3 Easy Steps to Making Bread At Home

The following is a guest post by Chelsea Green's Makenna Goodman:

Contrary to the plethora of diets in the universe, there are still millions of people who haven't gone gluten-free. Bread is still the staple food in the average diet, and probably always will be. I predict it makes a comeback among trendy people, much like the frosted cupcake. (Anyone agree that cupcakes all of a sudden became hip? I mean, for a while there it was like every party had Vampire Weekend and cupcakes.) But it's expensive to buy the good loaves, and most affordable store-bought varieties are high in processed sugar and bleach. So it's worth it—both economically and yummily—to learn how to make your own bread, and it's not hard.

Must I list off all the reasons why homemade bread is far tastier than store-bought? Not to mention it's better for you—and you know what's in it (no nasty preservatives or bleach which are more common than you might think, even in all-natural brands.) And for those interested in the eco-friendly aspects, baking your own bread saves a trip to the grocery store. I'll share with you my favorite recipe, which I originally got from Mark Bittman, and redesigned as my own. Which means, less scientific. Slacker bread, if you will, for the baker on the go. All you need is a simple supply of flour, water, salt, and yeast.

3 Easy Steps to Making The Best Bread Ever

1. Combine 4 cups unbleached, white flour, 1 teaspoon baking yeast, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1.5 cups water. Mush around in a bowl until it forms a shaggy dough ball. Use your hands; don't be afraid! Let sit, covered with a piece of foil or plastic, for three hours (save the foil to re-use the next time you bake bread.)
2. Once it's risen, form into a round ball (using a little bit of loose flour on your hands, as it can be sticky) and plop on an un-greased baking sheet (with the smoothest side facing up). Take a sharp knife and make 3 decorative slashes on the top (to allow air to escape, and to look profesh.) Put in 450 degree preheated oven for twenty minutes, then lower to 350 for another thirty. I put a ceramic dish of water in the oven, too, which makes the bread crusty on the outside, soft on the inside.
3. Once the bread is ready, it'll look browned and if you tap the bottom it should sound hollow. Let sit on the countertop until it cools. Remember: don't cut it until cooled, because the inside of the loaf is still cooking even while outside of the oven. Serve with butter and honey, or jam, or whatever…

Making bread is addictive! The next step is building your own masonry bread oven, which you can do with friends on the weekend, either on your lawn or in your community garden. Daniel Wing and the late Alan Scott, authors of The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens, provide expert advice on baking bread and building masonry ovens. Wing, for example, travels around in a gypsy bread oven wagon of his own construction, baking loaves at parties. This could be you!

Comments

[alphabet99]

I don't think there is enough water in this recipe. Bread is in the oven right now, but while making the shaggy ball and after the 3 hour period, parts of the dough were quite dry...Looking at the original recipe it's 3 cups of flour to 1.5 cups of water. Hope it turns out well.

[darker]

Yes, This could be you!
very trendy indeed, if only you
could AFFORD THE EXPENSE of building your own fancy brick, etc. oven.

[Treehuggindirtworshiper]

I bought a bread machine 5 years ago. I was told it would probably end up in the closet in a month. I now just use the dough cycle and form my loaves and bake them on a pizza stone. I still buy bread at Panera whenever I stop in for lunch though.

[FGDinVA]

I started baking our bread because it is the only bread that both my boys can agree to eat. The youngest would eat the 127-grain healthy stuff and the older one would only eat the "white whole wheat" stuff (I'm dubious about that). I bake a 2-loaf batch 2 or 3 times a week using the recipe from my old Betty Crocker cook book.

Your recipe looks like a terrific way to get people started baking. I might have my older boy do a loaf like this, since he's starting to show an interest in the kitchen. As for me, I need to knead. It makes me feel more accomplished!

[Roguer]

Making bread is also a way to sneak some nutrients as well... our daughter is vegetarian and when she was younger and still growing would at whey powder to the bread to give it some extra protein.

