Have you looked at the ingredients on the back of a loaf of bread at the store? There is a WHOLE lot added in there, that just isn’t needed for bread, other than it needs to sit on a shelf for weeks, in factories and look the exact same every time. Make your own at home in less than two hours! And for less than $1.50 for two loaves when using organic and clean ingredients.
Your body doesn’t need all those added minerals and vitamins. You don’t need the shelf stable add ins either. And let’s not even go there with bleaching the flour with chlorine, that now you’re going to ingest, just so it would be a lighter color? No thank you.
Let’s Get Straight to the Bread
To start this off, try not to get too “perfectionist” when making bread. So many share that you have to weigh everything, you have to make sure that this and that is done perfectly. The short story is, you don’t! You’re not making this bread in a factory bakery with the exact perfect environment, temperature and humidity.. you’re making this in a home with changing seasons and so many other factors. What matters is, you have a basis to stat with and then keep adjusting from there.
When I make bread, not every time will I make sure my water level in my cup is exactly 2 cups, sometimes it’s a little more, but it’s warm and blooms the yeast, just means I might need to add a little more flour. Do I only ever add exactly 5 cups of flour? No. Sometimes it’s more, rarely is it less. As this depends on the water and the humidity in your room. You’re looking for the consistency changing in your dough as to when to stop adding more.
So if your first loaves don’t turn out perfect, keep trying! If your first loaves do turn out perfect, memorize what your consistency at each stage looks and feels like and keep looking for that each time as your environment changes.
Let’s Make Bread!
Blooming the Yeast
Starting with your stand mixer, I like to warm the bowl I’m using. Turn your tap to HOT water and run the inside of the bowl with that hot water to warm the bowl – especially helpful when you have a stainless steel bowl. Dump the water out.
I then add 2 cups of warm bath-water like water to a liquid measuring cup. When I say bath water, I mean it’s water that is really warm, not lukewarm, but also not scalding. So a temperature you can touch, feels warm, and you don’t have to take your hand out right away because it’s too hot. When the water is too hot, it will actually burn the yeast. If it’s too cool, they won’t get all comfy and cozy and bloom. So a temp that you would sink into the bathtub and feel all cozy and comfy, so will the yeast. Pour the water into your warmed mixing bowl.
Then I add in two tablespoons of sugar (or honey) – it really doesn’t matter as it’s all eaten up by the yeast that’s hungry in the bathtub. Add in the matching two tablespoons of yeast. When I say this can be active or instant, I really mean it. Normally, with instant, you don’t bloom it before using it, but when you do, you guarantee the rise in your bread because you KNOW your yeast is ready to go.
Whisk all three together in your warmed bowl until nicely combined and let sit.
This, again, will depend on the environment of your room.
It can take as little at 5 mins in your warm house to as much as nearly 30 mins in a cold house. You will know the yeast has bloomed as there is a dome shape to the mixture, it’s light and bubbly on top. Now it’s time for the next step.
Making the Dough
Alright, you’ve bloomed the yeast, now it’s time for the “hard” work! Start by adding in your 1/4 cup of oil and 2 teaspoons of salt and just ONE cup of flour.
You’re going to whisk these together until smooth.
Now add three more cups of flour and attach your dough hook onto your stand mixer.
Time to mix! Turning your stand mixer on low, mix the flour into the whisked mixture (say that 5x fast!) It will start to mix well.
Slowly add in another cup of flour into the bowl. If you find your mixture is still very wet and loose, use another cup of flour and keep adding slowly.
If your mixture is getting thicker and your mixer is slowing down, turn it up one more level to keep the mix rhythm going. Your mixture should look like the photo below. A good formed ball shape that isn’t sticking to the sides.
Once you see it really pulling from the sides and cleaning it, your flour has mixed in thoroughly and it’s time to knead.
Time To Knead
Alright, you’ve made your dough, we’re almost ready to make bread! This is probably the most important part of the whole process. Kneading. While we’re not kneading with our hands here, because we’re making the most super simple hands off as much as possible store-replacement bread, we’re going to let our stand mixer do the work for us!
