You can make fresh, delicious homemade bread! These step by step instructions, homemade bread recipes and easy tips will help you learn to do it!
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.)
- You can’t knead bread too much. Knead until it is very smooth and elastic, usually about 10-15 minutes. I know that is a long time. I made my best bread on the days my husband would come into the kitchen, spy my dough and start pounding on it. He had more strength than I and always did a better job of kneading.
- I always roll my homemade bread dough into a 9×14 inch rectangle; Then roll it jelly roll style and put it into the pan. This helps to get rid of any large air bubbles you might have in the dough that can leave large pockets and holes in your bread.
- I have tried many methods to raise bread, from putting it in a covered bowl on the stove to putting it in the car on a warm day. Here’s what works best. I heat my oven on the lowest temperature while I am mixing my dough. After about 5 minutes of heating, I turn the oven off, turn my oven light on and place the dough in my oven (and not covering it). It works great every time. The heat from the light seems to give it the right amount of warmth.
When I put the bread in the pans to rise, I also use this oven method. Then, when it is almost doubled in size, I leave it where it is and turn the oven on to the temperature that the bread is supposed to bake at and bake it. - Most recipes say to let bread double in size and then press your finger into it to see if it is ready. If the dent stays, it is ready. After you have made several loaves, you can pretty much tell when it is ready. When I use the oven method for raising dough from above, I skip this finger test because the bread finishes rising the last little bit while the oven is preheating.
- Most bread doughs can be frozen. Mix the dough and knead. Shape into loaves, mini loaves or rolls, not letting it rise. Wrap very well and freeze. When you want to use it, thaw and let it rise. It will keep in the freezer about 4 weeks, but after that the yeast starts going bad.
- When you freeze or store homemade breads, be sure to wrap them well so they don’t lose their moisture.
- If you don’t think you will use baked bread quickly, freeze part of it for later. Homemade bread can dry out and get moldy faster than store-bought bread so freezing the excess will prevent waste. This is why our great-grandmothers came up with recipes like bread pudding and French toast.
- If your homemade bread isn’t quite done but is getting too brown, you can tent it with foil. To test whether or not it is done, thump it with your fingers and it should sound hollow.
Jill’s Homemade Bread Recipe
Here’s my favorite homemade bread recipe. It is a cinnamon bread but when I want to make regular bread, I just make it into loaves without spreading the cinnamon and sugar on it. This makes 2 loaves of bread.
Ingredients
Filling for Cinnamon Bread:
Instructions
- Mix 2 cups flour with sugar, salt and yeast.
- Put the milk, water and margarine into a large mixing cup; Heat in the microwave to 120° or until it feels really hot when you put your finger in it. (The margarine doesn’t need to be melted.)
- Gradually add to the dry ingredients.
- Add the eggs and 1/2 cup more of flour.
- Stir in enough additional flour to make a stiff dough.
- Turn onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic (or you can knead it in the bowl).
- Place in a greased bowl (It sounds strange, but I use bacon grease), turning to grease the top.
- Put in a warm place (like I mentioned above) and let it rise until doubled, about 35 minutes.
- Punch down and divide into 2 halves.
- Roll into a 14×9 rectangle.
- If you are making regular bread then, beginning at the 9 inch end, roll as you would a jelly roll, gently making it into a loaf.
- Divide and place in 2 greased 9×5 bread pans. (with bacon grease for added flavor, no it won’t taste like bacon)
- Let rise again for about 35 minutes until doubled.
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes. To see if it’s done, thump with your fingers. If it sounds hollow, it is done.
For Cinnamon Bread:
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.
PrintGrandma Suhler’s Homemade Bread Recipe
- Yield: 2 loaves or about 30 dinner rolls, depending on size
Ingredients
1 cup warm water (110°-115°)
1 pkg. or 1 Tbsp. yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup oil, shortening or margarine (melted)
1 cup water or milk
6–7 cups all purpose four
Instructions
- Combine water and yeast until yeast dissolves and foams.
- Add sugar, salt, oil, and water.
- Stir in flour.
- Knead on a floured surface until smooth.
- Let rise until doubled in size.
- Divide dough into two pieces.
- Shape into loaves and place in greased loaf pans.
- Let rise again until doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Bake 20-30 minutes, until loaves are golden brown and internal temperature is 190°-200° or bread is hollow sounding when tapped.
- Remove from pans and cool.
Notes
*This dough can be used for bread, pizza crust, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, etc.
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I found an easy way to let bread dough rise. I knead it in my Kitchenaid mixer, which makes the motor warm. I then cover the mixer and the dough, still in the bowl, with a clean plastic garbage bag and let it rise there. The warmth of the motor is perfect for letting dough rise.
Great idea! I can’t wait to test it out at my house!
I got this from a reader.
