How to Bake Easy Bread

Making your own bread can be easy, and it's tastier and definitely cheaper than store-bought. Here's a simple recipe for bread with an overnight rise and minimal kneading.

Mix up a batch of dough one evening, mess with it for ten minutes the next afternoon, then bake. You'll have fresh bread in time for dinner.

Step 1: Ingredients & supplies

Kitchen supplies:
1 or 2 loaf pans
1 or 2 mixing bowls, with lids or foil to cover
oven (and potholders)
spoooon!

Ingredients for two small loaves of bread:
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/4 tsp instant/active dry yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
~1 5/8 cups water (can substitute milk/soymilk for part of this)
cornmeal as needed (a pinch or two)

Ingredients for 2/3 recipe, for one larger loaf of bread:
~2 cups AP or bread flour
1/5 tsp yeast
1 tsp salt
~1 cup H2O (can substitute milk/soymilk for part of this)
cornmeal as needed (a pinch or two)

Comments

[Tarkanos]

I'm not sure, from the pictures, if my dough is turning out right in this step. I find it hard to "shape" it in any way at all, and usually end up just putting it back intot he bowl. I can't shape it as such because it is still rather sticky and wet. Is it possible I just need to decrease my original amount of water for the dough? Or is it still supposed to be rather wet and sticky when it goes back for the second rise?

[reno_dakota]

When I've made it, it does stay pretty wet and sticky, and that seems to be fine. I use a liberal amount of flour on my counter & then sprinkled on top of the dough, just enough to fold it over itself a few times before it goes back in the bowl for the second rise.
(Sometimes I also just do the second rise in the pans / dutch oven and then pop it straight in the oven from there, too.)

[banzitothecheeto]

This is an amazing recipe! I agree about double-quadrupling it. It's too good to only have a little!

[hobbaloo]

Oh man, I have to say, this is a great recipe. I added half a cup of raw sugar, a dash of vanilla essence and a handful of sultanas and it resulted in the most wonderfully moist fruitloaf... I had it fresh out of the oven (burning my fingers in the process) with butter and milk... *drools* Thank you so much for the great 'ible :)

[تولاي]

It is tasty. Good luck & enjoy!

[تولاي]

It is tasty. Good luck & enjoy!

[wenpherd]

Hey this looks great, but would it be better to do a double, triple, or even quadruple recipe since this takes a real looooong time?

[reno_dakota]

The only limit is how much bread you can consume before it goes stale or moldy!

[etymological]

Freeze it!

[bonfire817]

I am SOOOO getting the dough going tonight! This looks FAN_TABULOUS! I even have some fresh basil I need to use up!

[thenear1send]

Hey, Nice Instructable!! I drew inspiration from this and decided to bake my own bread. I followed NO recepies or proportions and came up with a beautiful disaster! You know that you learn from your mistakes, i figured the more mistakes i make the smarter i will become, which worked in my instance! Lets see, it tasted horrible, it was fairly hard, it was too gooey in its dough stages, i added all sorts of berries, AND i even added green food coloring. xD Thanks for the inspiration!

[SpiroExDeus]

Erk! Frankenbread!

[notker]

but mine look like yours

[thepelton]

LOL. That looks like something off of CSI.

[notker]

i lold

[porero]

Hi, everybody. great, smooth and more. you use this recipe as a starter..... we, the newly born in the Heaven of bread, use as a sparker for creation..... I said too much, didn't I? be sure it is fantastic. 
million thanks reno dakota. the same to instructable..... 

[Kroil]

Made this the other day with brown sugar, flax seeds, and a drizzle of honey on the top.

Holy delicious.

[homemadebywife]

I've tried dozens of bread recipes and it wasn't any good.you see I've aurtirites in my hands. and your recipe is just God sent. it just wonderfully ease, ant what a taste. i would recommend this recipe to anyone who's hands are hearting-no knedding-thats what attracted me to this recipe. just follow the instructions to the T .( I've used small cast iron casserole dishes w/lids-perfection. Thank,you and God bless you for this.

[reno_dakota]

Good to know, and I'm glad it worked out!

[porcupinemamma]

Thanks for the great instructable.! I can't wait to try it! Also: Dear "Homemadeby wife", thanks; your comments inspired me. God bless you too :0)

[jhowen1]

This bread is so easy to make, I have made it a half dozen times, I have added chopped pecans and it turned out amazing.

[smurfsahoy]

You don't ever really HAVE to wait overnight for bread to rise. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and put in the oven on warm with the door cracked open, and it will be risen enough to knead in maybe an hour.

[sdhgslijesadf]

hi just wondering, whats teh difference in using water or milk?

[reno_dakota]

My impression is that it makes the bread moister and more tender on the insides (the "crumb"), but I'm not an expert. Harold McGee's book On Food and Cooking is a great place to look for answers to those sorts of questions.

