Easy Homemade Bread

Here's another installment in my homemade bread making quest. I've tried this recipe twice now, and it's quite tasty. I found the original, Simple One Hour Homemade Bread, on Pinterest. It is very straight forward and simple, and the texture of this bread is fantastic. It can be used for sandwiches or just as a side dish, or heck, just eat it warm with some butter like I did! This is a good one to try also if you're new to bread making.

5 1/4 cups white bread flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp oil
2 cups warm water (somewhere between 100 and 115 degrees Fahrenheit)

Add the warm water, yeast, and sugar to your bowl and allow the yeast to activate, about 8 minutes or so.

 

Add oil, salt, and flour. 

Mix for 1 minute and then check the consistency of the dough. The dough should be very sticky. If it is too dry, add more water. Mix for 5 minutes. (Do not add any more flour after the dough has finished mixing.)

Spray kneading surface with cooking spray and turn dough out onto surface. Knead dough briefly until it has a smooth even consistency (this will only take several turns of the dough to accomplish).

Divide dough into 2 pieces (or more if you wish to have smaller loaves) and shape loaves into desired shapes and place on greased baking sheets. Cover with a large dish towel and let rise for 25 minutes.

While loaves are rising, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. When loaves are ready to go into the oven, use a sharp knife (you can lightly spray your knife with cooking spray to prevent dragging) to make several slashes in the top. Make each cut about 1/4-inch deep at a 30 degree angle.

 

I decided to try an experiment the second time I made this bread. While the bread's texture was amazing, I wasn't terribly excited about the exterior of the bread. So, in my experiment, I divided the bread into four loaves, and topped each differently. Here's my results from top left, clockwise: plain as the recipe calls; egg wash, olive oil, butter. Clearly, the oil and butter created a much prettier topping than plain or an egg wash. Point is, try it how you like it, and choose what works for you.

Bake loaves for 25 minutes, or until they are golden brown.