From: Deb
Thank you so much for your article on “Bread-
baking” in the recent Countryside mag. (Nov-Dec).
I’m especially impressed with the method of
raising the dough in a heated oven. I’ve tried it
TWICE now and BOTH times the bread has come out
just perfect. Thanks for that TIP!
Now I buy the Walmart sliced white bread for $.88 a loaf. Comes in whole wheat too. I used to make a recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book ( in the 80’s) called Perfect White Bread and it was the best tasting bread. I quadrupled the recipe and made 9 loaves at a time I had one regular oven and I’d put the loaves in vertically and then I’d put them horizontally behind and in front of the vertical ones. I did it out of desperation the first time, I had so much dough and it worked out fine so I just continued to do it that way I used a metal canner to mix all the ingredients and I would grease it and put the lid on in a barely warm oven to rise. The metal conducted heat really well for bread rising There was 21 cups of flour! Did it by hand, no mixer I had just discovered rapid rise yeast and those loaves were so huge 5 3/4 to 6 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 pkg active dry yeast
2 1/4 cup milk
2 tbsp sugar
1tbsp shortening
1 tsp salt
I used powdered milk and I’d scald it and then cool it down to about 110 degrees, then I’d add the sugar, yeast shortening and salt then continue as any other bread recipe knead for about 15 minutes. Would slice it up and put it in freezer bags. Then you could buy 2 gallon bags I used to buy the yeast in the brown jar. It froze beautifully
i have a weird ??? .. and maybe its been asked b4 .. but i am not sure ..
and this is for the one’s that make bread homemade ..
can you bake bread in a toaster oven? .. just curious :D
not that I know of.
hi tawra i am just starting out thinking about making my own bread cant i use a candy thermometer know my mom does for her fudge mom use to make home made bread years ago but do not remember also can i use coconut oil in stead of butter or margarine
You can use a candy thermometer to test the temp of the yeast. If some of you don’t have even one of those you can test it on the inside of your wrist too like you would a baby’s bottle. Not to hot or cold. I personally just stick my finger in it. If it is way too hot for my finger then it is too hot for the bread. If it feels nice and warm but not uncomfortable warm for my finger then it is perfect.
If you are just starting out making bread I would use the butter or margarine in the recipe and not the coconut oil. Breads and cooked candy’s are 2 things that I don’t mess with the recipe too much especially if I am using it for the first time. The coconut oil may change the flavor or texture of the bread. So I would make the recipe as is a couple of times and then you can use the coconut oil and will be able to compare the two.
short answer No.
the oven is too small to properly surround the pan and hit all the spots.
usually they are too short to let the bread rise to its full extent. short bread too brown on the top.
Rose I have baked bread in a toaster oven many times. I have a fairly large toaster oven and only one regular size pan will fit.
I make mine in a toaster oven. comes out just as good as in a regular oven.
Yes, you can make homemade bread in a toaster oven!!!! I live in a tiny house and that is my ONLY oven and I have baked bread and everything in it for going on 5 years. I do use the smaller size loaf pans…I think they are 4 x 8-ish.
Look up Artisan bread by Steve…you tube..he has a recipe for that.
I have baked in a large toaster oven and in a newave..
For “Jill’s Homemade Bread” can you use butter instead of margarine?
Thanks!
I’d like to share how I’ve been making bread for the past few years. I have a favorite recipe, which is pretty simple.
I put all the ingredients in a bread machine. It does the mixing and kneading for me, as well as the first rise. Then I remove the dough from the bread machine, knead it a little on the counter, and place in a prepared loaf pan for the final rise, which is usually about 30-45 minuted.
The bread finishes up in the regular oven. I put it in a cold oven, turn the heat to 350 and bake. I’ve found that 30 minutes total is all I need.
If anyone’s interested I would be glad to post my recipe; it is for single loaf of white bread and uses 3 cups of flour.
I’d love to have your recipe for 1 loaf of bread for my small family! Thank you!!
Susan all you need to do is to take the 2 loaf recipe and cut everything in half except the yeast and you need to use one package of it. Another thing I use to do is make half the dough into bread and the other half I roll out and make into cinnamon rolls. Trust me though homemade bread does seem to be eaten faster then regular bread. I found it cheaper to buy bread if for no other reason my family of 4 could polish off a loaf of homemade in one day where regular bread would last 2-3.
Want to use the bread machine as Chris talks about, so I’d like to see the recipe, please.
Bruce D.
I would love to have your recipe for two kláves.
Thank you
Your the best
I would love to have your recipe. Thank you.
Would love your bread [email protected]. Thanks! Josie K Minnesota.
Grandma Suhler’s Inexpensive Homemade Bread
this is the recipe my father taught me when I was 11 to make bread. He simply cut down the recipe he used as a baker in the local bakery shop.
