I love homemade bread. But like you, and every other mom, dad, sister, husband, brother, uncle, grandma, etc, etc I have a busy, hectic life. Unless you remember early in the day, and assuming you are home during the day, you most likely cannot make many of the homemade bread recipes out there. Instead, many of us opt for grocery store bread or bread from the grocer’s bakery. We all know that while the grocery store does pop those loaves of Italian bread into the oven, they don’t mix up the dough there, it’s delivered to them, frozen. So who knows what preservatives might be lurking in there? Hopefully none, but one can’t be certain. :-/
Then you come across a recipe that seems too good to be true. Warm, aromatic homemade bread in an hour? Is it possible? Yes my friends, it is. :) And it’s delicious. And ridiculously easy. You are going to thank me for this. You see, I have this friend, her name is Rachael. You may already know her from her fabulous blog, La Fuji Mama. Well dear readers, that’s where this wonderful bread comes from, and you can watch… no, I highly recommend that you watch her video on making this bread, found here.
I have to tell you a few things about MY one hour bread first. This didn’t work for me right away. It took about 3 tries, but I got it, and have made it several times with dinner over the past couple of months. You see, Rachael lives in southern California, a fairly dry climate. I live in southern Wisconsin, a humid climate. We might as well be on opposite sides of the Earth as far as weather is concerned. Well, all I can fathom is that weather was a factor in the challenges I had with this bread. So here goes…
My first attempt. I followed the recipe exactly. The dough was rather sticky and shaping it into a boule (watch Rachel’s video, link above) was impossible. It just wasn’t happening. I baked the two loaves and they spread like crazy. Now it’s important to note that it still tasted fabulous! Nothing was thrown away, but as you can see, any flatter and I would have baked a frisbee.
My second attempt. Again, I followed the recipe exactly. After the first one minute of mixing, I added more flour, probably about 1/2 cup. This helped, but I still ended up with very wrinkly loaves. Not very pretty, but again, totally edible and delish! (I baked the one below in a loaf pan)
My third attempt. Finally! Success! This time instead of following everything exactly, I increased the flour by 1/2 cup, knowing that worked in attempt #2, only this time I added it from the get go, not as an after thought. The other thing I did was reduced the water by 1/4 cup. The last thing that I changed was the temperature of the water. I used very warm water, rather than hot. Those were the magical changes that made this bread work for me. Now the dough was pliable and I was able to form it into proper loaves and boules. Beautiful! (pictured at the top of this post, please ignore my stupid attempt at criss crossing the boule loaf)
I spoke with Rachael, who by the way was very helpful in trying to troubleshoot what was happening with me. She made me feel far less pathetic than I would have felt without her kind words. ;) After I told her of my discovery with the flour and water levels, she spoke with a relative in a humid climate that had made pretty much the same adjustments I had. So there you have it. :)
So here’s my slightly adapted recipe. We’ll call it The Midwest Version. ;) Thank you Rachael, this bread is not a permanent recipe in my kitchen!
Simple One Hour Homemade Bread
Midwest Version
adapted from La Fuji Mama
A note from Rachael: Why saf-instant yeast? Saf-instant yeast is a high-potency, fast-acting yeast that can be added directly to your dry ingredients without it having to be put in a starter first.
You can use rapid rise yeast as well, though I did go ahead and buy a bag of Saf. :)
Simple One Hour Homemade Bread
IMPORTANT - There are often Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Print It Rate ItIngredients
- 5 ¾ cups white bread flour
- 3 Tbsp. sugar
- 1 ½ tsp. salt
- 1 ½ Tbsp. rounded saf-instant yeast
- 1 ½ Tbsp. oil
- 1 ¾ cups VERY warm water 100-110
Instructions
- Mix dry ingredients. Place in stand mixer with paddle attachment and add oil and water. Mix for 1 minute and then check the consistency of the dough. The dough should be sticky, but no so sticky that it has to be peeled from your fingers. If it is too dry, add more water.
- Mix for 5 minutes. (Do not add any more flour after the dough has finished mixing.)
- Spray kneading surface with cooking spray and turn dough out onto surface. Knead dough briefly until it has a smooth even consistency (this will only take several turns of the dough to accomplish).
- Divide dough into 2 pieces (or more if you wish to have smaller loaves) and shape loaves into desired shapes and place on greased baking sheets. Cover with a large dish towel and let rise for 25 minutes.
- While loaves are rising, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. When loaves are ready to go into the oven, use a sharp knife (you can lightly spray your knife with cooking spray to prevent dragging) to make several slashes in the top. Make each cut about 1/4-inch deep at a 30 degree angle. Bake loaves for 25 minutes, or until they are golden brown.
Amanda Davis
Latest posts by Amanda Davis (see all)
- Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies - December 19, 2024
- Christmas Tree Cheese Platter - December 16, 2024
- White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies - December 12, 2024
Marilyn Casella says
My Brest dies not brown!!what am doing wrong
Amanda Davis says
My first thought is that you may want to invest (less than $10) in an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is actually reaching the temperature you set it to.
Susan says
My cousin made your bread and it looked amazing. I am gluten-free and was wondering if I would be able to replace with gluten-free bread flour? And if there would be alterations, I would need to do.?
Amanda Davis says
We haven’t tested that. If you decide to experiment, we would love to hear your results.
Hugh says
Excellent Italian bread! Followed recipe and it turned out perfect!!!
kc duffy says
It’s a flatbread. We always ate it spread with butter, sugar & cinnamon, then rolled & eaten like a taquito.
