How To Make Homemade Bread – Easy Step By Step Instructions And Recipes

How To Make Homemade Bread – Baking Basics

Here are some easy tips about how to make homemade bread. Don’t let all this information make it seem too difficult. Once you get used to it, it really isn’t much harder to make homemade bread than to bake a cake. Just read the information and then follow the recipe step by step.

I once read a book by an older woman about how to bake a pie. She said bake one every day for 2 weeks and at the end of that time you will know how to bake a pie.

That rule applies for many things, including bread baking. It may seem a little difficult at first, but after you have made bread 14 times, you will get more confident.

How To Proof The Yeast

Before baking your bread, it is good to proof the yeast. Proofing is a way to test to see if your yeast is viable. Then you don’t go to the trouble of making bread and wasting ingredients if the yeast is dead. Proofing the yeast also gives the bread a better start.

Unless the homemade bread recipe states otherwise, heat 1/4-1/2 cup of the water to 120-130° or until it is hot when you put your finger in it but not so hot that it burns.

The water can’t be too hot or too cold. This is one of the most important parts of making the bread. If it it too cold, the yeast will not fully activate and if it is too hot, the yeast will die. In either case, the bread will not turn out the way it should. With practice and time, you will learn to tell when you have the correct temperature.

When the water is hot enough, add part of the sugar (about 2 Tbsp.) to the water and then the yeast. You add sugar because yeast feeds on sugar.

The yeast should start foaming, which tells you it’s good. It also means that you haven’t gotten the water too hot.

If nothing happens, your yeast is dead for one reason or another so you need to get some new yeast or try it again with a different water temperature.

Some recipes direct you to add the yeast with the flour and other ingredients, so you can’t proof the yeast. That’s OK because those recipes make up for it by calling for you to mix the ingredients with a mixer.

Before I share the homemade bread recipe, here are some useful tips for baking bread:

• You don’t always have to use as much yeast as the recipe calls for. If a bread recipe calls for 2 packages of yeast and it makes 2 loaves of regular bread, you can usually just use 1 package to save a little.
• If you plan on making bread on a regular basis, you might want to buy yeast in bulk or in the jars because it is much less expensive.
• When you can, add 1/2 cup to 1 cup of mashed potatoes to your bread recipe. Alternatively, you can use water you have used to cook your potatoes in place of regular water. Yeast loves potatoes and the more it eats, the bigger it grows, making the bread lighter and fluffier.
• Never add salt with your yeast and water. The salt will kill the yeast.
•  Start with all of the ingredients for your homemade bread at room temperature. Take the eggs out of the refrigerator and let them warm up to room temperature ahead of time.
• If the recipe says to add enough flour to make a stiff dough, just add the flour until it is slightly sticky. Then put the last 1/2 cup or so of flour on your kneading surface and knead the last of the flour into the bread. If you get too much flour in the recipe, it makes the bread tough.
  
  (When making homemade bread, beginners sometimes put in all the flour that the recipe calls for and then add MORE flour on the board to knead it, causing the dough to get too stiff.)

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Easy 5 Ingredient Bread Recipe:

This is a good frugal homemade bread recipe and is a great one to use when you are short of ingredients because it doesn’t require things like milk or eggs.

Grandma did most of her kneading and working the bread in her bowl instead of dirtying a counter. Tawra makes her bread this way and it works great every time.