He said if I wanted to use milk to do so but it wasn’t necessary.
It was one of many that he taught me.
Hovis bread was my favourite but I can only get the flour by ordering from England. It was the bakers best selling bread I guess since we had a lot of war brides in the area from England.
Used to make bread almost everyday and my son was in his jolly jumper jumping while I was thumping the bread. He had a great time and it was fun to watch him having so much fun and giggling.
I bake 1 loaf of bread in my toaster oven. 350 for approx 30 minutes and I get lots of bragging on my bread!
From start to in the oven takes 15 minutes with my bread. I start with the hottest water I can get from my faucet. Then I put in the honey and salt, then sprinkle over the surface of this water my yeast.
Next, I mill the grains and beans for my bread. The milling heats up the flour for a faster rise. I add flour and other goodies to the warm water. My goodies include oat bran, wheat bran, rolled oats and gluten to compensate for my goodies and bean flour. I mix until the dough cleans the sides of the mixer. I try not to add too much flour so I can get a lighter loaf.
Next, I form the loaves in the pans and preheat the oven for 5 minutes. In that time, I can clean up my mess, then put the loaves in for 55 minutes. I make 4-6 loaves, depending on how much hot water I started with. My family will usually eat the two loaves right out of the oven. Well, almost… it has to cool before we slice, but we do eat two loaves!
My cooking can be old fashioned in the way I measure. It’s by hand and eye. No cups or spoons. Sorry!
Does anyone have a positive experience with a bread machine? My hubby has recently become addicted to homemade white Amish bread. At $2.50 for a loaf maybe 1/2 the size of a store bought loaf, it’s getting a little expensive. I have made homemade bread in the past but it’s not my favorite thing to do. I’m wondering about a bread machine.
I liked mine when we had it. The bread did always seem to come out and it was pretty easy. I found mine on Craigslist for free.
I adore my bread maker. I started out with a used one for $5 from Goodwill. I ended up wearing out 3 used machines. By that time, my husband and I figured out that I would get good use out of it. Then he bought me a Zojurushi. It was expensive but by then I was making all of our bread. It makes a horizontal loaf up to 2 pounds and has 2 paddles instead of 1.
I keep it out where I can quickly toss in my ingredients and then do something else while my bread is baking. I miss the hands on methods but my arthritis is too bad to knead dough now. This is the next best thing.
You will use a small appliance more if you have it easily accessible.
I love my bread machine. Got it from QVC Cooking with David. Makes very tasty and beautiful loaves of bread ?.it is a “Breadman”. If you dont like it, they will take it back,.
I hate my machine. had one that made a loaf upright it never rose properly and texture was funny.
Don bought me one that made the traditional style loaf and the same thing.
I tried bread machine yeast, I tried bread flour, I even followed the recipe exactly and measured everything exactly. Nothing worked. So now I have one sitting in the basement and one sitting on my microwave stand. Just clutter.
I have some easy bread recipes and they almost always turn out properly. A little to properly as when I make them Don eats a lot of it hot.
but I would not recommend them.
I was making bread to save money since Don takes sandwiches to work but the texture made it so the bread fell apart by lunch time.
Tawra had trouble with her first bread machine she got for a wedding gift and could not get it to work at all but then she got one on Craig’s List and I think it worked better for her. I wonder if it really depends on the kind of machine.
I think it might do with where you live.
I have made bread for a lot of years and when we first moved here I was still making it. some days it was wonderful others it would fall or be heavy or just not turn out.
Finally figured out that if I could smell the pulp mill the bread wouldn’t rise.
So I guess it had something to do with the barometer or the wind direction.
I tried every trick I could think of to get the machine to work. I had 2 different models 2 different companies and the bread was never just right. We ate it but it was nothing to write home to mother about.
I know some recipes give instructions for sea level or whatever level you are at so maybe bread machines should do the same.
Or maybe I am just jinxed.
To make these bread recipes, do you proof your yeast first? I am confused because it is one of your tips (which I really like) but not listed as a step in the bread-making instructions. Thank you!
Most of the time I do proof my yeast but there are some and getting to be more recipes like the one here (Jill’s homemade bread) where you don’t need to proof it because of the order you add the ingredients and the way you mix it etc.