I just made bread again, wanted to use my NEW bag of bread flour. Something seemed weird, I thought it seemed very different from unbleached flour I’d had before. Come to find out, I inadvertently ordered wheat bread flour. I went ahead and made up the recipe here…had to add more water… it’s rising now…smells good, but all yeast bread smells good. *sigh*
kc duffy says
This is the first bread I made since 10th grade home ec, 1971. I found Rachael’s recipe first, so have been making it for several months now. First time was Baking With Kaylee Day (my granddaughter). Video didn’t work, we did it all by hand. We LOVED it. Everyone loved it. Then, somehow, her video loaded for me one day, and I have been using my stand mixer ever since. Still delish, but yeah, it flattens out a lot…I live in NE Florida! It’s so humid, I didn’t know I had curly hair till I moved here. Now, I have made your burger buns (with instant yeast), found this alteration to the Hour Long bread, and am happily a homemade-bread-baking grandma. My little family is VERY happy with this, and so am I.
Have you ever made lefse? (Norwegian potato bread – it’s next on my list.)
Amanda Formaro says
That’s great, thank you! I haven’t made Norwegian potato bread, I’ll have to try it!
sabrina says
does the recipe above include the increase of flour and the decrease of water?
Amanda Formaro says
There is no decrease of water :) But yes the recipe states that if you need more flour after using the recommended measurements, you can do that.
Melanie Ann Pelczynski says
Worked well made half a recipe for one loaf but kept the sugar amount for the two. Made for a nice sweeter bread.
Amanda Formaro says
Oh that’s fun!
Lucy says
Can all purpose flour be used instead of bread flour in this recipe?
Amanda Formaro says
Yes that should be fine :)
Tammy Taylor says
So I have wanted to try making bread for a while now but was afraid. I came across yours in a search for a recipe and decided to take the plunge! I think it came out great! Thank you for making this so easy!
Amanda Formaro says
Awesome, so glad it was a success! Baking bread is actually very satisfying!
Diana says
I moved from NC to PA and since I moved here, every loaf of bread I made was a flop and I couldn’t figure out the problem… I tried your recipe and it worked beautifully!! Thank you so much..now I know what my problem has been.
Amanda Formaro says
So glad this was helpful Diana!
rose says
MADE THIS BREAD SOMEHOW IGOOFED AND PUT ONE AND A HALF CUPS OF OIL ,IT DID NOT REALLY RISE TILL IT WAS BAKED. TASTED GREAT MORE LIKE A CAKE, BUT EVERY ONE LOVED IT, WILL TRYIT AGAIN THE RIGHT WAY .STILL A GOOD BREAD.
Amanda Formaro says
Hi Rose! Well I’m glad it still turned okay! Hope you enjoy it the second time around :)
Joe says
Oops, I meant 5-3/4 cups flour. That is a lot of flour for just 1-3/4 cups of water to handle.
Joe says
Only 1-3/4 cups water for 5-3/4 cups water? That sounded insane, because the bread recipe I usually use says 2-1/4 cups water with 5-1/4 cups flour. I worried it would be way too dry to make dough, but I trusted you and tried it. Sure enough, it was way too dry…Might as well just put a cooked loaf of bread in the mixer bowl and try to turn it. Luckily I have a 600 watt mixer. That dry would have burned out the motor on a 300 watt Kitchenaid. Are you sure there is not a typo in your recipe. Maybe in works in a humid climate, but here out west it is a recipe for disaster.
Amanda Formaro says
Hi Joe. Yes, the measurements are correct. I have made this bread many, many times. I got the recipe from another blogger and she has a video on hers. Note, that in my blog post I mention that I had to adjust the flour and water measurements as I live in a more humid climate than she does. The dough is quite stiff. I highly recommend watching Rachel’s video here http://www.lafujimama.com/2009/09/simple-one-hour-homemade-bread/
Amanda Formaro says
Also, if you go to her blog for her measurements, she lives on the west coast and her version may work better for you!
gina says
Love your blog! Great instructions and pics!
I don't know if you've tried the 5-minute-a-day bread recipe yet. I use this dough to make bread, rolls, english muffins, pizza crust. It is so wonderful. I only use 1 Tablespoon of salt and I just use 1 packet of yeast, but it works great every single time. I just mix mine up in the morning – takes maybe 2 minutes, stir, put a walmart bag over my bowl and stick it back in the fridge. It does the rising in there.
They have a blog. The instructions are here:
http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=1616
They have lots of other recipes and the books are wonderful!
Just an F/Y/I to share this fabulous way to have bread and other things made from bread with little prep time and few ingredients!
Amanda says
You're welcome. We got really busy yesterday, so I never made it with dinner. If I had some in the freezer it would have been great. So today I am going to make a few loaves and parbake them and pop them in the freezer :)
Minny says
Thanks Amanda.. I have some quick rise yeast but wasn't sure if I could use that or not. I love home made bread & love to smell it baking, so I definitely have to try this.
Amanda says
Hi Minny! Yes, Saf is a brand name, you can get it at amazon, that's where I got mine http://www.amazon.com/Saf-Yeast-Instant-Yeast-16-oz/dp/B0001CXUHW You could certainly use a quick rise yeast, like red star or Fleishman's, just make sure you use the quick rise ;)
Minny says
I have a question.. what is the difference in SAF yeast & regular yeast? I'm not sure what SAF yeast is.. unless it's a brand name?