Super Easy Homemade Bread for Dummies Like Me

Last Winter I decided that I would tech myself to bake. Seriously how hard could it be right? I can read so why can't I follow a recipe. Well here's the thing though about baking. It's a lot like math, either you get it or you don't. You can fake it, you can teach yourself tricks but you may never GET IT...whatever it is. I never thought I would get it but somehow it just happened one day. I failed a lot of times. I mean I made some really horrible crap.

My first true success however, was when I made my first loaf of bread by hand. I really didn't think it would work. When it came out of the oven, my husband and I stared at it and said, "Well it looks like bread." Surely it would taste like crap though. But it didn't. That was in October of last year. I have not purchased a loaf of bread since.

I've played around with the recipe a lot and I think I have come up with the perfect sandwich bread for the entire family. If you have one, I highly recommend using a glass, Pyrex type loaf pan. There's one available in my ETSY shop...plug. The crown you will get is amazing. Even with the whole wheat flour. Adjust to your tastes. Play around with it. I've tried it with butter, with more honey or more whole wheat flour but this is the version we like best for sandwiches. Enjoy!


Basic super cool bread:

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 1/3 cups tepid water*
• 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk*

*Now if you prefer, you can use regular milk, doesn't matter which kind, in place of the dry milk. Just reduce the amount of water to half and replace it with milk.

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and then knead until you have a smooth ball (about 5-8 minutes). Place in lightly oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover and let rise for an hour or until almost doubled. Punch down dough, shape into loaf and then transfer to buttered loaf pan. Cover and let rise for about 45 minutes or until crowned about an inch above the top of the pan. Toss in preheated oven at 350 degrees and bake for approx. 40 minutes. Tent with foil for the last 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

It just couldn't be easier to get fresh baked bread. No HFCS or other crap and you can add whatever you like to suit your tastes.