A simple bread that is delicious, wonderfully crispy on the outside, and airy and chewy on the inside. This bread comes out perfectly all the time, it does not matter if you are a new or experienced baker. It’s that easy!
INGREDIENTS
- Water – 1 3/4 cups
- Yeast – 1 tablespoon
- Flour – 4 cups
- Salt – 2 teaspoons
PROCEDURE
Pour 1 cup of lukewarm water into a bowl, add the yeast and mix to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes.
Add the flour, salt, and 3/4 cup of water and mix to combine. The dough should be quite sticky.
Cover with a kitchen towel and leave at room temperature for 2 hours.
Flour your work surface. Divide dough into 2 and shape into balls. Generously flour the tops of the dough, cover, and allow to rise for 40 minutes.
After 40 minutes, dust the tops of the doughs with extra flour and slash the tops with a sharp knife or blade.
Pour a cup of water into a baking tin and place it in the lower rack of the oven to create steam. Bread should be in the middle rack.
Bake in a preheated 350 F degrees oven for 30 minutes.
Allow to cool, slice and enjoy!
Watch the Recipe Video
Hello. Sorry to bother you. Do you have a cookbook? Thanks.
Hello. Not at the moment. I’ll let you know when I do.
Have made the bread numerous times and so easy and tasty, thank you. The only problem I get is after about 4 days a green mould forms on the crust. I store the bread in a bread bin and wrap the bread in tin foil. Any suggestions would be very welcome. Thank you.
Is it fresh or dried yeast?
Dried yeast.
Is flour plain or self raising?
It’s plain flour.
I have a reduced salt diet. Can this bread be made without all the salt?
Yes, it can.
Thank your for this recipe. I am no youngster but haven’t been cooking and this is my first attempt at bread outside of a bread machine. I think I followed the recipe closely as well as all the steps but the dough never got smooth always seems to becoming apart with lots of creases/folds. Also took longer to bake. Any idea what I did wrong. The bread is still delicious just falls apart.
Thank you very much. It’s a very sticky dough and it won’t be smooth. Work on it really quickly and use as little flour as possible to shape it except when dusting the top with flour. The bread should be baked between 30 to 35 minutes if the oven was preheated. You could try baking it on a pizza stone or dutch oven when next you want to try.
I have made this bread recipe twice, once using my son’s oven and once using my oven. I pre-heated both ovens to 350 degrees as you have in your recipe. I baked it for 45 minutes in my son’s oven and 35 minutes in my oven. In both cases, the top was white and the bottom was very golden brown. What do you suggest? A cup water was used both times in the ovens.
I’ll suggest you change the pan or if you have a dutch oven, you could bake it in it.
I baked it on a cookie sheet both times. I do have a cast iron dutch oven I can use. Can I bake the entire recipe at once in one loaf using my dutch oven? How long would I need to bake it?
I love this recipe and have used it for years but can ever get it to rise as much as yours. Any suggestions? I’m in a cool climate to wonder if that makes a difference?