Bread Making 101 - Easy to Make Homemade Bread

Okay it's been a while since I attempted to make bread again after the disastrous attempts back in 2012.  I had tried again a few months ago and it was still a disaster.  I started calling some friends for advice with no success.  Then finally my BFF Michelle came for a visit and Voilà!

Here's the recipe she gave to me and as a side note it really does make a difference what your weather is like where you live. Here in rainy Washington I did need to add a bit more flour when it's raining outside.  The other thing that really helped me was to have Michelle teach me what the consistency of the dough should be after you knead it and before you start rising the bread.  HUGE difference to the textures of my breads.  This recipe is for making rolls as well as bread.

2 cups of warm/hot water (not scalding hot though)
1 heaping tablespoon of yeast
1/4 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon of salt
4 tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil
4-6 cups of flour (depending on the humidity)

For the rolls I used all white flour but for the bread I did 1 cup of whole wheat flour that I use from my Deseret Industries food storage Hard Red Winter Wheat the ones from the #10 containers.  I ground up the wheat in my handy dandy Blendtec blender. I had forgotten that it has a grinder feature.  I do like to let the ground wheat rest overnight.  Maybe it's just me but the bread seems to work better if I let the wheat flour rest.

So I put 2 cups of warm/hot water in my Kitchen Aid bowl and add the yeast.  I like to use the small whisk to mix the yeast well and then add the 1/4 cup of sugar and whisk again. Then I let is sit somewhere warm for 5 to 10 minutes to activate the yeast.  When it's foamy, add the egg, salt and oil mix with the dough hook and start adding the flour.  I add 1 cup of wheat flour and 3 cups of white flour.  Then I start adding more flour as needed. 

 

The dough should be sticky but stretchy and it should come off the sides of the bowl.  Michelle told me to knead the dough for about 10 minutes or so.  Then take it out and put on the clean surface with a very SMALL amount of flour.  If you put too much you will see how the dough gets too hard and you will have a brick of bread instead of a soft moist bread.  Knead it with your hands for a few more minutes until you can make a ball like the picture above.  Place in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic around the dough not the bowl, see picture above.  Cover with a kitchen towel and put in a warm spot until it doubles in size or for approximately 45 minutes.

 

Punch the dough down with your fingers then cut the dough in half with a knife.  Roll into logs and place into a sprayed bread pan.  Let the dough rise again for another 45 minutes.  Cover only with the kitchen towel.  Once it doubles again, and what you won't see in the picture above was that, I cut a slit on the top of my bread.  Then I baked in a 350 degree oven for about 15 to 20 minutes.

 

If you're making rolls when you get to the part where you cut the bread in half you would just make golf or a little bit bigger than golf ball size and place on a sprayed cookie sheet and then let them rise 45 minutes.

 

The results are beautiful, healthy and delicious bread.  You will not want to buy bread or rolls ever again!