Bread for beginners

[Hedjwitch]

Can someone pls share a simple bread recipe for a beginner? I've made seeded " breads" with yoghurt and eggs and oats before,but these are flat and dense.
Can I make proper read easily without yeast and proving?

You either need to make a bread with yeast or sourdough starter. Bread needs to rise, and this means time to prove.

Making bread is an art, and can be very rewarding to do. Sadly it's not quick.

The fact that it isn't quick to make is one of the reasons I enjoy doing it, when I have time. It's good to have a reminder that sometimes things do just take time.

A good way to get bread quickly, though, is to make soda bread. No yeast, leavened by the chemical reaction between the sour milk/buttermilk/milk and lemon juice with the bicarbonate of soda. It's a long time since I made it, but it really is very quick. Doesn't keep as well as yeast-leavened bread, so I wouldn't make a big loaf.

Or make scones. Super quick. I use this recipe. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/classic-scones-jam-clotted-cream

Soda bread www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/irishsodabread_67445

I came on to say soda bread. It works well. And so much nicer fresh.

This is a fail-safe for me

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/olive-oil-bread

Nigella's Sandwich Loaf is fail safe and takes very little kneading. It does take quite a long time but for almost all of that time you can be doing other things. You only need to actually pay attention to it for about 10 minutes in total. www.nigella.com/recipes/old-fashioned-sandwich-loaf

Bread flour will often have a recipe on the bag I've made some 1lb loaves using the Allinson flour and they were lovely! Second one not so good as the first but I rushed it and didn't knead it for long enough.

What's putting you off yeast and proving?

Soda bread is lovely but not what you'd make a sandwich out of if that's what you are looking for. I actually love making bread with yeast but hate the kneading bit so bought a used breadmaker (loads on marketplace etc) and it does the kneading and rising and then I just take it out and shape and let it do final rise then bake. Barely need to touch the dough and not when it's sticky, yeuk! If you have the space a used one is well worth it, I find the rising aspect of it brilliant too as my kitchen is never warm enough to rise it in any sort of timely fashion. Sometimes I just let the machine bake it too, also fine.

Thanks all. Very helpful. I'm.just a bit scared of the yeast and kneading and proving as I don't know how to do it. No room for a bread maker.

There's some great videos on line. It's quite meditative and doesn't take long. Use strong bread flour though. The worst that can happen is that you get a slightly dense loaf....

I haven't made bread for ages but I think you've inspired me to get some flour on the way home.

Had a bread maker for years and that was soooo easy. But they do take up counter space.

Sally's Baking Addiction is a good place to start if you're a bit unsure about using yeast. It's very US- centric unsurprisingly but has lots of helpful explanations of why you're doing something.

500g strong white bread flour
I sachet fast acting yeast (I use Lidls)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3 tblsp sunflower oil
250ml tepid water

Bung flour salt sugar yeast into big bowl. Mix well.
Add oil and water. Mix well again. Scrape all bits off sides off bowl with silicone spatula and combine so you've got a nice smooth ball of dough. Cover bowl with clean tea towel.
Leave for 30 mins.
Plonk onto work surface dusted with flour. Give it a good knead for about 5-7 mins. Put in loaf tin or split into 6 rolls.
Leave in warm place for 2 hrs. I pug mine in the airing cupboard.
Once risen, flick it with a bit of cold water and bake 200 degrees for about 30 mins or when golden and gorgeous.
Eat.
But not when hot ot you'll get indigestion!

HTH
X

There's nothing to be frightened of with yeast. Buy the easy kind, which you just add to the flour with the liquid. (The fresh yeast or tubs of dried yeast have to be reactivated first, which is easy but just takes a little bit longer.) The only important thing is it has to be in date. Once it gets old it stops working. Use strong flour ideally (often sold as bread flour) because it has more gluten and gives a better rise. The easiest bread to make for the first time is a simple white loaf. Wholemeal is also easy but doesn't rise as much and opinions vary about whether to knead it or just mix it (both work).

Kneading is great fun. I don't mind having sticky dough on my fingers and after a bit it stops being sticky anyway. You just keep going until you have a cohesive, stretchy dough. Then you put it in a warm place, covered, until it's risen.

You can probably see videos or blogs illustrated with lots of photos online, which will be very helpful.

Yeast likes warmth and sugar. Hates temperatures higher than 'warm' - if you put your finger in, it shouldn't feel hot - and salt. You do need salt, but add it to the flour and mix through before adding the yeast.

You want a bread dough that is sticky, so add some flour or water to get that. It should change as you (or your mixer) knead it - experience will teach you this. When you know what you're doing, you can make very sticky doughs, but to start with, aim for a sticky dough that is easy to handle after ten minutes kneading.

Do not be impatient - let the dough rise. A warm place will help.

I have made loads over the years, a very easy one that I do which is so light is this www.nigella.com/recipes/old-fashioned-sandwich-loaf. It cuts the kneading down but I use my kitchen aid for it. Beautiful loaf but you have to let it rise and prove

I’m generally a bit slapdash with cooking and seldom actually follow recipes but baking does need precision. It’s not about just following a recipe though as you need to understand how the dough is meant to feel and why it needs certain things. It’s ages since I looked at it (these days most of my bread is pita) but I’d recommend James Morton’s book Brilliant Bread for explaining what works and why rather than just giving recipes.

Right. Have bought flour and yeast and will give it a go tomorrow!

I was coming on here to say exactly this. Sally is American and she does cater mostly to a US audience but she also completely gets that baking is much better measuring by weight and she includes gram/ml measurements for everything I’ve baked from her site. I make her no-knead artisan bread a couple of times a week - it’s SO EASY. Just stir 430g flour, 6g easy bake yeast, 9g salt and 320ish ml room temperature water in a large bowl and cover it to rise for 2-3 hours. Then stick it in the fridge for up to 3 days till you’re ready to bake it, which entails heating a large casserole at 230C for 30 minutes while you take the dough out of the fridge, shape it on a floured surface and put it on parchment in a clean covered bowl. Then put the bread with the parchment inside the covered casserole and bake 30 minutes. Hands on time is less than 10 minutes, which includes washing up. The bread when it comes out of the oven is amazing.

Well I had a go and was pleased with the result. Looks a bit ungainly and lumpy but tastes ok. I'll definitely try again!

You should be pleased! That looks great! Hope it motivates you to keep going - there are few fragrances as satisfying as fresh bread. Well done on your accomplishment.

That looks lovely!