Outrageously Easy BIG Bread
2 (1/4 ounce) packets yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 cups hot water
3 tablespoons turbinado
1 tablespoon salt
3 cups + 3 cups flour, divided
1/3 cup vegetable or corn oil
1. To proof yeast, pour warm water into a small ceramic bowl and add the yeast, but do not stir. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, pour hot water over the turbinado and salt; stir with a wooden spoon to completely dissolve. Combine 3 cups flour with the hot water mixture. Pour the oil on top of the dough mixture then add the yeast mixture on top of that, but do not stir.
2. Top with the remaining 3 cups flour and mix well. (I begin mixing with the wooden spoon but I very quickly have to move into squishing the dough with my hands.) At this point, the dough should be pliant and moist, but not gooey. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and set aside to rise for at least 45 minutes. (I've left it for almost two hours.)
3. On a lightly floured cutting board or countertop, divide the dough into half. (This is when I recruit someone to knead the dough, but the recipe actually calls for no kneading; I've done this recipe many times without kneading anything, and it always turns out really good.) Flatten each half into roughly an oval/rounded rectangular shape, about 1/2-3/4" thickness.
4. Roll the dough lengthwise and place on an ungreased, but very BIG, cookie sheet. (If you don't have a very large cookie sheet, use two cookie sheets, one for each half of the dough.) Cover the dough with a moist towel and set aside to rise again for another 45 minutes (or longer).
5. After the dough has risen the second time, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and bake for exactly 23 minutes. If you can keep everyone from digging in right away, allow to cool for about 15 minutes and then enjoy. (Also, before the bread bakes, you can slit the top of each lump of dough a couple of times and brush lightly with some kind of egg substitute. The glaze helps the bread come out with a slightly crunchier crust. I don't usually bother.)
Source of recipe: Whenever I go to potlucks, I bake this bread and it disappears within minutes. I've even had special requests for it. At a family Christmas, after I found out that store-bought rolls (ick!) would be served with the Christmas Eve dinner, I announced that I would make homemade bread. Since dinner would be served in a little less than two hours and since my family knows how much I absolutely detest cooking, my mother thought I was lying. She couldn't believe that I could make "respectable" bread without any kneading and in time for dinner. I made this bread and, as usual, it vanished almost instantly. My mother got this bread recipe from me. I think the dogs got the store-bought rolls.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
YEAH!!!!!! A YUMMY bread that I made successfully!!!! My whole family loved it. I will definitely be making this again, and again, and again...
outragoiusly easy big bread,
This has become a staple in our home. It is the easiest recipe and seems you can't really mess it up. I add italian herbs to it and it is always gone the same day I make it. thank you for this awesome recipe!
All I can say is WOW!
I've been wanting to try to make my own bread, but I don't have a bread machine and I don't really like kneeding, so it was obviously a bit hard to find a good recipe for me to make. This one was PERFECT.
I only made half the recipe and used 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1 cup of all purpose. It was chewy, soft and oh so good. My husband and I ate almost half of it right when it was done!
I am SO happy that I found this recipe and will surely make it again. Thanks for sharing it! :)
Today was my 6th attempt at making this bread, following the recipe by word I had several problems. I found the bread too yeasty in taste and tried to make adjustments. When this happened my bread came out too dense and hard. Then again when I tried to adjust the recipe I didn't adjust the baking time and the bread was horribly gummy in the middle. On the 5th try I followed the recipe exactly and had great success, but I was still not pleased with the bread (I took a photo of the 4 loaves - 2 white, 2 wholewheat - my husband prefers white, I prefer wholewheat). I wanted a purely ww bread, but find that it is quite dense and heavy, so on this 6th try I did 5c ap white and 1c ww. At the yeast proofing stage, I stirred the yeast in the warm water with sugar and left 10-15mins to proof. I added the oil in the 2c of hot water with sugar/salt and then added the first 3c of flour, the yeast mixture, then the rest of the flour. It started to look too dry so I slowly added by 1/3cups, some soy milk (or cream, choose). I formed 9 huge rolls and baked for 24.5 mins at 375oF. It could have stayed in for 23mins, but I didn't want this batch ruined, so I left it for 1.5mins more. The bottom crust was dark and crunchy, but very edible and the tops were golden. Although, I believe the cookie sheet I used was the cause of the dark bottoms. So using my adjustments above, I will bake some more bread and rolls and post pictures. Thanks for this recipe, I don't have to buy store bread anymore which in the past 2- 3yrs has increased in price from $1.89 to $3.09 where I live.
My first time making bread and it was a success. I divided the dough into 3 after the first rising and flavored them each differently. For one i added a tsp each of onion powder, garlic powder and TJ 21 season salute. It was good but i wish i wouldve added more of each. The 2nd i made into a cinnamon raisin loaf, I mixed some cinnamon into the dough and then rolled it out and put more on with the raisins and rolled it up for a swirl bread. Again i wish i wouldve added more for a stronger flavor. The last 3rd i rolled out and added a layer of dried cranberries, pecans, sunflower seeds, maple syrup & nutmeg. I rolled it back up and cut it into 9 rolls. I've been topping them with a little tofutti cream cheese, yum.
23 minutes was perfect for each of the styles i made & i reduced the salt to 1 tsp like other suggested but i might add a little more next time.
yeah, so this is causing me a lot of problems. it rose, but only a little. and it's taking a LONG time to bake through (but that might be my oven). I did half white and half whole wheat flour. I put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes. it squishy and moist on the inside still.
it's not outrageously easy - why can't I make bread that actually is... bread?
ug.
So..
I made this tonight, and the entire loaf is gone.
I am such a hog. But I did do half all ingredients, and it was the BEST bread ever.
Can anyone tell me what adjustments to make if I use: soy milk instead of water, vegan butter instead of oil and if I added more sugar to make it sweeter? I'm trying to do the adjustments, but something is not right. On my final try the dough was so hard and heavy I could tell that the end result would be a disaster.
If a more experienced baker/s are out there that can help, I'd appreciate it.
I'd just use the soy milk for the hot liquid, and not the water & yeast mix. I'd also melt the oleo & cool it a bit so it's liquid, but other than that I'd keep the amounts the same. as for adding more sugar to make it sweeter, I'd just keep the same amount of solids-just 1/4 cup less flour to 1/4 cup more sugar, etc.
If you're going for a sweet bread for rolls or cinnamon raisin bread, etc, I'd definitely suggest kneading it, and make sure you allow it to rise enough. Good luck!
I also have a few questions (because I'm thinking of making this on the weekend):
- could I make this in a bread loaf pan, so that it is the same shape as store-bought bread?
- would one loaf pan be enough if I halved the recipe?
- would adjusting flours make a considerable difference (such as half ww, and half all purpose)?
and:
- what's the best way to cut bread - what kind of knife? how can I make the slices fairly thin?
I've done a little baking, and have been (recently) successful with it, but I'm pretty scared about making bread - and making my own bread is a serious goal of mine. any thoughts would be appreciated!!
Can anyone tell me what adjustments to make if I use: soy milk instead of water, vegan butter instead of oil and if I added more sugar to make it sweeter? I'm trying to do the adjustments, but something is not right. On my final try the dough was so hard and heavy I could tell that the end result would be a disaster.
If a more experienced baker/s are out there that can help, I'd appreciate it.
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