Ultimate Guide to Homemade Bread

Today on The Stay At Home Chef I’m
showing you how to makePerfectly Easy Homemade BreadWe have tested loaf after
loaf after loaf to bring you the perfecthomemade bread recipe that’s easy to
make and tastes amazing. To start you’llneed 2 1/2 cups of milk. We’re
using 2% today. We found that milk gave amuch better flavor over water but you
can always use water if you need to.The milk needs to be warm so I’m gonna put
it in the microwave for about one minuteto warm it up.The milk needs to be warm
to the touch like a baby’s bath water.You don’t want to scald it or get it too
hot, just barely lukewarm.Then we’regonna pour this into the bowl of a stand
mixer. Of course you don’t need to use astand mixer. It just makes it easier. You
can always do this by hand. Then you’lladd in 2 tablespoons of white sugar or
you can use brown sugar or honey or asugar replacement. As well as 2 1/4 teaspoons of instant dry yeastI like to use instant dry yeast because
then there’s no need to let this sit and proofHowever if you want to use active
dry yeast you can but you’ll need to letthis mixture sit for about 10 minutes. I
don’t need to so I’m gonna keep goingand add in 1 tablespoon of salt. Next
we’ll need 3 tablespoons of butter butwe want to melt this so once again I’m
going to turn to a microwave and meltthis on high for about 20 to 25 seconds.
Now in our testing we found that buttergave a much better flavor than using
vegetable or canola oil which a lot ofrecipes call for, however, if you need to
use a dairy-free substitute vegetable orcanola oil will work just fine in the
same quantity. So go ahead and add inthat 3 tablespoons of melted butter. Last
we’re gonna start adding in our flour.You’ll need either 5 1/2 to 6
cups of all-purpose flour or you can usebread flour which has a different
protein content. Start with about 5 cupsbecause you can always add more flour
later but you can’t take it awaySo we’re gonna get this mixing you want to
mix it until the dough pulls away fromthe sides and bottom of the bowl like
this. Add more flour if you need to butyou’re looking for a nice soft dough. Then we’ll spray a bowl with a littlebit of nonstick spray.
Toss our dough around in it just alittle bit to coat so it doesn’t dry out…
then we’re gonna cover the bowl withplastic wrap or you can use a tea towel
and let it rise until double in sizewhich will take about 90 minutes. After
90 minutes we can remove the plasticwrap and this recipe makes two
loaves so we’re gonna divide this doughin half and we’re gonna form each half
into a loaf. So I just press mine downinto kind of a rectangular shape. You
want it to be about as wide as yourbread pan like so because then we’re
gonna roll it up nice and tightlyThen when it gets to the ends I just pinch them
shut and then roll it you know like asnake like you’re playing with play-doh
but you don’t want to stretch it out.I like to keep mine the width of that pan. Then you’ll place your shaped loaf intoa lightly greased loaf pan then I’ll
repeat this process with the other halfof my dough so that I have two loaves. And I’m going to cover this with a toweland let it rise a second time until
double in size. This time it will take about 1 hour.Take a look at these bad
boys. These are ready to bake! We’re gonnabake both of these at the same time in a
350 degree oven for about 35 minutes.Now while those are baking I have three
loaves that I’ve already made. One of thefrequently asked questions for homemade
bread is can I use wheat flour?This one is made with all white flour, this one is
made with half white flour and half wheat flourand this one is made with
all wheat flour and instead of sugar I used honeyI’m going to cut each of
these open so we can see inside. Now youcan see the differences between all
three. The whole wheat bread loaf is muchmore dense than our white loaf. Even
though the wheat is more dense, all threeare still super delicious. Now let’s
check on our bread in the oven.Then we’ll transfer these to a wire rack and
let them cool for about 10 minutesIf you’d like you can brush the tops with a
little bit of melted butter it gives thecrust a really nice finish and softens
up that top crust if you like it that wayAfter 10 minutes you can just kin of tipi it
and the loaf will slide right outAs tempting as it is to slice into
it right away, you’ll get the bestresults by waiting for the loaf or to
cool completely before slicing.Thanks for watching! You can find the full
written recipe in the video description.Be sure to subscribe, like, and follow and
check out the rest of my videos whereyou can find hundreds of restaurant
quality recipes you can easily make at home.See you later!