My grandmother used to make four regular loaves a day and two cinnamon raisin. I loved when she came to visit, she always smelled like a combination of flour, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla.

When she made cakes she would always 'accidently' make a little too much frosting so there was something for me to clean out of the bowl.

Ok, gotta go... mouth watering and need some bread.

[Roguer]

that should read "my wife would add whey powder"

[FGDinVA]

I knew what you meant. :) I make ours with a 4:3 ratio of AP and WW flour to try to make it a little more healthy. Too much WW and you end up with bricks unless you start getting into additives.

Aren't grandmas the best? Sometimes I'll make 1 large regular loaf and 3 mini-loaves of cinnamon bread.

[DamaskinosLives]

3 easy steps to getting even fatter.




.

[Roguer]

Don't be a buzz kill.

There is almost nothing better than fresh homemade bread. The smell of it baking is warm and homey. It reminds me of my grandmothers. I am so glad my wife really takes pride and joy in baking it. I feel special every time I eat a slice.

It is one the most basic traditions of human existence.

The comments here have all been positive and supportive.

Poor choice of forum for being snarky. Being fat has more to with amount of intake and lack of calories burnt, than learning how to make bread.

[kagenin]

I've been on a bread making kick lately, myself. Last week I made a simple pizza dough for some home-made pizza. It wasn't difficult at all. The recipe made enough for 2 large pizzas, or 4 personal-size pies. I used half the batch, and saved the rest to make apple tortes for breakfast the next morning.

You can let most doughs rise twice, punching it down in between. You get a fluffier end product. But usually any more rising sessions makes for a tough dough.

[Roguer]

Try this with your fresh homemade bread (my wife makes 6 to 8 loaves a week) I have not had store bought bread since getting married. Anyway.

Pick up some heavy cream. This is good to do with the kids. Pour into a quart mason jar and tightly cap.

Shake vigorously. Kids can take turns.

In a little while the cream will form butter. It will not be yellow like in the store but cream colored. You will know when you are done when it is no longer liquid. Salt to taste or not.

Spread on your fresh from the oven bread. Enjoy.

[Freesia2]

I hadn't thought of that in years. A teacher at school did that for our class one day. We took turns shaking and then spread the butter for a treat. I'm going to wax nostalgic and try that.

By the way, I remember (also from childhood) in the Little House books, Laura mentions Ma wanting her butter to have color and she would grate a little carrot and boil it in a little water or milk til she had a small amount of nice orange broth. She'd strain it well and then add a spoonful or two to the cream before churning and she ended up with a nice yellow butter. The carrot would add a slightly sweet taste too I imagine.

[Lerrin]

These two comments reminded me of a story that my (now dearly departed) aunt used to tell me (she of the generation of the Depression /one room school house).
When butter needed to be made for the family (when they still lived on the farm homestead), her mother (my grandmother) would send my aunt out the door with a jar of heavy cream for my aunt to carry, and a carrot for her pony.
My aunt would ride and ride her pony out and about (while holding the cream jar) until the cream turned to butter.
She'd then return home and reward the pony with the carrot for the hard (but enjoyable for all concerned) work!

[alphabet99]

Then the butter was put into their strawberry-shaped mold =) I loved the Little House books.

[mlaiuppa]

You need to use heavy cream but it's more difficult with the ultra pasturized you usually find in the store.

If you can find cream from raw milk, use that.

I remember doing this in the second grade. If you don't add salt you have sweet butter. Takes a little getting used to but it's fabulous. One of my favorite memories of traveling in Europe: warm rolls and sweet butter for breakfast.

[Roguer]

I would have mentioned raw cream but many states have laws against the direct sale of it to the consumer. Mine included.

I used heavy cream because it was more widely available. And really kids love it and they where that stuff in the store comes from.

It is worth a try, even just once.

If using whole raw milk... the cream should be allowed to rise to the top and skimmed off to be used for making the butter... the rest still can be drank as milk.

[alphabet99]

love the tip. thanks for sharing.

[Freesia2]

I just copied that recipe, it sounds so simple. But I have a question.

