A piece of bread to a hungry man is like a piece of heaven! But breads are more than just satisfying your hunger they are warm fresh soft and can be eaten with almost everything. From the basics of baking to advanced baking dishes, bread baking is the very first step.
Try this bread recipe with just six ingredients that you can find easily in your home. You can serve this bread in the morning breakfast with warm butter floating on it. It is a minimal effort recipe that takes about only 15 minutes of hands-on work. The taste of homemade bread is definitely more yummy and satisfying than any ordinary bread that you will get from the market.
So let’s bake the Bread
Ingredients you need
Flour — 3 cups
Water — 1 cup, slightly warm
Yeast — 1 tablespoon
Olive Oil — 3 tablespoons (can use vegetable oil if not available)
Sugar — 1.5 tablespoons
Salt — 1.5 teaspoons
Take a bowl, add sugar and water and stir well for 20-30 seconds for some sugar to dissolve. Add olive oil and mix it again. Sprinkle some yeast and mix it well. Leave the mixture to bloom. The mixture should be completely foamy and start smelling after 5-10 minutes.
Remember — Until the yeast doesn’t bloom you can’t use it in the recipe. So, if the mixture doesn’t foam then chances are that yeast might be expired.
Take a separate large bowl, add the flour and salt and mix them well to ensure that the salt is dispersed, because any large clumps will kill the yeast. Add yeast mixture into the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon or hand until everything is incorporated.
Now, start kneading the dough in the bowl or turn it out into a lightly floured counter if your bowl is not large enough. Try not to incorporate any more flour at this stage, but if the dough is too sticky you can add ½ to 1 teaspoon of flour to help you with it.
Knead the dough well for 5-10 minutes until it’s elastic, sets together, and is still slightly sticky.
-Put it back in the large bowl and cover with cling film or a damp towel, and let it rise 2 hours or until doubled. Alternatively, place it in the fridge overnight.
Once the dough has doubled, measure it out into 3 separate pieces and use your hands to shape it into a loaf shape (or the shape of the container you’ll bake in). Keep one side of the loaf tight by pulling it down slightly from the sides to ensure a shiny top.
Place the dough into the buttered loaf tin (use ceramic or metal), and let it rise again for an hour until the dough has risen again.
Give the top of the loaves a cream wash by spreading some fresh cream with a pastry brush, and bake at 200 °C for about 20 minutes or until the top portion is golden.
Your easy, tasty soft bread is ready to eat. Trust me, once you’ve tasted it you will always prefer homemade bread over the bread bought from the store. Try out this bread with different things like butter, jam or sandwiches. Let us know about the taste, and we will keep coming with easy simple baking dishes.