To knead your dough, you’re going to set a timer for about 5mins. Turn your mixer up to medium and have the dough hook and bowl knead your bread by beating it around in circles.
Once your timer ends at 5 minutes, stop your mixer and feel how your dough feels at this point. Try taking it off the hook – if it’s still super sticky and crazy sticks to your hands/fingers, it’s not ready yet. Turn your mixer back on and set your timer again for 3 minutes.
Again, test to see if your dough is still wet. If it is, it means you might actually need more flour, but that should be RARE. It might be sticky to the touch, but it should stick to your whole hand.
Time for the First Rise
Alright, you’ve mixed your dough, you’ve kneaded it, now it’s time to put it to work and RISE!
Oil a large bowl with the same oil you used in the dough. Take your dough out from the mixer and shape into a ball, creating tension on one side (top side) and bringing the sides to the bottom centre.
Turn the ball tension side down into the oiled bowl and turn it all around to coat the dough and some of the sides of the bowl. Finishing with the tension side up.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, beeswax paper or bowl cover that keeps the moisture inside the bowl and doesn’t dry out the dough. Set aside until dough has risen at least 2x it’s original size.
Shape your Loaves
Time to shape those loaves and make it look more like bread, than a pile of goop.
Remove the cover from your bowl, using your fist, punch into the centre of the dough, literally called “punch down the dough” to deflate the risen dough. Using your hand, pull the dough off the sides of the bowl towards the centre and then turn it out onto your counter top.
Using your bench scrapper (or butter knife or something straight and semi-sharp) cut the dough into two equal parts. Doesn’t have to be perfect, this is homemade bread, not a factory. Do the best you can.
Place one piece of dough back in the oiled bowl and set aside.
The other piece, you are going to use your knuckles and flatten the dough into a rough circle like shape. Knuckling the dough will release the last of the air bubbles from the bulk rise we just did.
Then grabbing each side of the dough (say 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock), using and up and down motion, you’re going to pull the sides out to make “wings”. Not massive wings, but enough to create more tension (yes, bread loves tension).
Take the right wing and fold it across and down and then left side across and down. Making a triangle shape out of your dough.
Next, we are going to roll our dough. Starting from the narrow side of the triangle, roll one flip at a time onto the dough in front (rolling towards the wider part). Use your four fingers to roll the dough from the back to front and use your thumbs to press into the dough it rolls into. Think in your mind – roll and press, roll and press – only pressing enough to have the dough stick to the next section, not to create creases.
Do this all the way to the end of the dough triangle and press into the final piece of dough closing off the seal.
Using your hands in a “karate chop” position, press down on each side of the dough to close off the rolled ends, again creating some ‘wings’.
These wings you will tuck under the bread. Place bread into oiled (same oil) bread pan.
Repeat with other dough.
Using your plastic wrap, cover, beeswax, coat with oil and cover. Set aside and let rise until approximately 1″ is above the bread pan.
Preheat your oven now to 350ºF.
Cook all the Bread!
Now comes the good stuff! Your bread has risen, looks so close to bread, but we have to cook it. Take off the plastic wrap and place in the oven to cook for 30 mins.
Your bread will continue to rise in the oven as well, so don’t think it’s doing to stay this low.
Once your timer goes off, remove the bread from the oven and leave in the pans. Using a stick of butter, coat the bread while it’s in the pan. Rubbing the stick of butter all over the bread crust that is above the pan.
Remove both from their pans when fully coated in butter onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
Let Them Eat Bread!
This is really the hardest part of the whole process – waiting to cut into the bread until cooled. Technically, the bread is still “cooking” in its own way while cooling down, but if you really have to take a bite while hot, don’t bother trying to cut it, just rip it apart like a savage!!
We have had numerous friends get fresh and warm bread from me and they can’t resist, so they eat it out of the bread bag like popcorn, ripping little pieces off at a time. So if you must, just rip!
Make sure your bread is fully cooled and then store in an airtight container – I prefer to use these giant plastic bag as it will hold two loaves at a time. The bread will stay fresh for about 3-5 days, again depending on your homes environment. You can slice it and freeze it too.