Although I love to cook, it's frankly been years since I've made bread. I baked here and there for fun in highschool and would be glad do it again. However I notice your recipe has no kneading. You make your stickyball, let it rise, pop into the oven.

What is the texture like for this recipe? Does it make a dense or a light bread? I remember doing 1/4 turns, punch and knead, knead, knead.

[quindy]

You don't have to punch and knead if you let dough to sit for hours. If you work you can make dough before you leave for work and shape the bread when you come back and bake it. It works really well and gives very nice, light bread.

[Freesia2]

Ah. For some reason I always though the kneading was what made it rise properly. Pumped in air or tickled the yeast or something. (Obviously I don't know much about working with yeast. )

Thanks for the info.

[StephBr]

If you let it sit for hours it will rise and then deflat, you'll end up with something like pita bread.
I made bread for years, I know what I am talking about.

[entropygal]

Here is an easy, healthy biscuit recipe too that I've been using for cheap meals. (Can cut recipe in half if needed).

Add 1 cup wheat flour, 1 cup oats, 2 cups white flour to 1 tsp salt, 8 tbsp baking powder (aluminum-free). Mix in 2 cups water (or milk), 1/2 cup oil. (Optional items: nuts or grated cheese). Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

[GrandmaJ]

This is the easiest way to bake great crusty bread and you can modify it or use other recipes. I am amazed that all serious bread bakers don't know this. You don't need to build your own oven or put a dish of water in the oven.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html?ref=dining

[TeriMcCarthy]

I am a professional bread baker and you must use instant yeast if you are going to combine it with flour before it is active. Otherwise let your yeast soak in water with a dash of sugar in it for around 10 minutes (until yeast is foamy). But instant Yeast can be used in the manner this author advises.

[Tulka2]

I buy the big package of instant yeast at Costco because it is sooo much cheaper than the envelops or little bottles. I double bag it in a freezer baggie and keep it in the freezer. I mix up the dry ingredients the night before...including the frozen, instant yeast and it is ready to go in the morning.

[MadHeart]

I've started making bread pretty much the same way, though substituting a third of the unbleached flour with wheat or other grain. I also add a tbsp or 2 of honey. You can also add wheat germ, triticale, bran and other things in small amounts (about 1/4 cup). It can also be baked in a loaf pan which I generally do to make neater sandwiches.

The above is really the recipe for "Italian" bread of the simplest type, which I've made many times. Try it with a glass of wine, and you'll understand the whole bread and wine idea which has been around forever. I'll never give up bread, although I may only eat a slice or 2 per day.

[MadHeart]

To be clearer, 2 cups of unbleached, 1 of wheat and one 1/4 cups of water should be an okay proportion for loaf bread. Add more flour if not stiff enough.

[StephBr]

Sorry but adding sugar to bread is not Italian or French, it is purely American and the reason why everybody is obese in this country!!

[Just Margaret]

You had me until you suggested building an oven! LOL, but I'm interested in trying your recipe. Overall, great article, thanks!

[RMankovitz]

I love bread, but I don’t eat it (or any grains) for a variety of nutritional reasons (I am a holistic health practitioner). However, setting aside nutritional issues, I am puzzled as to why an article on bread-making would be posted in the green/sust­ainability section of the HP. It is well known to many of us in the science community that the planting and harvesting of annual monocrops such as wheat, corn, rye, oats and soy is not only unnatural, it is completely unsustainable and extremely destructive to the environment. Such crops are reliant upon fossil fuel for fertilizer, pesticides, planting, and harvesting, and eventually destroy the soil. Yes, much of the world lives on these crops, but that does not mean it is a sustainable form of agriculture. For those interested in the science behind these statements, and what is a sustainable food system, I suggest the following books:
“The Vegetarian Myth” by Lierre Keith and “Against the Grain” by Richard Manning (researches the ethical, political, ecological, and nutritional deficits of eating grains).
“The Original Diet- The Omnivore’s Solution” by me (researches what Nature intended humans to eat to provide a healthy life in harmony with our environment).

