t eat half a loaf at one sitting, just a bun or two.
Rising in a warm place – boil 2-3c. water in a four cup measure in the microwave, put on low rack in the oven, put your shaped buns or loaves on the rack above the water, let rise as long as desired
Vital wheat gluten – I never use the stuff
I was told once that ground ginger does the same thing as the gluten.
I add 1 tsp. to a loaf recipe and add it to the flour mixture. It helps with the rising when you use whole wheat flour and as an added bonus it also helps to maintain freshness and your bread will last longer. I leave mine in a sealed freezer bag on the counter or wrapped in plastic wrap and it keeps for 4-5 days.
It was very yummy. Not sure how often I would make it as it did take quite some time with the rising and everything. I might look into a breadmaker though. Thanks again for the recipe.
I made this recipe into 2 loaves – one cheddar cheese and pepper, one
plain – the cheddar one is almost gone ! the plain one is next – they
both turned out fantastic – but I changed to safflower oil and I did
not skimp – so the dough remained supple. My hubby used to own a pizzeria, so I had good council. We reheated it for supper then sliced the whole
thing – putting the remains in the fridge. The plain one went directly
into the fridge – will re-heat for supper tonite and slice entirely.
It has been a really long time since I’ve made bread, and this is only my
2nd time – but I will continue as I enjoyed it thoroughly. Also – I subed
for quick rising yeast so I only let it rest for 10 mins. instead of
letting it rise for 1 hour, then followed the rest of the recipe. Thanks !
I made this recipe into 2 loaves – one cheddar cheese &
pepper, one plain – the cheddar one is almost gone ! The
plain one is next – they both turned out fantastic – but
I changed to safflower oil and I did not skimp – so the
dough remained supple. My hubby used to own a pizzeria,
so I had good coucil. We reheated it for supper then
slided the whole thing – putting the remains in the fridge.
The plain one went directly into the fridge – will re-heat
for supper tonite and slice entirely.
It has been a really long time since I’ve made bread, and
this is only my 2nd time but I will continue as I really
enjoyed it – especially knowing the ingredients. Also I
subbed for quick rising yeast so I only let it rest for
10 mins. instead of letting it rise for 1 hour, then
followed the rest of the recipe. Thanks !
This is easily the best bread recipe I’ve ever used. I’ve often had issues with proving but for what it’s worth I found a site that suggested putting a pan of boiling water in the bottom of your oven and prove the bread in the oven without turning it on. Also works for getting the yeast moving !
First time I tried this recipe I added chopped red onion and snipped rosemary when I moulded the loaves after the first proving and it was sensational