Bread Recipe

This is honestly one of the most fool proof and tasty bread recipes I've ever come across. This recipe yields a really soft bread with a crunchy exterior. It's perfect for french toast and sandwiches, bread puddings and grilled cheeses. :D

This is also a great bread recipe for beginners - because we'll be weighing all the crucial ingredients, there's less chance of things going awry.

P.S. Want something super yummy to put on your bread? Try my strawberry butter!

Step 1: Ingredients + Tools

ingredients:

• 500 grams all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 7 grams of active dry yeast
• 3 T olive oil
• 300 mL warm water
• 1 tablespoon sugar

tools:

• small kitchen scale
• mixing bowls
• parchment paper
• probe thermometer

Step 2: Initial Mixing

Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the warm water and set it aside. Then combine the flour and salt together - I just mix these together with a fork. :)

Step 3: Forming a Dough

This is a very loose and sticky dough - don't be alarmed! :D

Make a well in the flour, and pour in the water/yeast/sugar mix and the olive oil. Use a wooden spoon or a spatula to mix it all together. It will begin to clump up and pull away from the sides of the bowl. Make sure you're stirring so you're pulling the flour from the bottom up - otherwise you'll be left with lots of flour on the bottom!

I don't recommend adding any extra water at this time - you might think you need it, but I promise it will pull together.

Step 4: Kneading

This bread kneads up really quickly - I can't speak about doing it in a food processor or stand mixer because I only do it by hand.

I'd say it takes 4-5 minutes, normally.

Flour your work surface, and knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic. Keep adding more flour as it gets sticky. You can see in the first photo how smooth the dough should be when you're ready to go!

Step 5: First Rise

Form your dough into a ball. Sprinkle some flour in you mixing bowl and set the dough in on top. Cover with a towel or some plastic wrap and set in a warm spot.

Let the dough rise for at least 30 minutes until it's doubled in size. At that point, you'll want to punch it down by pressing on it. Don't go all out - you just want to get the major air bubbles. :)

Step 6: Forming + Second Rise

You'll want to preheat the oven to 400 F/200 C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Brush off the excess flour and form your dough into a loaf - either oval or round. Sometimes you might need to knead it a little to make it do what you want. :D

Once it's formed, score down the middle of the loaf with a sharp knife.

Cover with a towel and let it rise again until it's doubled - 30 minutes or more!

Step 7: Baking

Bake at 400 F for 30 minutes, or until the bread reaches an internal temperature of 200 F.  I use a probe thermometer to test this. It works much better than tapping the bottom or judging it by the color of the outside. :D

The loaf will rise more while baking - this bread always turns into a bit of a monster and that's why I love it! It's nice and crusty on the outside and soft inside.

Comments

[Fluff Cat]

P.S. This is amazing with butter

[Fluff Cat]

can I us baking paper instead of parchment paper?

[Fluff Cat]

*use

[MooMeat42]

Hello. It looks like a great recipe. The only thing about it is that in the US, a scale is not a common thing to have in the kitchen (our measurement system is just ridiculous) so I have no way of measuring how many grams something is. Could you pretty please add to the instructable how much flour in cups we need? We americans would appreciate it a lot, as this seems to be the only recipe for bread on the site :)

[Fluff Cat]

When ever I need to convert things I use google. I'm too lazy to search it up in my cook book ;)

[RhondaG41]

We Americans are behind the times and you need to learn to use a kitchen scale for your baking.

[Beekeeper]

Sorry to contradict you Rhonda, but I still want to follow the 'be nice' police, so please don't take offence and consider this a discussion rather than a comment and definitely not a criticism.

Old fashioned yeasts could often use a 'kick' from the addition of a little sugar, but modern yeast strains have been bred to be extremely vigorous and don't need additional sugar. Flour contains an enzyme called amylase that converts the starch to maltose and glucose, a simple sugar that yeasts can easily ferment. It is the same maltose that is developed in barley when it is allowed to germinate which is used in beer making. Sometimes you may find poor quality flour that has very little amylase which results in poor rising or more likely a very pale crust on baking which is indicative of little caramelizing to give colour to the crust. From the internet - "The vast majority of enzymes are simple proteins. In bread making, we are mostly concerned with the enzyme amylase. The main function of amylase in wheat flour is to break down complex starches into simple sugars. The simple diagram above shows a maltose molecule being separated into two glucose molecules. Without this important process occurring in the dough, fermentation would not occur as yeast requires simple sugars in order to produce carbon dioxide. A proper balance of naturally occurring amylase in wheat flour is desirable in order to produce bread that is properly fermented with richly coloured crust and well developed flavour " I never add sugar or honey or any other sweetener for that matter and have never had a problem. I grind my own flour from organic wheat so I know it is good and fresh.

Happy baking

David

[RhondaG41]

Yeah...so you've now "schooled" me. I guess I'll just throw my culinary education out the window and delete my other comment and never post on here again. Goodie for you for grinding your own oranic wheat...hipster. Don't bother to reply because I will not see it.

[rgardner10]

for those of us in the us who uses cups not grams here is the conversions

4 heaping cups of flour

2 teaspoons salt

1.4 teaspoons yeast or 1 small packet

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 and 1/4 cup warm water

1 tablespoon sugar

[JarethMightLoveSarah]

Conversions yaaayyy:

About 2 heaping cups of flour

2 teaspoons salt

1.4 teaspoons yeast

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 and 1/4 cup warm water

1 tablespoon sugar

If I messed a conversion up just correct me in a comment.

[rgardner10]

its 4 cups of flour your conversions are for liquid

[jcanche]

Can you tell me the measurements in cups please? Thank you I am trying to star baking for my wife

[Mihsin]

Russian, Romanian, or Arminian bread, I love it and was always eager to learn how to make it. Many thanks and best regards.

[billbillt]

great

[mshak]

Very nice instructable, but I would go with this instead of kneading.
from here http://modern-baking.com/workbench/workbench-june-2013
Q: What is autolyse?
Desiree, via email
A: Autolyse is a technique for improving gluten development without heavy kneading. Combine the flour and water from your formula in a bowl, and mix until the flour is fully hydrated. Cover the bowl and let the flour continue hydrating for 20 minutes, then mix in the remaining ingredients. The result is development comparable to a dough that has been kneaded for 5 or 10 minutes with less oxidation, which may lead to a yellow crumb.

[nickitzi]

Make you cut just before you bake it and toss a 1/4 cup of water on the oven floor as you close the oven door, Just an old Italian baker's opinion. (When you make the eye cut before it rises you are making blind loafs, cutting just before, you are creating a crisper crust because more moisture can escape and by tossing water causes more steam and it will keep the bread from getting to brown).

[klixtopher]

I thought the cut was usually made just before baking, but I never knew it had a purpose. I am enlightened, thanks.

[nanaverm]

This is the first I've ever heard about taking a bread's internal temperature. Makes sense. Thanks!

[agis68]

lovely home taste!!!

[Beekeeper]

This certainly looks like a very nice loaf of bread - perhaps a little dense but that's OK too. For beginner breadmakers out there you don't actually need oil or sugar in your dough, all you really need is flour, yeast, water and a little salt to improve the flavour. As I always say, you don't need oil/butter in the bread as well as on the bread - we mostly have too many calories in our diets already. The oil does seem to make a silkier dough though, and sugar gives a darker crust as it caramelizes during baking.