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Homemade bread makes a house smell like home–and it tastes soooo good. I love baking homemade bread. When I talk to people about baking bread, I find that sometimes people are afraid to make bread. They think it’s too hard, or that it takes too long. Bread is actually very easy to make and the time involved is mostly in the rising process. The actual preparation takes very little time–and the reward, fresh bread coming out of your oven, is huge. If you’ve never tried baking bread at home, learn how with a nine-year-old. If she can do it, so can you. Here are the simple techniques, with pictures:
Grandmother Bread is a good recipe to start with if you’ve never baked bread before. It’s easy, and quick. Read the history behind Grandmother Bread here. I taught my daughter to make this bread when she was nine.
How to Make Bread:
Start with the warm water, yeast, salt, and any other ingredients called for in your recipe before adding the flour. Let the water-yeast mixture sit for five minutes while the yeast activates. Start adding flour, one cup at a time at first, then in smaller and smaller amounts. Usually a recipe will need a range of flour and the exact amount will vary slightly, so don’t add it all at once.
Continue stirring in flour until the dough becomes too stiff to stir.
My daughter (age nine, left) wasn’t too enthusiastic at first. That stirring thing is hard!
She liked kneading better. Lots of fun punching action and getting her hands gooey.
When the dough is too stiff to stir, start kneading. Making bread is a messy job. Don’t plan on answering the phone. Kneading is no mystery–just get your hands in there and start turning and punching the dough, adding more flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and the bowl.
Keep kneading until the dough is ready. When is the dough ready? When the dough feels smooth and elastic in your hands. When it doesn’t stick to the bowl and your hands anymore. When you are tired of kneading. When you just feel it in your bones. Usually, kneading takes a few minutes. No more than five. Don’t put in too much flour! That will make your bread heavy. Over-kneading isn’t good for the bread, either. Just knead till it doesn’t stick anymore. (Or, at least, it doesn’t stick much.)
Learning to know just when your dough is ready is something that takes practice. If your first batch of bread doesn’t come out perfect, try again. Every time you make bread, it will get better. It’s just a little flour, yeast, water, and a few other simple, cheap ingredients. Nobody’s gonna die if your first attempt at bread doesn’t work out. Try again.
Place prepared dough in a greased bowl. Turn once. Cover. I like to use plastic wrap sprayed with oil to cover. Let rise till doubled, usually an hour, depending on the temperature inside your house.
When dough has risen, remove cover, sprinkle with a little flour, and punch dough down. Continue as per the instructions in your recipe.
*If using rapid-rise yeast, in some recipes like this one you won’t need a second rise. In most cases, such as with Grandmother Bread, even if using rapid-rise yeast, a second rise is required. If the directions in your recipe don’t tell you specifically that a second rise isn’t needed with rapid-rise yeast, go ahead and give the bread a second rise. It won’t hurt anything.
Go bake some bread. And let me know how it comes out!
Check out the main Grandmother Bread page for many, many delicious ideas using this one simple recipe!
Also see: How to Make Homemade Dough Enhancer for lighter, fresher bread!
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http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2007-12-01/Easy-No-Knead-Dutch-Oven-Crusty-Bread.aspx
I tried this and it is wonderful! I think you have to have a large enough dutch oven so the dough doesn’t flow over.
tlg
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My first attempt has yeilded barely brown doughy bricks! I beleive I over kneaded and MAY have used too much flour in the proccess as well.
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Okay fingers crossed…have 2 more loaves in the oven right now! I did better this time…let them rise longer…made the water hotter for the yeast..didn’t knead so much..It’s a lot better looking, and light, not brick like. We will know soon!
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Plus, I am not sure if I should have let my yeast sit ten and then added the oil, honey and cup and a fourth of flour (for Mormon bread recipe)…she talked like add it all together and the lukewarm water, at one time.
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I am trying the grandmother bread recipe. It appeared to be more sticky than the french bread sandwich recipe. Hopefully it will be as tasty as my last loaf. Thanks for the tips and recipes.
~Syl~
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Thanks again,
Laurin
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I was looking around on different sites to find out how to make bread lighter and airier> because Im making polish Bobka bread which I added the little dried fruits and pecans and a just a tad of mixed dried fruits too, to make it different. Its rising as I speak. Ive made it lots, and its a delicious bread with butter and homogenized milk and sugar. I usually make it for Christmas gifts as Im 70 now but worked in the medical field for years. But I enjoy cooking and baking, but wanted to tell you , your sight is very nice. If only all the young people would get home economics in schools again. Thats where I learned to cook, but they seem to be cutting costs and taken it out of our schools here in Michigan. Thank you and God Bless ya
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Grandmother Bread is great–I baked my first around Christmas, and each try is better than the last. I’m not employed at the moment, and I swear that making this bread is therapeutic! I bake two or three times a week right now. We’ll miss the frequency when (if) I ever get another job. By the way, you should add a donkey and/or mule to your menagerie. They are wonderful, gentle creatures that make great neighbors! Google Lake Nowhere Mule & Donkey Farm. Our neighbors own it.
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I get a lot of questions about bread machines, and I have to tell you that I don’t have one so I can’t answer bread machine questions. Sorry about that! You might try asking in my forum, http://chickensintheroad.com/forum (or click the Forum button in the menu above). There are a lot of good cooks there and if you open a topic thread under the Farmhouse Table forum to ask about Grandmother Bread using a bread machine, someone there should have some experiences to share.
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Love your page! Stumbled upon it while searching for a doughnut recipe. Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes and your tips. The doughnuts were great!
Thanks again.
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My greandson is 16 and is so fond of a Mormon family and especially their daughter. I have received the Book of Mormon and am eager to learn more and more .
Again, Thank you for this Bread Recipe! This wonderful bread is so easy to make and will enrich our lives this evening.
Maye Cunningham
pecanac@cumbytel.com
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Just about to give up. We have found only one bakery that has bread that is good and if it goes out of the area we will be lost. gwen
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What a pleasure to be making Grandmother Bread for the first time today. I have five men out in my husband’s shop welding and grinding on metal in the 95+ degree heat. They will soon be in and hungry, so it’s steak and baked potatoes, green beans picked this morning, deviled eggs from my own little flock (15!) of barred Plymouth Rock hens and peach pie. They’ll smell that wonderful bread on their way in and they’ll fall on their meal. Don’t you love to cook for folks who love to eat!! Thank you for your recipe and your blog. I enjoy visiting with you from my home (and from my office) in North Carolina.
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Regarding the lack of ‘yeasty’ aroma from breads: whenever I make my bread dough, I make it a day or so before, and let it rest in the fridge (oiled and covered). This provides sleep time for the yeast and other ingredients to come together and begin fermenting a little. That is what helps develop the flavor essence of bread. Also helps with the gluten progress.
Leave it a bit loose (don’t add all the flour called for in recipe – hold out about half the flour). This slack is also called a ‘poolish’. It’ll bubble up a bit in the fridge, but it is similar in concept to making a sourdough starter. I’ve also been known to slip a little beer into the liquid portion, (oh a few tablespoons or so), just to boost it a little. http://chickensintheroad.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif
When you are ready to bake bread, just let it come up nearly to room temperature, add in whatever flour you need to bring about a smooth, cushion-y dough; too much flour will make it feel like a ‘dough ball’. Mine usually sags just a little bit in my hand when I pick it up to go in the pan. If I am making rolls, I’ll add a little more flour so they’ll stand up on their own and not slouch so much after rising.
Anyway, those are some of my hints… anyone have any others we can try?
Thanks for listening! Now – go bake some bread!http://chickensintheroad.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/shimmy.gif