Roy Mankovitz, Director
Montecito Wellness, LLC
Illness Prevention Research
www.montecitowellness.com

[LitDr2B]

Part of the problem here is that the bulk of these crops (if I'm not mistaken) are used as feed for animals. So it's not so much the crops that are unsustainable, but the uses to which those crops are put.

I would think that smaller fields of these crops would be sustainable in permaculture set-ups. There are perennial forms of some grains (wheat, I believe, has a perennial form). The human population, also, needs to go down (which seems to always be the elephant in the corner that no one wants to ever address--although you seem to peripherally address this issue in some of the commentaries on your website).

[Roguer]

Not to argue, and not really disagreeing, but livestock are rarely fed wheat or whole grains. It is not economical. Most livestock is fed grain by products like distiller grains, corn glutten, cotton seeds, soy hulls. Yes, there are hog and dairy farms that produce their own corn either shelled or in the form of silage but this is a small sector of the livestock industry, any more (again economics and the drive for ethanol production)

Oats are mixed sometimes with feed but mainly for horses. Also, American grown oats are of lower quality and smaller than Canadian oats due to climate conditions. Canadian oat kernels are almost twice the size of American.

Grain crops can be grown in rotation with soy beans. Common joke amongst ag. people is "He's on a corn, soy bean, Florida rotation."

I actually have a preference for rotating with alfalfa for fixing nitrogen and as a forage crop to be sold to dairies as opposed to soy beans. Let alfalfa grow for two three years harvesting it in 3 to 4 cuttings. It is a perennial. Then till it under (to return organic matter to the soil) and plant grain for a year then start over with alfalfa.

Note: I do not grow any of these crops. I have pasture, grassland, and cattle.

[Roguer]

Doc. I do wish you would post over on the "Future Shock" forum. But in reality I doubt anything will change there anymore than it did on "The Coming Veg. Rev." forum. Logic and facts do not seem to prevail.

Thank you for taking time to try to enlighten.

R.

[SpiralUp]

thank you

[StephBr]

Meanwhile the completely unsustainable way is the one keeping millions alive while your methods would provide food for a very few. We are too many, there is no other way.
Come join the 21st, not all that bad you know.

[paintlady]

As an organic grain farmer I beg to differ with your comment. We grow 1000 acres of organic grains without any chemicals or pesticides. We save our own seed to replant the next year's crops. We grow a legume called AC Greenfix that adds a huge amount of nitrogen and other nutrients to the soil so we don't have to use chemicals. We don't use pesticides because our crops are healthy. Insects are drawn to unhealthy plants.
We rotate our crops each year so we are not planting wheat on wheat etc. We also leave crop residue after harvest to prevent soil erosion and which also adds nutrients back into the soil. Please don't lump ALL farmers together in your comments. Grain farming CAN be done in a sustainable way.
Also, if you are not eating grains then what are you eating? Many commercial vegetable farmers also use numerous chemical fertilizers and pest control sprays on their vegetables.
Do you fly? Did you know it takes 4000 gallons of fuel just to get a jet airborne? Maybe someone should take a look at THAT industry to see how the waste, pollution and reduction of fossil fuels could be cut down.

[anderinthemountains]

Any one have any high altitude tips with yeast bread? I have only had failures. Live over 9300 feet high.

[jade7243]

Buy a copy of Joy of Cooking.

Check your bag of flour, as most have adjustments for high altitude baking.

[MadHeart]

If the altitude suggestions on the flour packages don't work for you, try making flat breads, not using yeast, as well as tortillas made with corn flour. Both are incredibly easy and you can find recipes on the web.

[GrandmaJ]

I use this with no problems.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html?ref=dining

This is the easiest method anywhere and I have adapted it for various other recipes. The key here, I think is baking it in the pot. This keeps it from getting flat. I'm not as high as you are (only 5280) but I suggest you give it a try. You might try 500 degrees for the initial temperature.