Bread on the third day is just getting tough enough that it makes PERFECT French bread casserole, which is a great way to use up the last of your bread to be able to make more.
If you try this recipe, I would really appreciate your feedback! Every comment and rating helps this little pages’ recipe reach just a few more people.
If you have any questions, I can be found on all the social platforms, Instagram being the quickest for replies, I would be more than happy to help you through making your own bread for your family.
Now if you’ve aced this one and want to get into “fancier” bread, check out my recipe for a simpler Artisan Bakery Loaf – while still a standard white bread, there are so many more steps to make it just perfect and will add to your bread skills, but it will take more time, with more rises. Give it a go, once you ace this recipe.
Until Next Time,
Replace Store-Bought Bread with Homemade Bread
Equipment
- Cling Wrap plastic wrap, beeswax wraps, bowl covers that keep moisture in bowl
- Oven This is the toaster oven I use, but any oven will work.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp Active/Instant Yeast (either dried yeast works)
- 2 Tbsp Organic Cane Sugar or honey
- 2 Cup Warm Filtered Water think, good temp bath water, not scalding
- 1/4 Cup Organic Olive Oil
- 2 tsp Salt salt of your choice, I use Pink Himalayan
- 5-6 Cup Organic Flour Look for one without enriched add-ins and non-bleached
- 1 tsp Grassfed Butter Optional – butter of your choice, just on the stick and COLD
- Organic Olive Oil extra for greasing bowl and bread pans
Instructions
- Add Water, Yeast and Sugar into the mixer bowl and whisk together together well. Let sit for approximately 10 mins, until mixture has "poofed up", see photo in blog for reference.2 Tbsp Active/Instant Yeast, 2 Cup Warm Filtered Water, 2 Tbsp Organic Cane Sugar
- Once the yeast and sugar have bloomed (poofed), add in oil and salt and 1 cup of flour and whisk again.1/4 Cup Organic Olive Oil, 2 tsp Salt, 5-6 Cup Organic Flour
- While mixer is on low, slowly add flour 1/2 cup at a time, up to 5 cups. Let mix thorough before deciding to add more. Add more if mixture is still sticking to the sides.5-6 Cup Organic Flour
- Once mixture is pulling from the sides of the bowl and not sticking, turn your mixer up to low-medium and knead for 6-8 minutes.
- Grease your large bowl and shape your dough into a ball (to create tension on the top). Turn the ball all around the bowl to be covered in the oil. Cover with plastic wrap (or alternative) and let rest until it doubles in size.Organic Olive Oil
- Grease two bread pans and set aside.Organic Olive Oil
- Once dough has doubled in size, punch down the dough in the bowl once.
- Turn dough out onto your counter, using your bread/bench scraper, cut the dough into two equal pieces. Place one back in the bowl for now.
- With one piece of the split dough, use your knuckles, knuckle the dough all over to release air bubbles, while it naturally shapes into a circle.
- Take each side of the flattened dough with both hands and lightly stretch and shake to create wings. Fold each side towards centre and slightly down. Creating a triangle-like shape (See photo in blog)
- Starting at the narrow point, roll the dough over itself, using your thumbs to lightly press into itself until you reach the end. Ensure the seam of the dough is at the bottom.
- Slightly press down each side of the dough to create tabs/tiny wings to seal off the sides. Fold the wings under the bottom as well.
- Place in bread pan and repeat with second dough piece.
- Use some more oil to coat the plastic wrap and cover bread in pans.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Let Bread rise in pans until loaves are approximately 1 inch above top of pan.
- Remove plastic wrap and place loaves in the centre oven and bake for 30mins.
- Remove from oven and use stick of butter to coat the tops of the bread (this softens the crust and gives the most amazing added flavor, but is totally optional). Once done coating both, remove from pans onto cooling rack.1 tsp Grassfed Butter
- If not adding butter, let sit in pans for approximately 5 mins, then turn out onto cooling rack.
- Resist all temptation to cut in, wait until cooled before cutting.
- Store in airtight container (or extra large ziplock) and store on you counter for up to 5 days. Or slice and freeze until ready to use.
