Early Retirement Extreme Forums

I make my own bread once or twice each week. I never buy it anymore. Homemade bread doesn't keep long so I use leftovers to make bread crumbs which I use here and there in my cooking. They keep almost forever in an airtight container. Here is how I do it:

3 cups flour, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 cup water and about a tablespoon of rapid yeast.

I add a little sugar to help it rise faster. A little milk or oil is also good to make a more tender, longer-lasting loaf.

Mix the dry ingredients and then slowly add the water with the dough hook installed and mixing. Knead the dough for five minutes or so and make sure that it isn't isn't too dry or too wet. Too dry is kind of 'shaggy' and too wet is sticky. Really, the wetter the better without being too sticky to work with. You probably won't over knead the dough but you may under knead it. Remove the dough hook and let the dough rise right in the bowl for at least an hour - it should double in size. I mist it with some water and put a kitchen towel over the bowl. After the first rise, knead it again for a minute or two. Form it however you'd like (braid or round or whatever), or put in in a loaf pan. Mist it with water and let it rise for at least an hour. put it into a 365 degree (or so) oven until it has a golden color and sounds hollow when you tap it. It usually takes about 1/2 hour or more but it depends on the shape of the loaf (amount of surface area).

This sounds like a good bread formula, thank you. I will give it a go (but without the Kitchen Aid mixer as I have a 20 year old bread machine.).

I have been making pita lately with delicious results. Here is the recipe: https://pinchandswirl.com/pita-bread-recipe/

Our Zojurushi basic bread mix is as follows:

2 1/3 Flour cups
1 3/4 Sugar tablespoon
1/2 Salt tablespoon
1/4 Butter
1/2 tablespoon Yeast - I add a little more for a slightly higher rise
Slightly more than 2/3 cup milk


Using water as opposed to milk creates a "French" bread.

I pour in liquid first, then flour, then balance, and carve out slight hole on top for yeast. People say its the best bread they ever had tasted. I tend to agree.

@wi bob,
I make my own bread too. I've found the advice and recipes of Ken Forkish (book Flour, Water Salt, Yeast and YouTube videos) to be the best. The bread comes out delicious, like in high end bakeries. The crust is to die for!

Oh yum!

I’ve been thinking of buying a stand mixer for bread a pasta dough. I currently use some old bread machines I found at the thrift shop to do kneading. They get overloaded with more than a lb of flour.

I saw a giant stand mixer at my favorite pizza place. Looks like it has a ten gallon bowl.

If anyone wants to make bread but doesn't want to have to knead dough this recipe works well: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/113 ... nead-bread (soft paywall).

Making pizza dough is easy and makes a better product than the stuff in the tube but I'm still looking for the perfect recipe.

Our favorite pizza dough recipe:
3/4 c. Warm water (replace 1 T. With olive olive, if you want)
1 1/2 t. Sugar
3/4 t. Salt
2 c. Flour (white or a mix of your choice, half white/half wheat is nice)
1 t. Instant yeast

Mix on dough setting in bread machine. Allow to rise 15 minutes (thin crust) to 90 minutes (best developed).

Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes.

4 cups Whole wheat flour
4 tbsp Sourdough starter
2 cups Water
No salt
No sugar
Bakes best in a dutch oven at 450 for 25 and 350 for another 20-25

Jason wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 19, 2019 2:49 pm

Our Zojurushi basic bread mix is as follows:

2 1/3 Flour cups
1 3/4 Sugar tablespoon
1/2 Salt tablespoon
1/4 Butter
1/2 tablespoon Yeast - I add a little more for a slightly higher rise
Slightly more than 2/3 cup milk


Using water as opposed to milk creates a "French" bread.

I pour in liquid first, then flour, then balance, and carve out slight hole on top for yeast. People say its the best bread they ever had tasted. I tend to agree.

Sounds like a nice recipe. I will try it.

Professional bakers use steam ovens for their bread, you can achieve similar with a domestic oven if you remember to pour an inch of boiling water into a heated tray at the bottom of the oven just before the loaf goes in. It prevents the dough from forming a crust too soon which might otherwise trap in steam the loaf which results in dreaded blow out, ruining the shape and texture of the final product, this is however no replacement for slashing your loaf, you must do that too. Steam stops the premature crust formation, but somehow also ultimately results in darker and heavier crust. Adding a tablespoon of sugar to your recipe will also help darken the crust as it caramelises, which gives it that artisanal look.

https://foodal.com/wp-content/uploads/2 ... t-home.jpg

Also, pre-heating a baking/pizza stone and sliding your loaf with a floured paddle directly onto the hot surface (rather than placing a cold metal tray in the oven that gradually heats) will result in getting an extra burst of heat to the bottom of your loaf, aiding in that all important initial rise that gives you the soft internal texture. Also, with the baking stone, there is no need for baking parchment or greasing trays etc.