Usually the recipe will tell you to proof the yeast or to add the yeast to the water (which is the same) I also take and add some of the sugar the recipe calls for and add it to the water before I add the yeast just because yeast loves to feed on sugar and it will help it “work” better.
grandma .. it sounds like u and me had the same machine .. i had a bread machine too .. and well i didnt like the way the bread smelled or tasted either ..
and to be quite honest, there is this one thrift store i go to all of the time that has lots (over 20) of bread machines .. the lady who runs the store said they stopped taking them as donations bc no one is buying htem.. not sure why she is holding on to them … or maybe she will have them on sale soon ..
i found one i wanted but couldnt afford it .. it looked like a huge toaster oven (but clearly said on the machine and the instructions that it was a bread machine) and the pan that the bread baked in look like an ordinary bread pan and not one of those little round bucket type ones that are in the machines now ..
whenever i want to have homemade bread i usually just buy the frozen bread dough, let it thaw and rise and then bake .. and the good thing is they now have the whole wheat bread too .. maybe not as frugally priced but our bread intake now is not a whole lot like when my daughter lived at home and my son was younger .. and we worked crazy hrs ..
so this way is actually on the cheaper side for us …
and sharon thanks for sharing that u use ur toaster oven .. i need to try that .. even in the summer that wouldnt be so bad .. at least the oven wont be on heating up the whole house ..
i told hubby that this yr (bc there are outlets on the outside of the house) i am getting out my roaster and crockpot and cooking outside .. no more cooking inside .. too hot for the house .. (in fact our one neighbor kinda does this, he keeps his grill on for a bit of hte day and heats pots of water on there and makes one pot meals .. other than that, they eat sandwiches or anything that can be microwaved .. he says it helps keep his electric down …
Rose the machine you described sounds like a counter top oven. not a bread machine. My friend bought one for her daughter at Christmas because her oven died and she had no way to cook a turkey. It has bread pans as well for bread or meatloaf meals.
The daughter loves it for cooking now and hasn’t fixed her oven.
I think she paid $150 Cdn new. Check it out again and see if this is what it is. Apparently they are great.
We keep our bbq on the porch all year round and when we want a treat or a memory of summer and nicer weather we will have bbq’ed hamburgers or steaks. Might do that this weekend even though we still have 6′ snowbanks all along the road. It is raining and above 0 for the past 2 days so it seems like a good time. At -28 the food gets too cold even going the 4′ to get it inside the house.
check with your hydro provider to find out if the outside wiring will save you money. Up here in the colder places the outside don’t save much because they have to be wired for temp. changes so it actually costs more. But I think you are in Florida so that probably isn’t a problem.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with bread machines. I’m still torn. I guess if I could find one very cheap, I might try it.
Angie that is what Tawra did. She kept having so much trouble but when she found a cheap one she tried again and did have some success.
Sadly, cheaper isn’t usually better. Get a new BRAND NAME machine that the store will let you return if it doesn’t work properly. I would be very wary of used machines. You don’t know where they were stored, maybe in someone’s garage or basement for years, (with all the little critters to keep it company!) Youu don’t have to spend a fortune at all, but get a good brand name. You get what you pay for, and are you really saving money if you get a crappy machine that doesn’t make good bread? Probably not.
Regarding your tip about adding 1/2-1 cup mashed potatoes to bread recipe.
First, can you use instant mashed potatoes?
Say I use 1/2 cup mashed potatoes, is it just an addition to the original recipe or is it a substitution for another ingredient? (i.e. do i decrease amt of water, milk, marg. or flour?)
Jackie, yes you can.
Jackie you don’t need to increase or decrease anything when you add mashed potatoes especially if you don’t add all of the flour at once and knead in the last 1/2-1 cup of it as you knead until you get the right texture in the dough.
Check the ingredients in your instant mashed potatoes. A lot of the brands are banned overseas because they have a cancer causing ingredient. I just make home made mashed potatoes now.
I would like the bread recipe from Chris.
Thanks. Anita
i would like bread recipe from Chris.
Thanks
I think I am going to have to start making my own bread again.
1 lb loaf this week was $3.50. Bought 2 of a kind I don’t particularly like got it home and it is more like 3 day old stuff. Couldn’t use it for Don’s lunch but it was ok for toast. For his lunch he got rye bread.
I am making tea biscuits for stews at supper because of the price of bread.
Used to sell bread years ago when I was making it almost every 2 days. Don’t know when to bake now since the mill is closed so I have no warning when it won’t turn out.
Never in a million years did I ever think I would miss the stink of a pulp mill.
I love your web site and all of the great advice!! Thank you so much! What I was wondering is the ninety minute roll recipe in your cook book, can that be made in a bread machine?
I’m not sure Debbie because I have never tried it in a bread machine. The recipe is so simple and easy that a bread machine might be over kill for it. You just beat all the ingredients together and then knead it 10 times so it isn’t like normal recipes which you need (no pun intended : ) to knead it a lot or it takes a lot of time to do it.
Ok, thank you! I just got my bread machine out of the garage today. Started looking through your cook book wondering if i could use your recipes for the machine. I havent made the ninety minute rolls yet, i did find–after searching the internet for an hour!–recipe for cinnamon rolls in bread machine just pulled them out of the oven, YUM!! i HAD to try two!! used your measurements for the brownsugar and cinnamon then i put chopped pecans on it. then frosted with the buttercream frosting! I have always been afraid to use yeast in recipes, not anymore!!!
