Anyone who knows me in real life knows I love making bread. I have some wonderful examples of bread baking in my family. My grandmother and her sister would bake such amazing goodies for us. Baking bread also makes me feel close to them now that they are gone. One of my treasured possessions is my grandmother’s cookbook.
I think there is a lot of anxiety surrounding bread baking. We’ve all heard the horror stories or even failed miserably making it ourselves. I’d like to dispel those fears and coach you through a basic white bread recipe because home made bread smells amazing and tastes even better!
Yeast is probably the most intimidating and nerve-racking part of bread baking. It can be a temperamental critter, unwilling to play if you don’t treat it just right. To add to the craziness, there are several kinds of yeast to choose from: instant, active dry, and fresh. We are not going to fiddle with fresh yeast because it’s hard to find and only lasts a mere two weeks. It is NOT for the beginner baker. That leaves us instant and active dry.
What’s the difference?
Instant Yeast
Instant yeast is a fast-acting yeast sold under various names like “rapid rise”, bread machine yeast, or “quick rise” yeast. It is cultured and dried like active dry yeast except it is milled into even finer granules before packaging. This eliminates the need for dissolving into water before use.
- finer texture
- does not require water activation
- can skip initial rise time, simply form bread loaves
Active Dry Yeast
Active dry yeast is a granulated, dehydrated powder used in many baking forms. Commercial active dry yeast is made by introducing wile yeasts to molasses and starch, cultivating and sterilizing the resulting yeast sludge. Drying the sludge halts the active years cells midway through fermentation. Bakers must introduce active dry yeast to water to allow to bloom.
- rougher granules
- requires warm water to bloom
- requires longer proofing times to work its way through the dough
Activating Yeast
First, lets tackle that illusive creature: yeast! Yeast is a beast if you are a first time bread baker and have to learn how to activate this stuff. But we are going to tackle this challenge head on and master it!
To activate yeast, you want to mix it into water that is 110*F. That’s easy to do if you have a thermometer at home and can run the kitchen faucet until your thermometer registers 110Ëš. But what if you don’t have that? Or what if that didn’t quite activate the yeast?
We are going to do a little exercise called muscle memory, and we are going to train ourselves to activate yeast. You are going to go grab a block of yeast for this project because the block costs $4.21 at my local grocery store and each individual pouch costs
To practice, pour 1/4 cup warm, hand-washing, water into any vessel that is not metal. Using a teaspoon, you will sprinkle 2 gently mounded teaspoons into the warm water and stir it in. Let it sit for 5 minutes. If the yeast water looks bubbly and foamy on the top, you have activated your yeast! If it looks sluggish or the yeast is still sitting on the water not doing anything, we have not activated the yeast and we need to try again. You can do this over and over until you are confident in getting the right temperature water for your yeast.
Baking Bread
Once you’ve got your yeast game going, it’s time to make some bread. You don’t need a fancy stand mixer or a bread machine to make bread (but if you have either of those, it does make it easier). But you will need loaf pans, this recipe calls for 9″ long by 5″ wide by 3″ tall pans.
Gather together your ingredients and make something beautiful! I’ve made a video for this recipe that begins with activating yeast and a few pointers to remember when doing that.
Basic White Bread
Ingredients
- 1 pkg active dry yeas or 2-1/4 teaspoons of bulk yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 2 cups milk, scalded
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp shortening
- 5-3/4 cups flour see notes on flour
Instructions
- Soften yeast in warm water
- Combine hot milk, sugar, salt and shortening, allow to cool to lukwarm
- Combine 2 cups of flour with the milk mixture and beat well
- Add the yeast mixture and mix well
- Add 5 cups flour, gradually, while watching the dough. You don't want wet, tacky dough, you also don't want too much flour to make a dry dough.
- Knead dough till smooth (either with your hands for 8-10 minutes) or with a stand mixer for about 5 minutes)
- Lightly grease a bowl, roll the dough ball in the oil and then cover with a towel for the first rise. Depending on your climate, this can be from 45m to an 1.25 hour. You want the dough to double.
- Punch down the dough ball and place on a clean surface, divide dough in half, create tension in a ball shape, and let rest 10 minutes.
- Create the petal fold: grab the outside of the dough ball and press into the center, going all the way around the ball. Then jelly roll the dough to shape your loaf. Place into well greased loaf pans for the second rise. Dough will double in size again (depending on climate, 30 minutes to an hour).
- Preheat oven to 400Ëš
- Bake loaves in hot oven 35 minutes (placing foil loosely over loaves if they brown too quickly). Brush with butter and allow to cool 5 minutes before removing from loaf tins. You may need to run a knife around the pan to loosen the loaf.
Notes
- If you choose to use whole wheat flour, aim to use 4-1/2 cups, since whole wheat soaks up more moisture than AP or bread flour
I made this today and one loaf is almost gone. it is soft and a wonderful taste, I am new to your site and glad I found you. I love making bread. Thank You
I love making bread too! So glad you enjoyed it 🙂