[t.rohner]

It looks nicely risen. I just baked bread this morning in my wood fired oven.
Do you use loaf pans, because the dough would flow away otherwise? If yes, is this because it's a non kneaded dough? The bread i made this morning was made from a extremly moist dough. After "forming", it needs to go into the oven really quick, otherwise it will flow quite wide. The moisture gives it a huge ovenspring with a crunchy crust and a very moist crumb.

[reno_dakota]

The original recipe recommends using a dutch oven; I used loaf pans because I have no dutch oven. But yeah, I think on a flat surface the dough would spread out pretty quickly.

[Patrik]

Might be worth a try, if it has a nice crust. There's plenty of other flatbreads, like focaccia or ciabatta. You could even go completely the focaccia route, and sprinkle with olive oil, herbs and some sea salt. A pre-heated dish will presumably also help to keep the bread from spreading out too widely.

[t.rohner]

Yeah focaccia is a very nice bread as well, especially with a spread made of olives on it or some nice cheese. But i wouldn't call ciabatta a flatbread. And since i give the ciabatta and the focaccia a final proof, i don't have such a moist dough, as i mentioned in my first comment. The dough in my first comment has 78% water. (780ml for 1000g of flour) My boss found out that it's enough to stir it to distribute the ingredients, then give it enough time to develop the gluten. (around 6-8 hours) I started to make the dough in my breadmaker. I time it, so the dough is ready when i get up in the morning. I preheat my electric oven with a baking/pizza stone. Then i put the dough on my workbench (it almost flows out by itself), then i use cold water on my hands to form it. I degas the biggest bubbles a little bit and give it a twist. Then i put the loaves on a baking sheet and shove it on the baking stone pretty quickly. This way it hasn't the time to flow too wide. Since i do this in my small oven, i don't even have to add steam. The moisture on the dough seems to saturate the oven room enough to keep the loaves from ripping. After around 5 minutes i open the door for a couple of seconds to let the steam out. I do this two or three times more during the 30 minutes baking time. This way you get a cheewy moist crumb and a crispy crunchy crust. This bread used to be a speciality around here, normally formed as small round kind of rolls. Since the dough is so moist, forming it with flour isn't the way to go, so dipping the hands in cold water pretty often keeps the dough from tacking. Two important things i learned lately: With a moist dough and a long fermentation, you can go without kneading. (Since i have a Kenwood kitchen machine and a breadmaker, kneading is no strain for me...) By all means, buy a baking stone and preheat it some 60 deg higher, than you intend to bake. This gives a wonderful oven spring. You could take unglazed spanish tiles as well, but a baking stone is easier to use. (no gaps) keep on baking

[reno_dakota]

That all sounds great. Thanks for the suggestions!

[student_for_life]

Hi, friend!! I can't WAIT to try out your recipe . . . just as soon as I finish eating the loaf I made a few days ago. I had issues with it rising enough (and how long that took), so perhaps if I already plan on waiting overnight, my mind can concentrate on other things.

Homework, for example. =)

[reno_dakota]

Yeah. When I first started baking bread again, I told myself I could "get work done" during the rise times. Instead, I...erm...started another loaf of bread, cleaned the kitchen, puttered about, and then it was time to deal with the dough again. This recipe gives lots of non-doughy-hands time for doing other useful things like sleep or homework. That said, the (more work-intensive) recipe I use for making king cakes is ridiculously tasty, and I think it'd make a lovely cinnamon bread...

[cowscankill]

could i use baking powder instead of yeast? and how so?

[reno_dakota]

For the long rise, I'd suggest sticking with yeast. From the little bit I know, baking soda is more often used in quick-rise breads.

[Valche]

Sounds and looks delicious, +1 & favorited. As for the bread's consistency, is it chewy/doughy? I think that has to do with the gluten forming, and I believe the resting accomplishes that. True? I love chewy bread.

[reno_dakota]

Thanks! It's a bit chewy, but not too dense or doughy. Offhand, I think the long rise does help with gluten formation, but it's been too long since I read the relevant chapter of On Food & Cooking.

[Valche]

Nice! Thanks for sharing the recipe, I can't wait to try it.

[ursus57]

We have been given this HUGE dutch oven with a lid made of cast iron. We can barely lift this great pan. We used all purpose flour, and baked the original Times recipe.This dutch oven produces the greatest easiest bread ever. Glad to see your recipes can adapt to how most of us cook, in a bread pan. Great intractable, helps to de-mystify bread making. Yeast is all about staying warm. Crispy crust, home made bread you don't have to foll with a lot-Wonderful- The aroma attracts neighbors you have never met and sharing is the best way to make friends.

[reno_dakota]

Thanks! One day I'll have a real dutch oven (and a bigger kitchen)...in the meantime, this seems to work well enough. :)

[kaiserpanda]

Could this recipe be adapted to making wheat bread?

[reno_dakota]

I haven't tried it, but I'd imagine so. Wheat flour tends to make a heavier loaf, so I'd probably make it with 1/2 AP flour and 1/2 wheat. You could also try adding a little extra yeast.