
By far the most questions I receive are about bread – and rightfully so…because y’all know I’m hog wild and pig crazy over bread. Baking bread is one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen. I prefer it over any other type of cooking/baking.
So, Barry and I put together a little video about how to get started making your own bread – things you will want to have on hand. And you might be surprised how little you really do need.
Here are the links I mentioned in the video. Enjoy!
Here is the link to the thermometer with probe that I use.
The loaf pans I use here are Norpro but I prefer the USA line of loaf pans.
Hi Stacy! Maybe I missed it in the video – but I a buying USA Loaf Pans with some Christmas money. What size loaf pans do you typically use – 1 or 1 1/2 lb?
I get the 8 inch size. I believe they are the 1 pound size. 🙂
On cold days here, I heat the oven up to 100, turn it off, and then put the dough in to proof. It works really well, you don’t have to worry about fires or things melting, and it doesn’t matter if you forget about it for a while!
I’ve had friends do that! I have a really old oven and it doesn’t have a 100 setting.
Leaving the lightbulb on in the oven keeps it warm enough to help your bread rise. Does yours have a lightbulb?
Yes! 🙂 I used to use that method – until I kept preheating the oven for something else because I forgot it was in there. LOL LOL
You mean I’m not the only one who’s caught their bread bowl on fire?! lol Yeah, I made the mistake of turning my oven on “for just a few minutes” to let it get warm, with the intention of turning it right back off…with the towel covered dough bowl inside…and I left the room. Ehem. In my bedroom, I kept hearing a funny crackling noise, and wondered what my 3 year old was up to. Um, yeah, that would be a fire crackling, not my child, who was oblivious to smoke filling the room. I opened my oven up to flames. Thankfully, two bowls of water put it out, but, wow, it gave me a scare! It was a sad day…I had to throw away a favorite melamine bowl and tea towel. But I was very thankful that I hadn’t left the house or anything, and no real damage was done.
Recently, I’ve gotten into making bread with the artisan-bread-in-five method. It’s SO easy! I’m still experimenting to make it healthier. White flour sure is good, but probably not so good for ya. ; ) Today I’m making it with half white and half whole wheat, so we’ll see how it goes. : )
I LOVE the shower cap!! Also genius the heat pad, I heard of people heating rice bags but that doesn’t seem like it would hold heat over time. Thanks for all these great posts and videos you have really helped me be a better homemaker 🙂
I’ve been making homemade bread for about 11 years using a Nutrimill to grind and a Bosch mixer to knead. I have kneaded by hand when staying at someone else’s house, and it works JUST FINE (it’s how my grandma always did it). The mixer just develops the gluten a little more to give a slightly better rise. My favorite pans are Lodge cast iron – hands down! I grease them with palm shortening, then wipe clean – no detergent! I love a silicon pastry mat to shape dough on. I grease it just a little first so the dough doesn’t stick. No need to add more flour that way. I cover the dough with flour sack towels that have been dampened and wrung out. These also work great for wrapping the finished bread in while still warm (use dry ones for this!). Keeps it from getting damp from the steam. If I am taking hot, fresh bread to someone, I wrap it in a towel then hand them a bread bag to store it in later. Love the little cutting gadget you have. Will have to look for one of those! (-:
Stacy, you are so funny. You had me laughing out loud — at least I’m on my lunch break at work. Thanks for reminding us that we don’t need fancy gadgets to make real food.
I LOVE making bread! I don’t have the time to do it as often as I’d like though. My husband got me a bread machine for Christmas a few years back and its so easy, but still takes a while to make a regular loaf. My only beef with the machine is the size and shape of the loaves. So awkward!
I’m not a bread machine fan….I gave mine away. LOL
I’ll admit I don’t use it as much as I used to. I found out its so easy to make bread by hand. The best thing about the bread machine is you can just dump everything in there and forget about it for 3 hours, which is perfect when you’re a workin (outside the home) like me! ( :
For cooling my loaves, I wrap them in a clean bath towel. They can cool off without drying out. One time they finished baking at bed time. I put them in a large Tupperware and double the towel and laid it on top. In the morning they were moist. So good when your day doesn’t work out like you planned.
I’ve read (and I also do it) that as long as your loaf stays uncut, it’s fine at room temperature uncovered. That’s why you see bread at the store bakery in just a paper bag. I like the crusty crust. 🙂
Good video! Thank you, Stacy. I’ve been baking our family bread products for about 30 years and started with . . . a bowl and a spoon! Now I have many more appliances and gadgets in my kitchen, including a used bread machine for kneading and proofing my dough. But I still finish it by hand and bake it in the oven.
Best way to do it, in my humble opinion. 🙂
I use shower caps, too! Love them!
The price is right!
HA! I do the shower cap thing too! I first saw that idea on the King Arthur Flour website. I used to use plastic wrap (never had any luck with towels), and I hated having to throw it out. I like the idea of the shower cap because it’s reusable (at least, more than plastic wrap).
Funny story: I went through a spell where I traveled to Houston, TX every three months for a couple of years. I almost always stayed at the same hotel and was on a first name basis with many of the staff. I always asked for shower caps at the front desk. On one of my last visits, I got a call from a desk clerk. She asked me to stop by when I was going out next, as she had something for me. What was it? Almost an entire case of shower caps! I almost couldn’t fit it in my suitcase (I was thankfully flying Southwest so it flew free). We still have a BUNCH of them left from that, and I smile every time I think about that sweet clerk “hooking me up” with shower caps for Stacy.
I love the video. I use a bread machine to make my bread. For the most part it works great but I have to watch it because sometimes it cooks my bread for a little too long and the outside is more crispy than crunchy.