I put off learning how to make bread for a long time. Every recipe I found seemed to overcomplicate the process. I was already intimidated by the idea of making bread so when I saw terms like, ‘proofing,’ or, ‘Active Dry Yeast,’ I immediately felt like it was too hard.
It wasn’t until I was gifted an Amish cookbook that I finally felt like I could handle it. Their recipes were short, used simple ingredients and only had a few steps from start to finish. After making bread with their recipes for a couple of years, I felt confident enough that I could start perfecting my own.
After some adjustments, I believe I have the easiest and yummiest bread recipe to share.
Ingredients:
There’s so much to love about this recipe but the best part is that it only uses a handful of ingredients.
Active Dry Yeast
Warm Water- (100-110 Degrees F to activate the yeast)
Salt
Oil- Any oil is fine, however I’d steer clear of avocado oil because of it’s stronger taste.
Sugar
Flour- Bread flour or All-purpose flour can be used.
*If you prefer to stear clear of white sugar, you can easily substitute it out for honey by cutting the amount in half. (I.e. 1/2 cup sugar = 1/4 cup of honey)
Hand Mixing or Stand Mixer?
At the beginning of my bread making journey, I immediately assumed I was going to need a stand mixer. The stand mixer is great because you can let the dough hook do the work for you. I do notice that when you get to the last cup or so of flour, it was harder for the mixer to really combine everything together so it’s worth pulling it out and giving it old fashioned kneading.
Now, I mix the first two cups of flour in with a whisk and then hand knead the rest.
If you have a stand mixer with the dough hook, absolutely try it, but you don’t need to go out and buy one specifically for bread.
Do I Need Special Equipment?
Nope, nothing fancy needed here. Just measuring cups, a bowl, and a whisk.
How To Make Bread
1 tablespoon Active Dry Yeast
1 Tablespoon Salt
2 cups Warm Water
1/4 cup Oil
1/2 cup Sugar
5-6 Cups Flour
1) Gently whisk your yeast into the warm water and wait for it to bloom.
Your yeast should resembled the above image once bloomed.
2) Next, mix in your other ingredients besides the flour. I like to go salt, oil, sugar but there’s no specific order
3) Begin mixing in your flour one cup at a time. Make sure it’s mixed as thoroughly as possible before adding the next cup.
4) Once your dough can no longer be mixed with the whisk, you will want to start kneading it with your hand.
*This usually happens by cup 3-4
5) Once your dough is tacky, but not clinging to your hand, and is throughly combined, it’s time to rest. To save on dishes, I use the same bowl I mixed in and cover it with a slightly damp cloth.
6) After 30 minutes, your dough should have risen and now you’re gonna punch it down and then let it rest for another 30 minutes, making sure to keep it covered again.
Do NOT be discouraged if your dough doesn’t rise during the first 30 minutes. Punch it down anyways and cover for the next 30.
You can see to the right that mine did not rise after the first 30 minutes.
This was after the second 30 minutes and it had doubled in size!
7) Punch your dough down again and dump it out onto a flat surface. Now it’s time to shape your dough.
*This recipe will make 2 medium sized loaves or 3 small loaves.
I roll my dough out into one big loaf size and then split it evenly, depending on how many loaves I’m wanting to make.
Once split, I roll them out into a loaf shape again and place them in a greased pan. Poke a couple holes through the top and you’re ready to go in the oven.
*Sometimes I will push the dough down to get it to reach the edges of the pan, but most of the time I don’t.
8) Bake for 25 minutes until golden on top. I like to check on my bread around 20 minutes to be safe.
*Sometimes the top will be golden and you’ll think it’s done but when you slice into it, it ends up being doughy in the center. This is fine, just put it back in the oven and bake it a little longer.
9) Now it’s time to slice a warm piece off and spread some homemade butter or jam on top and enjoy!
And there you have it, the easiest and yummiest bread recipe!
I hope this helped take the intimidation away from baking bread!
If you tried it, let me know what you think by commenting below or sending me a message on one of our socials!
Happy Homesteading!
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