There’s one thing that sends waves of terror through some home chefs, and it’s not what many observers would expect. Not the French sauces that require perfect temperature control and exquisite timing, nor the delicacies of China and Japan that call for rare and unusual ingredients, nor the Italian masterpieces which require hours of preparation and hours more of cooking. No, the bane of every home cook is that simplest and most basic of foodstuffs: bread.
Good, fresh, homemade bread has an allure and a mystique about it that holds it above all other dishes. In fact, before the advent of automatic bread-making machines (which are sort of cheating), most home cooks didn’t even consider baking their own bread. Which is a shame, because it’s not nearly as difficult or time consuming as we’ve been lead to believe.
The trick, as with so many things in the kitchen, is to get away from the preconceived notions that great bread in any way resembles what you’d find in a grocery store. You’re not going to be making fluffy, soft, airy Wonderbread in your home kitchen. Then again, with so many wonderful rustic and heirloom breads out there that are much easier to bake, and much more delicious, why would you want to? So today, we’ll talk about how to make one of the simplest, yet most recognizable and delicious breads, that you can bake at home: a simple crusty white bread.
This recipe is simple; will only take up an about an actual hour of prepping and baking time; and it requires just a handful of ingredients.
How to Make Bread
To get started, round up the following ingredients: 4 1/4 cups of all purpose flour; 4 1/2 teaspoons salt; 3 cups of water (at room temperature); 2 teaspoons of fresh yeast; and enough vegetable oil to grease the bread pans before baking.
Mix the flour and water in a large standing mixer (the easiest way) or mix in a large mixing bowl, folding the mixture over and over until it’s fully mixed together. Cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough sit for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Once the dough has rested for an hour, mix in the salt and fresh yeast and mix until both ingredients are fully incorporated into the mixture. Keep mixing by hand until the dough feels bouncy. Next, lightly oil a mixing bowl with vegetable oil. Carefully move the dough into the oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let it sit for 30 minutes, and then carefully fold the dough in half, re-cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for 1.5 to 2 hours or until the dough has doubled in volume.
Dust a cutting board (or flat work counter) lightly with flour and transfer the dough to it. Split the dough into half, and roll each into the shape of a ball. Dust lightly with flour, cover, and allow to sit for 15 minutes. The dough may lose its shape, so reshape each into a ball, cover, and refrigerate for an hour or until the dough has again doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 500 degrees (but make sure not to use the convection setting on your oven). Add one loaf of dough to a dutch oven. Use a knife to make two parallel scores in the top of the bread. Lightly spritz the top of the dough, with the scores, with water. Cover the dough and bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 450 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes. Finally, uncover dough completely and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until top is dark brown and crusty. Let cool for an hour before slicing and eating.