It really isn’t as frightening as most people think and boy is is sooooo good. Like so many things the more you work with it and do it gets easier and easier. I use to be afraid of things which you had to cook in a hot water bath. I laugh now at how silly I was. I just throw my little wire rack (like you use to cool cookies) in the bottom of my 9×13 pan, set my dish on the little rack pour in a little water and bake. All that time I didn’t do some really good recipes because I thought there was some really secret way of doing things.
Oh and please stop torturing us Debbie. Those sound sooooooooooo yummy.
We’ve been making bread at home for a few years. Our favorite is white bread, often with a half cup or so of wheat or oat flour.
We’d like to try making pumpernickel bread. Does anyone have a tried ‘n true recipe for this that they’d like to share?
I grew up with homemade bread; my mother made bread every weekend. The window seat in the dining room was the perfect place for the bread to rise; it was lined with bread rising in the pans. The window seat actually housed a radiator, which in the winter made it very suitable for this purpose. My mother made white bread, the most fabulous rye bread, dinner rolls made from sweet roll dough with cardamom (yummy), julekaka (Norwegian Christmas bread), hamburger rolls (yummy on a Sunday evening with a fresh roasted turkey!).
I do make bread now occasionally for my husband and me. I have a KitchenAid mixer which helps greatly and cuts down on kneading time. I’m still perfecting my “technique”, but the end result is worth it!!
I grew up going to the bakery every few days and getting fresh baked breads. All the small towns we lived in had them. Delicious. The last few years I have been visiting my mother the breads and brotchens don’t taste the same. My mom said they no longer bake their own bread. They buy them from a warehouse for bakeries and bake it from frozen dough or something. So sad. I am going to start baking homemade bread and other foods my mom cooked now that I have her pressure cooker. She was an amazing cook.
Please accept my apology for taking sooooo long to respond to folk’s requests for the easy bread recipe that I use.
The recipe is Home-style White Bread from the Taste of Home web page: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Home-Style-White-Bread
I’ve modified the recipe to include 1 egg, and I omit the powdered dry milk because I don’t always have it on hand.
I use a bread machine on the dough cycle ONLY – which means you take the dough out, knead it for just a minute on the counter, place it in a prepared pan(greased and sprinkled with corn meal) and let it rise until about doubled; about 30-45 minutes.
The bread goes into a COLD oven. Set the temp at 350 degrees and bake for 35 minutes. I pop the finished loaf out of the pan and onto a wire rack to cool, before placing it in a storage bag.
Here’s to good bread baking!
Instead of spending money on a bread machine buy a Kitchenaid mixer. I used to bake a lot of bread but then the fibromyalgia got so bad I couldn’t knead it properly so I bought a bread machine. It was the bucket type and about a third of the loaf had a hole in the middle from the paddle things. So I bought one that you could take the paddles out and it was pure hell to get them out so that my hands and wrists hurt for a day after fighting with it. Then I was diagnosed with a kind of celiac, an alergic type reaction to the gluten in flour. When I saw the price and quality of a loaf of gluten free bread I decided to buy a big mixer. I got the professional model that has extra horse power. LOL It does all the mixing and kneading for you. It also is great to let your dough raise from the heat it generates. As you age things happen to your body and this machine can take up the slack. It was a big expense but it has been so helpful with my health limitations. My children questioned me spending that much money but now that my daughter, who also had fibro, has been getting older and sicker, her husband boutht her one. I did a lot of research and ended up buying mine on eBay and have not regretted the purchase at all.
thats a good idea gayla .. i like those kitchenaide mixers .. but cant afford one .. for xmas my daughter got a mixer with a bowl but it wasnt the kitchenaide brand .. i cant remember what brand it was .. it was on sale on black friday 2011 .. (at walmart) ..
i will have to see if could use hers to make the bread .. we are all supposed to go over her house on superbowl sunday ..
also, my sister bakes the pre-made dough/bread on her pizza stone .. i have been looking for one of those things bc i like the boxed/frozen pizza and she says when she uses her pizza stone to bake her pizza on, it tastes just like delivery pizza ..
I have a friend that sent me her mothers old Kitchenaid mixer. I have never used it. Maybe it is time to figure out how to use it.
I use the frozen bread dough, too. I have arthritis is my hands and the kneading is hard. My niece gave me her Kitchen Aid mixer with the dough paddle so am eager to try Jill’s bread recipe.
