yeast

Easy Homemade Bread

Seriously, this bread is so easy to make! And it’s quick, only 1 hour to rise. You will never want store bought bread again. I ate two huge slices smothered with butter as soon as it came out of the oven. It was pure heaven if I do say so myself 🙂 So put on your aprons and lets get to baking!

What you will need:

9×5 inch loaf pan

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 packet of Active Dry Yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups warm water
Non-stick spray or oil for pan

In a large bowl or bowl of your electric mixer, whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. In a small cup or bowl, stir together the yeast, sugar and half a cup of the warm water. Let rest for 5-10 minutes.

Pour the yeast mixture into the flour mixture along with another cup of the warm water. Stir with a large wooden spoon or knead with the hook attachment until a nice dough is formed, slowly adding more water as needed. Once the dough is formed, place the bowl in your oven to rise for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, take the dough out and preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Grease the loaf pan. Stir the dough (I just used my hands) and transfer it to the pan. Let rise again while the oven preheats. Then bake for 30-40 minutes (mine took 32 minutes). Allow to cool on a wire rack and then slice and enjoy!

So pretty and delicious! The picture below is directly out of the pan.

Honey Rolls

Yum! Who doesn’t love bread??!! I mean, if you don’t, we can’t be friends. Bread and cake. My two favorite foods. Of. All. Time. Homemade bread is quite difficult to make, especially if you do not have a stand mixer to knead the dough. I’m sure it gets easier with experience, but I never know how much flour to use! The dough gets so sticky. But these turned out great so I will let you know my tricks.

What you will need:

2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 large egg
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for kneading)

For the top:

1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon honey

In the bowl of your mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let rest for 5 minutes. Add in the egg, honey and salt and mix until combined. Add in the flour. If using a stand mixer with the dough hook attached, knead for 5-7 minutes. With my KitchenAid mixer, this was the 2 setting. If kneading by hand, knead for 8 minutes, trying not to use too much flour! The dough becomes more workable the longer you knead it.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours. Tip: My house was chilly so I preheat my oven to 170 degrees fahrenheit and then turned the oven off and placed my dough inside to rise. The perfect place!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Lightly oil a round cake pan or cookie sheet. After the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and work it so it’s not too sticky. I had to add more flour because it stuck to my hands too much.  Shape the dough into 12 balls and place in pan.

In a bowl, mix together the melted butter and honey. Brush over the rolls. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the tops are lightly browned.

Serve warm with butter or more honey. Enjoy!