If you’ve been to the grocery store recently you’ve no doubt witnessed (and probably been adversely effected by) panic buying as the situation with Covid-19 unfolds worldwide. Bread has been the foundation of our diets for centuries and I’m hoping to relieve a little stress with this post by walking you through how to make it.
You do not need a stand mixer. You do not need a bread maker. People have made bread with their own two hands with simple ingredients for a very, very long time. This recipe is very flexible and I will go over some issues you may encounter if this is your first time making bread.
I know that’s a lot to process but all in all you’re only actively working with the recipe for about 20 minutes so don’t be discouraged! Making bread is a lot of waiting on the yeast to work it’s magic.
Notes:
*This recipe was designed to be used with All Purpose Flour. If you do not have All Purpose Flour because it wasn’t available, do not panic. Different flours have different protein contents and the more protein your flour has, the more liquid you need. I just tested it out in my own kitchen with White Whole Wheat flour (perplexingly the only flour left at the store when I went the other day) and it works just fine, I just had to add more fluid. Bread is more forgiving than you think!
*There will be a lot of side notes and descriptions in this recipe so I apologize in advance! I’m trying to make this recipe as accessible as possible with what you may have on hand.
*This recipe makes two loaves of sandwich bread. If you’re using a standard bread machine, cut the recipe in half (I’ll add a halved recipe at the bottom), follow step 1 and then add the rest of your ingredients, select Basic or White Bread and press start.
The Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups warm milk (115°F preferable, if you don’t have a kitchen thermometer use your finger to check it’s a little warmer than body temperature but not hot, too hot will kill your yeast. If you’re worried about this it’s okay to use cold milk, it’ll just take longer to rise. If you don’t have milk this recipe will still work with water, just add another tbsp butter for fat content.)
4 teaspoons active dry yeast (or two packets if that’s what you have on hand)
2 tablespoons honey (this is for flavor but you can use any sugar, just don’t skip it as it’s food for the yeast)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon salt
6-6 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour (if you have a different flour, see notes above)
Cooking spray (I use canola)
The Recipe:
Pour half of your milk into a microwave safe bowl or glass mixing cup and microwave in 30 second bursts until 115°F (or a little warmer than body temperature but not hot to the touch). Add your honey to the warm milk and stir until mixed, then sprinkle your yeast on top and let sit to activate for about 10 minutes until foamy.
In a separate microwave safe bowl, melt your butter (best done in 30 second bursts as well). Once this is melted you can add the other half of your milk, set aside.
In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, add half of your flour and all of your salt. I like to mix this thoroughly since salt can inhibit your yeast. Add both bowls of milk mixtures to the flour and mix. (It will be very wet at this stage but this is good, you need to mix it for a while wet so the gluten can form the long strands that will trap gasses from your yeast to make a good airy loaf.)
After about five minutes of mixing you should see the dough coming together to form a ropey sort of texture, now its time to start incrementally adding the rest of your flour in 1/4 to 1/2 cup portions. If you’re hand kneading this process can take 10-15 minutes, with a stand mixer it usually takes about 5 minutes.
The bread is ready to rise when it is no longer sticking to your hands and has a springy bubblegum sort of texture. Take your dough and form a ball with your hands, cupping the dough down to the bottom and rotating to create tension. It’s okay if it’s not perfect.
Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and gently roll your dough ball in it to coat with oil (this keeps in the moisture) and cover with either a plastic bag, shower cap, saran wrap, or a clean dish towel. Let rise until the dough is doubled, about two hours.
Once your dough has risen, turn it out on your (clean!) counter and flatten that sucker out. We’re getting rid of all of the air here so press it down firmly but without tearing it. With a bench knife, pastry knife, or a good old regular knife, cut the dough evenly into two halves.
Take half of the flattened dough and fold the two ends into the middle like an envelope. Take the opposite sides and fold them towards the middle again, then tightly roll the whole thing into a log, taking care to not allow any air into the middle. This takes some practice but just do your best.
Repeat with the other half of dough and place them seam-side down into a greased square bread pan. (If you don’t have a bread pan, place them seam-side down on a greased baking sheet—they’ll make perfectly fine loaves, they just won’t have the sandwich bread look without the sides of the pan to form them.) Cover and let the loaves rise until doubled again, about an hour and a half..
Once your loaves are about ready, preheat your oven to 375°F and bake for 40 minutes. The bread will be nice and brown on top and sound sort of hollow if you knock on the bottom when it’s done.
Let cool on a cooling rack (not in the pan!) if you have one but straight on the counter is fine. You should really wait until the bread is completely cool to slice your bread so it doesn’t become dry. Store in either a bread bag or airtight container.
Half recipe for bread machine owners:
1 cup + 2 tbsp warm milk
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (or one packet)
1 tbsp honey (or sugar)
1 tbsp melted butter
1/2 tbsp salt
3 cups all purpose flour
Happy Cooking!
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