I put my dough to rise on my stove. I heat the oven for a few minutes, then turn it off but the vent for the heat of the oven is on the back of the stove facing the burners, so I just put the pans on top of the stove and they rise quickly and look wonderful. At Christmas, with the pies and turkey in the oven, the dough was almost misshapen because it rose so fast and came over the top of the pan. We were all laughing but it tasted wonderful, anyway.
When I lived in Maine – many years ago – a friend made a bread dough in a blender and as I remember it, it was almost liquid and no kneading was required. He just poured it into a loaf pan and cooked it for about 30 minutes. It came out firm and sliced easily. It was terrific. I have looked everywhere for a recipe that was similar and cannot find one anywhere. If anyone knows of such a recipe, I’d be delighted to have it. I don’t know where my old friend is now so cannot ask him for the recipe.
I have never heard of this before Maggie but maybe one of our readers knows.
That sounds like “batter bread” altho I wouldn’t mix that in a blender; I would stir it with a lrge spoon in a bowl.
Here’s a blender bread recipe from AllRecipes.com:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/blender-white-bread/
And .. .. .. here’s another one from King Arthur, the flour folks:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/parmesan-batter-bread-recipe
I know I am probably over looking something but at what temperature do I bake Mrs. Jill’s bread recipe. I am at the place in oven point. LOL! I should have read before I got this far.
Hope I’m not too late Michelle. It’s 375 degrees for about 40-45 mins. until it sounds hollow.
I am so glad this recipe is on your website. I recently downloaded your book onto my kindle. I got up this morning and was going to make bread and your book is gone off my kindle! I LOVE your recipes! The cinammon roll recipe was outstanding!!! I am sad about losing the other recipes, but at least I still can make the bread. Thanks so much.
If you had a book on your Kindle you should be able to go to your Amazon account and have it sent to you again. It is probable in your ‘cloud’. Good luck with this.
I think they disappear after a period of time. I bought several kindle cookbooks and only looked at them once and now they are gone. Now I only buy hard backs. I never lose them that way, just add them to my cookbook collection. I have hundreds of them, hardbacks, paper backs, soft backs and all those free booklets that were given away or sold in the 70s. I might retire next year and start cooking a recipe every day. Will be so much fun.
First time visiting this site, I just read an article on another frugal site by Jill Cooper, and wanted to see if the article I’d read was outdated.
It said not to add salt with yeast because salt “kills” yeast. That isn’t true. Pouring a lot of salt on it would, but salt is used with yeast to balance the fermentation process, I’ve added it with the yeast for years, as many recipes call for, and it only slows down the proofing for a more developed flavor.
Will scope out the website :)
Speaking as a chemical engineer, your directions and recipes are very inspiring. It’s a lot like baking, just with different ingredients :-)
When my girls were growing up I always made home made bread. They could not understand what some people put on the table that they called bread. It was a labor of love for me. Tried a bread machine when they came out but was never satisfied with the end product.
You can’t really experience the pleasure of home made bread until you start from scratch and get you hand in there and do it. I always felt such an accomplishment when I pulled that good bread from the oven. Always cut one loaf when it was hot eating that crust with lots of butter. YUM!! Think I will start to make bread again. Thanks for bringing that subject up again!!!
When I retired I started baking home made bread. We eat a lot of bread, bought or home made, and I like the idea that I know what I’m putting in it and eliminating a lot of chemicals and preservatives from our diet. Instead of lard or shortening I often use melted butter or olive oil for the fat in my bread recipes. Instead of sugar I might use honey. I still get holes, big and little, in my bread though, no matter how hard I try to squeeze out all the air bubbles when I am shaping the loaf. I get less bubbles on top of the loaves when I don’t let them raise too high. :) No matter how many holes there are, home made bread is yummy and more healthy. I like kneading it by hand, too—makes me feel like I am getting back to my “roots”. That’s another great thing about retirement; I don’t have to rush these important (to me!) endeavors! :)
Brenda many years ago I took a bread baking class. At it they showed me how to take the bread dough and instead of just forming it into a loaf with my hands, to roll it out with a rolling pin into a rectangle (about 9 in. by 12 ins. doesn’t have to be exact mostly the width should be the length of your pan and most are about 9 inches I think) then at the 9 in end roll it up jelly roll fashion and gently mold into a loaf to fit the pan.
What this does is the rolling pin removes all of the air bubbles from it and what ever ones it misses you can pop. I know this seems like an extra step and all but once you get use to doing it doesn’t take but a couple of minutes extra time and I have had no air bubbles since I have been doing this method. You might try it once to see it that helps a little.
Sounds wonderful. Will make both recipes this week! Thanks Sil Hendricks
Although you can’t bake a whole loaf this way, I’ve baked bread in a toaster oven but what I did was divide it into balls and placed into cup cake tins and baked it that way. There is also smaller pans that you can bake it in.
