Basic Homemade Bread

Name: Basic Homemade Bread
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 2 loaves (16 slices each).
Ingredients: 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast; 2-1/4 cups warm water (110° to 115°); 3 tablespoons sugar; 1 tablespoon salt; 2 tablespoons canola oil; 6-1/4 to 6-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

If you'd like to learn how to bake bread, here's a wonderful place to start. This easy white bread recipe bakes up deliciously golden brown. There's nothing like the homemade aroma wafting through my kitchen as it bakes. —Sandra Anderson, New York, New York

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Ingredients

1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
2-1/4 cups warm water (110° to 115°)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons canola oil
6-1/4 to 6-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the sugar, salt, oil and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, to form a soft dough.
Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 8-10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1/2 hours.
Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide dough in half. Shape each into a loaf. Place in 2 greased 9x5-in. loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, 30-45 minutes.
Bake at 375° for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and bread sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Test Kitchen Tips

Be careful that your water isn't too hot when proofing yeast. Learn how to here.

Nutrition Facts

1 slice: 102 calories, 1g fat (0 saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 222mg sodium, 20g carbohydrate (1g sugars, 1g fiber), 3g protein.

Originally published as Homemade Bread in The Taste of Home Cookbook 1st edition

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Linda

Apr 12, 2019

This message is for Cathy. I had the same problem with my bread machine. The solution is to take the dough out after the knead cycle and let it rise in your own pans. It seemed like the machine was not allowing it sufficient time to rise. Bake according to the directions. Good luck!!!!
Jeanne

Apr 3, 2019

Bread turned out great, could I use honey to sweetin and result
Cathy

Apr 1, 2019

I have bread machine and would like to know if this recipe will help me make better bread in machine..my bread comes out too hard and heavy
Stephanie

Mar 30, 2019

Omg! I've always sucked at bread UNTIL this recipe! Awesome it came out great. My daughter kept asking for more!
Anthony

Mar 22, 2019

I've gone through many recipe's trying to find one that was simple, good texture and taste great. My search is over this is the one I've been looking for.
Andrew

Mar 20, 2019

Great recipe, best bread I’ve made so far - turned out exactly as you’d hope and has risen perfectly. Topped mine with shallots and grated cheese before baking for a bit of added flavour. Definitely recommend you try this one!
Elizabeth

Mar 16, 2019

I am a Baker by trade, but when I'm home I like to use this very simple recipe. I do use an egg wash and I reccomend a very light sprinkling of flakey salt. It is delicious and beautiful.
Jason

Mar 4, 2019

This recipe is to simplistic and not detailed enough. By not letting the yeast sit I believe it caused the bread not to rise high enough. This resulted in 2 loafs that were shorter than they should've been. I also reccomend a egg wash before cooking. The texture of the bread was sorta like cornbread and a little mushy but not to bad really not great or terrible. it was very crumbly and hard to cut thin slices.
David

Feb 19, 2019

Recipe reads simple; the recipe is easy to understand. Does the recipe go well with a bread machine?
eddie

Feb 10, 2019

Did anyone else even come close to using 6 cups of flour? I used met before. And it came out perfectly

Basic Homemade Bread

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