Humans have been baking bread for centuries, and every culture has its own bread delicacies. It’s therapeutic, cheap, and only takes a few hours (most of it is hands-off).
But, if you’ve not had a lot of experience in the kitchen it can seem intimidating. Bread usually has 4 – 7 ingredients, but proof temperature and how long you knead it will affect your end result.
So if you’re just getting started on your baking journey, or looking to save money on your grocery bill, here are 5 easy bread recipes to master.
Basic Sandwich Loaf
It took me a couple of tries to get this recipe perfect, but this fills one loaf tin perfectly. If you’re only cooking for 1, consider slicing the bread and freezing half the loaf so it doesn’t go moldy. It usually keeps on the counter for 3 day to a week.
Perfect for grilled cheese, toast, and if you make a lot of lunches to go. Also great for just slathering with butter.
Cooking tip: this is a very sticky dough. When you work with sticky dough and don’t want to add more flour (as this will change your bread), dip your hands in water and re-wet them if the dough starts to stick again.
Sandwich Loaf
Ingredients
- 563 g All Purpose Flour
- 462 g Lukewarm Water
- 3/4 tbsp Honey
- 3/4 tbsp Active Dry Yeast
- 10 g salt
Instructions
- in a glass or plastic mixing bowl, combine your water, yeast, and honey. Let rest for 5 minutes
- In another bowl, mix your salt and flour together
- Slowly incorporate your flour into your water. Kneed until smooth and slightly elastic
- Put into a bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Let rise in a warm place for 60 minutes
- Preheat your oven to 400F
- Shape the dough by stretching it on your counter, then folding it in 3rds, and pinch the ends under. Let it rise in your bread pan for another 20 min
- Bake for 35 min. Let cool completely before slicing.
Foccacia
I’ve recently been making my way through Gordon Ramsay’s cookbooks. Though they are not vegetarian, he has lots of vegetable-based or vegetable-forward dishes and he explains the technique.
His focaccia recipe is easy, tasty, and can be topped with fresh herbs from the garden, tomatoes, onions, olives, or more.
Dinner Rolls
From a food blog titled Spaceships & Laser Beams, these dinner rolls are are light, fluffy, and buttery. The perfect dish to bring to the next potluck if you really sear you don’t know how to cook. Size them up slightly for a delicious home made hamburger bun.
Again, these freeze well. So if you want to do some meal prep, or you have a cottage weekend coming up, make a double batch. Just pop them in the oven wrapped in foil for 5 – 10 minutes at 350F.
Challah
Because of the braiding, this bread looks a lot more complicated than it actually is. This easy bread recipe includes cardamom, but substitute for any other spice and it is just as good. This is the best bread to use for french toast, hands down.
Flatbread
When looking for new recipes, I usually check Food52 for ideas first. That’s where I got this easy stove top flatbread recipe from. This bread is delicious, and freezes well. Perfect for lunches and easy snacks.
It cooks in just over an hour from start to finish, and the bread smell that fills your home is worth almost all the effort. This is so good you’ll probably never look at store bought flatbread the same.