I have used active Dry Yeast for as long as I have made bread. I have never proofed it since one of it’s selling points is that you don’t have to. Were you referring to regular yeast when you talked of proofing? I’m not even sure they sell regular yeast anymore…but then I’ve been buying the Active Dry in bulk for years.
I also keep my Active Dry yeast in the freezer, so it lasts for years.
If you proof it you are just making sure the yeast is active.
They do sell regular yeast still and as far as I can tell most people by the regular yeast because that is what they are use to seeing or seeing their moms and grandma’s use and aren’t really sure of maybe how to use the Active yeast. I personally use both and yes it does last for a long long time but it is best for beginners to proof it especially if they don’t know what kind it is and they often can get the liquid way to hot which can kill it so this helps them to know that they didn’t get the liquid too hot. Once they get use to the feel of the temperature they are suppose to use they don’t need to as much. Proofing isn’t that big of a deal anyway. I just heat up what ever liquid I am using and sprinkle the yeast on top of it. By the time I add a few of the dry ingredients to the bowl it is ready to go.
Good point for beginners. I know I killed the yeast the first time I tried to make bread. I didn’t have my mother’s example to follow. While she was a gourmet cook, she didn’t do basic things like making bread or even gravy. I’ve been more interested in the basic cooking from scratch and not just opening a lot of cans and throwing something together. Lately I have been trying to include more beans in our diet as a healthy protein source. Do you have tips on cooking with beans, starting with the dried ones?
It is hard to find regular yeast. My brother used to use it in Germany and now that he has moved stateside he can’t find it anywhere. He complains about it all the time. I keep telling him this is not Germany they are different here in the states.
Thank you for yur recipes. By any chance do you have any recipes for a bread machine? I cannot find the mixes in my area so I have to make my mix, but I don’t have any recipes.
Thank you for all your books and newsletter,
Carol Gabriel
I have used a bread machine for many years but don’t like the shape of the loaf. now I put everything in on the “dough” cycle and let the machine do it’s thing. When it has finished I start another regular cycle to re knead the dough and let that run a couple of minutes. After that I take the dough out and shape into loaves and set to rise in pans for the second time.
This is a good way to impress overnight guests. Put all the ingredients into the machine with the yeast on top and set the timer for the time you get up. You can then form into rolls and your guests wake up to the smell of freshly baked bread. Makes a cheap breakfast too because they won’t want anything else except juice and coffee
I’ve been baking bread for over 50 years. When my kids/grandkids were young (also had an in-home daycare business), I would give the kids their own little dough and it was their most fun thing, to roll, shape, rise, then I’d bake their little creations, then they’d eat! Rules: no eating raw dough, and if it dropped on the floor, we’d throw it away or bake for the dog to eat, and they’d start over with a clean piece. Kept them busy for an hour or more, and they were learning that not all bread comes from a store!
I have a wheat grinder and make whole wheat breads, adding molasses as part of the sugar (makes a nice dark loaf), and sometimes cook raisins in a bit of water, then grind in a blender, and add to the bread dough before mixing in all the flour. My favorite recipe is “French Peasant Bread.” In a large bowl, mix 1 cup warm water, 1 tbsp. yeast (or 1 pkg), 1 tbsp. dry instant milk, 1 cup whole wheat flour. Cover top of bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Day 2, stir in 2 cups warm water, 3 cups white flour, wrap again and let sit until the 3rd day. Day 3, add 1 tbsp. salt, and enough flour to knead well. Put in a greased bowl, cover an let rise on the counter an hour or two. Punch down again, put into greased bowl again and let rise another hour or so until doubled in size. GENTLY turn bowl upside down onto a lightly greased cookie sheet (add a bit of corn meal to the cookie sheet before placing the dough on it). Gently make criss-cross cuts in the top, then place in a 425 degree pre-heated oven. Place a broiler pan on bottom shelf, with about 2 cups of water in it. Bake in the hot oven about 35-40 minutes, let cool on a rack to retain hard outer crust. Best recipe in the world–tastes old world, sourdough type.
This recipe is so different and really sounds good Mary. Thanks for giving it to us.
Can you substitute rice floor for white floor
Not really. You usually can’t substitute flour straight across one for another without it changing quite a bit of the texture, taste and other things in the bread. You can’t even really change whole wheat flour for all purpose flour without changing the taste and texture a bunch let alone rice flour. In bread baking and in candy making (the kind of candy you have to cook) I usually say stick to the recipe or you will have a mess.
Do you have a vegan Rye bread recipe? Or a regular rye bread recipe??
Love you web page!
Thank you!
Julie B.
Julie I am sorry I don’t have a vegan Rye bread recipe. Maybe one of your readers might have a good one for you.
