A perfectly soft crumb, a golden and crispy crust...
Makes you want to bake your own bread, doesn't it?
Not only does it cost much less...
...but what's more, homemade bread keeps much longer than store-bought breads.
Fortunately, here is my infallible recipe for making your own bread in just 15 minutes of preparation.
The rest is just patience, until your dough has risen well and your delicious homemade bread is cooked to perfection.
Plus, my recipe requires nothing more than 4 ingredients and a simple cast iron casserole dish. Watch:
- 500g all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of instant yeast
- 250 ml lukewarm water
- oven-safe cast iron or ceramic casserole dish with heat-resistant handles and knobs
- 1 large mixing bowl
- 1 medium-sized bowl of at least 15 cm
- cling film
- kitchen scale
- potholders
- thermometer (optional)
Preparation: 15 mins - Cooking: 90 min - For 1 loaf of bread
There are quite a few steps in my recipe, but let me reassure you right away:they are all very short and quick .
And if you make a mistake on one of the steps, don't worry! The best is simply to continue preparing your recipe.
This recipe is almost foolproof. Even if you make a small mistake, the result will probably be excellent!
7:00 p.m.:
- Put the flour and water in the large mixing bowl.
- Mix the ingredients by hand until the water is well integrated into the dough as in this video.
- Cover the large bowl with cling film to keep the dough moist.
7:30 p.m.:
- Sprinkle the top of the dough with salt and yeast.
- Mix and knead the dough with your hand, as in this video.
- Cover the large bowl with cling film.
8:00 p.m.:
- Fold the dough, as in this video.
- Cover the large bowl with clingfilm.
8:30 p.m.:
- Fold the dough again, like in this video.
- Cover the large bowl with cling film, and let stand overnight.
8:00:
- Lightly moisten the inside of the medium bowl with a little water.
- Sprinkle the inside walls with a thin layer of flour.
- The water helps the flour to stick well to the sides of the bowl, and the flour prevents the dough from sticking to the bowl.
- Fold and fold the dough to shape it into a ball, as in this video.
- Put the ball of bread dough in the medium bowl.
- Sprinkle the top of the ball with a good amount of flour.
- Turn the ball over so that the top becomes the bottom of the bread.
- The sprinkled flour prevents the underside of the bread from sticking to the pan.
- Cover the bowl with cling film.
8:30 am:
- Set your oven to 250ºC (thermostat 9).
- Place the casserole dish with its lid on to preheat it.
9:15:
- Using your oven mitts, take the casserole out of the oven and remove the lid.
- Use your potholders to hold the casserole dish and its lid, to avoid a burn when picking them up.
- Place your ball of dough on a floured surface.
- If your dough sticks a little to the surface, don't panic! With your hands, gently pull the dough, trying to break as few sticky "fibers" as possible. And don't worry, even if you tear the dough a little, the result will be the same.
- Carefully place the dough in the pan.
- Using the potholders, replace the lid and put the casserole in the oven to start baking the bread.
9:45:
- Using your oven mitts, open the oven and remove the lid from the casserole dish, to create a nice golden and crispy crust.
- Close the oven.
- After putting the lid on the casserole, put your potholders on it to avoid a burn when picking them up.
10 a.m.:
- Check the color of the crust.
- If it is golden enough for you, take the casserole out of the oven using your oven mitts.
- If it is not golden enough, cook for another 10 to 15 minutes and check again.
- To get the bread out easily, turn the pan upside down on your work surface.
- If the bread does not fall out on its own, let it sit upside down in the pan for a few minutes and try to push it out with a spatula. And next time put more flour on top of the dough.
- Let your bread cool by tilting it over a bowl at a 45º angle, so that it cools from the top and from the bottom.
10:45 am:
- Your bread is cooled.
- Do not try to cut it before it has cooled down! Otherwise, some of the moisture will escape in the form of steam, and the crumb will lose its delicious softness.
- Cut a slice.
- Spread it with butter, preferably good homemade butter.
- And now, devour! Yum!
There you go, your delicious homemade bread is already ready to be tasted :-)
Easy, fast and effective, my little recipe... don't you think?
In just 15 minutes of preparation, you get a delicious loaf of bread even better than at the local bakery.
And thanks to the hour-by-hour preparation schedule, this recipe is foolproof even for beginners who have never made bread in their life.
I hope my recipe will please everyone, especially people who are not used to cooking!
– I strongly insist on the use of potholders . Believe my experience, if you accidentally touch metal heated to 250°C, it can cause very bad burns!
– If this is your first time baking homemade bread: When choosing a recipe, don't be intimidated by the many variations and various equipment! My advice is simple. It doesn't matter the recipe, as long as you can use the equipment you already have at home. Here, the most important thing is to get started ! Test a recipe to try your hand, and you'll see that making bread yourself is easy . Believe me, the pleasure of making your very first bread goes way beyond that of having found THE best bread recipe on the entire web.
– If you prefer to do your own research before you start, then I recommend the excellent book Learning to make your natural sourdough bread , by Henri Granier, or The Larousse of bread , by Eric Kaiser.
– Warm water temperature: it is precisely 34ºC, if you have a thermometer! But again, don't panic! A few degrees below or above 34ºC will not change much. Just keep in mind that yeast does not survive temperatures above 40ºC!
– Choice of casserole: no fuss to do either! Here, any cast iron or ceramic dish will do, as long as it has a lid. To be sure of your shot, choose a cast iron casserole where it is specified that it can be used in the oven. You'll have no trouble finding them, as most major brands offer oven-safe casseroles, like this one. If the handles and lid knobs are cast iron or stainless steel, it means they are heat resistant and you can use your casserole at any temperature. But if your casserole has wooden or plastic handles then, of course, don't put it in the oven.
– Make your leaven yourself: and if you go even further by making your own sourdough? It's super easy and quick to do. All it takes is a few natural ingredients and a bit of patience. Check out the trick here.
In the photo above you can see my very first attempt at homemade bread (top) and also my tenth attempt (bottom).
The result ? My first loaf was super good. But the tenth was simply divine !
However, the 2 breads were prepared with exactly the same recipe! The only difference between the 2 attempts is only "training" :-)
