Who doesn't love Homemade Bread?
Thanksgiving 2020 I offered to make homemade dinner rolls for the family. It had been years since I made bread from scratch. My efforts were horrible, and the dinner rolls were nothing more than hockey pucks. I knew I could do better.
I had done better in the past. I was determined to redeem myself.
It’s not hard to find education on any topic these days – YouTube is a great resource. After the holidays in 2019, I started baking my own bread, and in 2021, I made my first sourdough loaf.
Today I have a sourdough starter that is over a year old, and I have probably made more than 30 loaves of sourdough bread which is now my favorite to make.
If you’re looking for a simple homemade yeasted loaf of bread try this one by Bake with Jack. This is where I learned to make bread again. His videos on YouTube are easy to follow and foolproof.
From Bake With Jack...
This recipe will make 2 Loaves. I would suggest making two because it’s the same amount of work and you can always freeze one if you won’t eat it in time. If you prefer to make a single loaf, halve all the ingredients and you’ll be just fine.
The tins I use here are 2lb Loaf Tins: Base 10cm x 16.5cm Top 13cm x 20cm Height 9cm
Difficulty: Easy, a good place to start.
My Kitchen Temperature is: 70°F
Start to finish: 3 hours 45 minutes plus cooling time.
Watch this recipe in full: Simple Loaf Tutorial Video, Start to Finish
INGREDIENTS
- 640g Room temperature water (warm water)
- 14g dry active yeast
- 1000g White bread flour
- 16g Salt
- 30g Olive Oil
- 2 Loaf Pans
- Butter for greasing pans
Simple Instructions:
Using a scale in grams, measure the room temperature water in a mixing bowl. Add the active dry yeast and stir together.
Add the strong white bread flour a cup at a time or pour slowly till you get the 1000g.
Add the salt and olive oil.
Mix with a good bowl scraper. I love this one from Amazon. The small grey one is perfect for mixing dough. Mix the dough with the scraper till it comes together in a well mixed sticky ball.
Turn the dough out on a smooth wooden surface, granite surface, or other smooth surface to start kneading bread by hand.
This is the fun part. do not use any flour at this point. Flour will change your recipe. trust me, you do not need it.
Pushing the dough over itself and into a ball, knead the dough for 8 minutes back and forth.
If you are not in the mood for some fun and prefer to use an easier method, get out the old stand mixer and let it do the work for you. Knead the bread on the stand mixer the same 8 minutes. the dough will pull away from the sides.
Let the dough sit for 3 minutes and rest.
Roll the dough into a nice ball, gently dust it with flour and let it sit covered in a large bowl with plastic wrap to for the first rise. You can use all purpose flour for dusting.
Dustin is to keep the dough from drying out.
Let it rise for one hour or till it has doubled in size.
Sprinkle some more flour on the top of your dough and work surface. Pull the dough out of the bowl with your dough scraper and onto your work surface. Using your knuckles or finger tips, gently flatten the dough out.
Cut the dough into two equal sizes. Working with one piece at a time, fold the dough into itself to form a nice ball. Keep folding the dough into itself, creating a nice round ball of dough. All the seams and edges should now be wrapped into the underside.
Place the dough ball to the side and work on the 2nd piece to match.
Gently dust some flour over the two dough balls and let the dough balls sit and rest for about 15 minutes covered with a cloth. While they rest grease your two loaf pans with butter.
After the 15 minute rest, you are going to take 1 ball of dough at a time and gently press it out again with knuckles or fingertips into a flat circle again. You are going to take this circle of dough and pull the sides to elongate the dough into a large oval shape.
Take this elongated bread and fold the outer right side over to the center, then the left section over on top to form a wedge shape.
With your wedge-shaped dough, start with the narrow end and gently roll it into a tight circular roll. The idea is to roll a small section inward and make it tight. Then roll a little more and make it tight. You are creating tension along the dough as you roll it up.
Once your dough is rolled up into a loaf, you will place it in your loaf tin with the seam side down. Set it aside and do the 2nd ball of dough.
Sprinkle both loaves with a light dusting of flour. Let the dough rise one last time or proof. Rise time will vary.
Let it rise for an hour and check it to see if it has again doubled. Set a timer for about 45 minutes so you can heat your oven.
It is time to bake. Pre-heat your oven to 392°F.
Place an empty pan on the bottom rack of the oven. You will boil water and pour it into this pan when you bake. It makes the bread so much better, trust me.
While the oven is pre-heating get a kettle or small pot and get some water boiling.
Place each loaf of bread in the preheated oven, on the middle rack. Pour the boiling water into the pan on the bottom to create a steamy baking environment.
Bake for 40 minutes.
You can set a timer for 30 and start checking your bread to make sure it is a nice golden brown. I go the full 40 minutes but if your bread is starting to get too dark you can turn the oven down 20 degrees for the last 10 minutes. You can pull your bread out a little early depending on your oven.
This is one of my favorite simple bread recipes. It is fast and easy to make for any weekend dinner.
Try your hand and let me know how it worked out. I’d love to hear your comments.
If you want to make a sourdough, feel free to reach out to me and I will give you a starter to make the process faster.
If you want to learn more about sourdough bread, check out Bake with Jake’s full sourdough recipe here.
Bake With Jack Sourdough Video Start to Finish
If you want to learn more about bread in general, he has a ton of useful information.
