How to Make Homemade Bread

Have you contemplated making homemade bread? A lot of people are gradually moving towards making their own food, including bread. There are a number of reasons for the same. Personally, if you have to ask me, I will say homemade bread tastes better than the one you buy at the bakers or at the supermarket. When you start making bread at home, you may feel that making bread at home is a time-consuming process, however once you get used to the process, you will change your opinion. Now let's take a look at a few homemade bread recipes.

Making Bread at Home...

... without a Bread Machine

It is not necessary to have bread machine to make bread at home. It can very easily be made without the machine as well. Many ask how to make bread dough, as they find it very difficult to make the dough itself, but once you read the process I have mentioned below, you will take to making bread more often.

Ingredients

• Warm Water (warmed to 115 degrees Fahrenheit)
• Active Dry Yeast 2 packets
• Olive Oil ¼ cup
• Whole Wheat Flour 5 lbs
• Salt 5 tablespoons

Method

• Mix yeast with water and stir till yeast is dissolved with water.
• Let it stand for 5 minutes, then add olive oil and stir well.
• In a large bowl mix flour and salt together and make a well in the center.
• Add yeast mixture to the flour and mix well with your hands.
• Knead the dough, until it is smooth for about 15 minutes.
• Cover the dough and set it in a warm place to rise for 1½ hours.
• When the dough rises to become double in size, cut the dough into 4 pieces.
• Roll into loaves and place the rolled dough on lightly greased baking sheets.
• Cover and keep it in a warm place to rise again.
• When the dough doubles in size again, bake the loaves in a preheated oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes.
• After 10 minutes reduce the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and let the bread bake for another 25 minutes, till the bread is evenly browned.
• To know if the bread is ready tap at the bottom of the loaf with your fingers, if the sound is hollow, the bread is ready.

... without Yeast

There are a number of people who do not appreciate yeast in their food. On the other hand, there are some who are allergic to yeast. For all those people, here is how to make bread at home without yeast.

Ingredients

• Cornmeal 1 cup
• Egg 1
• Baking Powder 1 teaspoon
• Salt 1 teaspoon
• Shortening 1 tablespoon
• Boiling Water 1 cup

Method

• While you make the other preparations, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, salt and shortening together.
• Gradually add boiling water and continue to stir till paste like consistency of the dough is formed.
• Now add egg and baking soda and mix until the dough is not sticking to the bowl.
• Grease the baking pan with shortening or butter and place the dough in the pan.
• Bake till the bread is golden brown in color.

For more information, read

• Crusty French Bread Recipes
• German Bread Recipes
• Flat Bread Recipes

In the recipe to make bread without yeast, I have used cornmeal, but you can also change it to all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour as per your liking. A tip at the end of this article on how to make homemade bread; let the bread cool down for a few minutes before you start slicing the bread.