Basic Bread Recipe Made Easy

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Making your own bread is not generally thought of as an easy task. I know for me it has always sounded like a daunting task. Yet, buying bread for a family of our size, especially, can get costly. And sometimes you really just want to know exactly what is in the food you feed your family.

Basic Bread Recipe

If you have been thinking about making your own bread, but thought it was impossible to do without extensive amounts of work, then worry no more. You can have your cake, errrr bread, and eat it too. And the good news is you don’t need an expensive bread machine or special equipment to make your own bread at home. The fact of the matter is you probably already have everything you need to start making your own bread in your kitchen.

If you have a large mixing bowl, spoon, measuring cup, measuring spoon, bread pan and a dish towel you have the supplies for a basic bread recipe. Now grab the ingredients below and start baking!

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup milk
• 5 tsp sugar (equivalent of 1 ½ tbsps)
• 1 tsp salt
• 5 tsp butter
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 2 ½ to 3 ½ cups unbleached white flour
• Cornstarch or non-stick cooking spray which will keep the bread from sticking to the pan

Directions:

1. Start with a warm bowl. To do this just put some hot water in the bowl and then dump it out. Mix the yeast according to package instructions.
2. Melt the butter then add it along with the milk, sugar, and salt to the yeast. Stir together.
3. Add 2 cups of the flour to the mix and stir. Continue adding flour ¼ cup at a time and stirring until dough is slightly sticky, but doesn’t stick to your hands.
4. Now it’s time to get some aggression out by kneading the dough. Put it on a lightly floured surface and begin to beat the dough for about ten minutes.
5. Shape the dough into a ball and put it in a bowl sprayed with non-stick cooking spray or cornstarch. Cover the bowl with the dish towel. Set the bowl in a warm area for an hour. It should rise to about double the size.
6. Punch it down and lay on a lightly floured surface and shape it out to about the size of your loaf pan.
7. Roll this rectangle up and fold the ends down and add it into a lightly greased loaf pan seam side down.
8. Now cover again with the dish towel and allow to rise for another hour. Remove the dish towel. The dough will have risen above the top of the loaf pan.
9. Put the loaf in a 400 degree oven and bake for 30 minutes.
10. Remove from pan immediately and allow to cool.

This is just a basic bread. You can change this recipe up to make different types of bread. For example, for a whole wheat bread use whole wheat flour. You will need less flour in this instance so just remember to add slowly. For an Italian bread, use a garlic salt instead of plain salt. You can also add in a bit of Italian seasoning mix.

You might find that it is easier to just buy the bread at the store, but check out the cost savings and the few amount of ingredients to get this tasty bread. You may even discover it is worth the  extra time and effort it takes to make your own bread.