I use my bread machine for mixing the dough, especially pizza dough Perfect, every single time. Just let it mix and rise the first time (dough cycle) then take it out and use it. If you have a zorushi double pan you can do two at once this way
I am 77 years old and have been making bread for YEARS! These are such great comments! I can still remember my Mother saying “SAVE THE POTATO WATER” and she and Granny would make the BEST bread and rolls. For some reason it does make a difference! We had a family of 5 teenagers and Granny so my Mom and Granny were always cooking for 8 people every day and I can remember my Dad bringing home (we lived in a city) bushels of tomatoes and corn and so many vegetables that they canned. Such wonderful memories and it all tasted SO good! :)
Why do you use margarine instead of butter? Margarine is so bad for us. Butter= Cream and Salt. margarine= Who knows?
You can use either. What is funny is when this recipe was first used they used butter for it because that was all they had. Then they used margarine because butter was way too expensive plus believe it or not they were horrified if people used butter because butter was suppose to be really bad for you. I got scolded all the time because I would eat butter and not margarine. They said if you used butter it would cause you to gain weight and have a heart attack. Margarine was used like coconut oil is used now.
I personally don’t worry over any of it because I figure the stress of worrying over it will kill me faster then using the wrong oil. I use what ever I have on hand and for recipes like this I would use margarine instead of butter because it is 1/4 the price of butter and you won’t be able to tell any difference in the flavor or texture of the bread. I don’t have the luxury or the money to buy more expensive ingredients to bake with most of the time. At the same time though I would use butter to spread on it after it is baked because I like the flavor of the butter better on it.
I prefer oil ! 3 Tbsp. for 3 cups of flour. Sometimes I use oil after frying bacon – it is very tasty!.
Like Grandma, I was given a bread machine and didn’t like using it. It came with a recipe book, Despite following those recipes to the letter, the bread came out a little different, every time.I was working at the time, and thought it would be a blessing to come home to freshly baked bread. Most of the time it worked, in that it was edible, but I never knew for sure what I would find when I got home. As well, we didn’t really like the taste, as machine bread uses a lot of yeast for one loaf. By comparison, I used about twice as much yeast and would get 12 to 16 loaves, when making traditional loaves by hand. I also had to buy extra powdered gluten from the health food store, for best results. The bread was edible when warm, but left a lot to be desired when it cooled off. So I gave the machine away, and went back to making bread by hand, and just freezing the excess.
Mary Jane Tawra had the same problem with hers too. I think she tried 2 different machines. We tried everything we could think of but the bread really didn’t come out very good either at least not like regular homemade. We thought maybe it was us because so many seem to love theirs. Don’t know what we did wrong and we got tons of suggestions of what we should or shouldn’t do but none of them seemed to work for some reason. Feel better now. You know – misery loves company or something like that. : )
Have you ever tried the no knead bread? Turns out great bread and is very easy. You can make many different kinds of bread with this recipe:
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon Instant or Rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 cups water
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and yeast. Add water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12 – 18 hours. Overnight works great. Heat oven to 450 degrees. When the oven has reached 450 degrees place a cast iron pot 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) with a lid in the oven and heat the pot for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, pour dough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball. Place in a bowl on parchment paper. Cover with plastic wrap and let set while the pot is heating (for at least 30″). Remove lid from hot pot and drop into the pot the parchment and dough ball. Cover and return to oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack to cool. Parchment may get brown, but will not burn.
I love all bread machines when hands don’t like you after making bread, Lol but they are only as good as the recipie.
Thanks for this great recipe!! My boys suprised me with a Sunbeam mixmaster for Christmas this year, so I don’t have to do any kneading :) and both the plain loaf and the cinnamon loaf came out scrumtious!! Thanks Jill, really enjoy the videos you and your family put on YouTube.
I love making homemade bread. I find when you have kids it is easier to cook it in the oven. We used to make bread in a breadmaker and that tiny loaf would be gone in an hour! I much prefer to make 4 loaves at a time in the oven. :)
I have spent well overan hour, I have a text in but I amnot hearing from anyone. Wednesday was supposed to buy the Dine on Dime 20th Anniversary Edition I thought for 20% off. I have awaited so excited for this day and I just can’t see anything about it…please help me fiure this out!! :) :)
Tereasa Laughren
[email protected]
T
I’m not sure what you are referring too. We don’t have a sale this week but will in a couple of weeks. If you are on our newsletter we will announce it on there.
Good morning Tawra! On one of your shows you checked the temperature of your bread to determine doneness. I can’t find what temperature equals done. Can you help?
Thanks,
Judy/DrLeonesse
Between 190-200 degrees.
I made Grandma Suhler’s Inexpensive Homemade Bread Recipe today – it is wonderful!! Used butter instead of margarine, and kneaded in my KitchenAid. 5 stars! Easy to make, tastes amazing. Cooked beautifully!