How To Make Bread
I feel strongly about people needing to learn some basic skills, like how to make bread. This is the bare minimum we need to teach others to learn. Here’s the deal, If you can make bread you can save money on groceries. Yes, I understand people have gluten issues. I feel really bad for them.
If I didn’t make bread for Mark and me our grocery bill would be so much higher. I’m so grateful my mother taught me how to make bread in our kitchen many years ago.
I remember watching her stir the yeast mixture and dough with a wooden spoon and rolling out the dough on a lightly floured surface. I still remember how excited I got when the loaves came out of the oven and were placed on the rack. I took it one step further and taught myself to make cinnamon rolls and so much more.
I recently wrote a post where I outlined why families needed to learn how to make homemade bread. I got so many positive comments, I thought I ought to update this post from 2019 so my new readers can get the easy homemade bread recipes included and start making their own delicious bread. Don’t feel intimidated, it’s easier than you may think.
Easy To Make Dinner Rolls For Two
If You Can Make Bread You Can Survive
If you can make bread you can survive almost any situation. Last week I talked about filling your pantry slowly. The week before that I talked about making bread. Today I am sharing some of my recipes for bread, rolls, cinnamon rolls, and more.
Remember, we have to have fresh ingredients in order to be successful in making bread, including fresh yeast. Please remember, bread making takes practice and a good recipe, combined with fresh ingredients. You can make bread and the best rolls in the world if you follow these tips, I promise.
This means the yeast must be good yeast. I only use this one: Saf Instant Yeast, 1 Pound Pouch Just so you know, I keep the amount I use weekly in my refrigerator in an airtight container. The rest goes in my freezer. I store at least five packages at a time unopened in my freezer.
Some people like active dry yeast or rapid-rise yeast. This Saf Instant Yeast has always been reliable for my bread-making efforts.
I Love Hard White Wheat for Bread
Call me nervous Nellie, but I can’t be without yeast to make my bread and various rolls. When I make my whole wheat bread I only use hard white wheat and I purchase it from Lehi Roller Mills. For years, I’ve ground my own wheat and the hard white wheat seems to work the best.
I pick it up when I am in Lehi, Utah, or I buy it at Costco when they have it. I use this wheat gluten: All-Natural Vital Wheat Gluten and this dough enhancer: NutriMill Dough Enhancer 16oz Bag.
When I make my whole wheat homemade bread recipe I always use wheat gluten and dough enhancer. If I don’t, the bread will be too heavy and dense for my taste. I like a light and fluffy whole wheat loaf of bread. I use the same dough recipe for whole wheat rolls.
I Like to Make White Bread Too
When I make my white bread recipe, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, French bread, hamburger rolls, etc., I use bread flour only rather than all-purpose flour. I buy it in bulk from Costco in 25-50 pound bags and only buy what I’ll use in 9-12 months so I know it will be fresh each time.
The flour will go rancid after that and my bread will not rise as it should. I know I can hear some of you say, “I have had flour for years and I still use it.” I’ve made bread for years and have learned the flour will go rancid, trust me. I really want you to have a great experience when learning to make bread.
The bread won’t rise if the ingredients aren’t fresh. One thing about my recipes, you don’t have to use dough enhancers, but I use them because they make my bread and rolls really soft and fluffy.
These are the one-pound loaf pans I use for my bread making: Fat Daddio’s Anodized Aluminum Bread Pan, 7.75 Inch x 3.75 Inch x 2.75 Inch
Make Bread, It’s Easy
Once you learn to make bread you’ll realize you can make bread and love doing so. It’s easy, I promise!
No-Fail Whole Wheat Bread Recipe:
- 6 Cups Warm Water
- 2/3 Cup Olive Oil
- 1 Cup Honey
- 2 Tablespoons Dough Enhancer
- 2 Tablespoons Wheat Gluten
- 2 Tablespoons Salt
- 2 Tablespoons Saf Instant Yeast
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
- 14 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
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Start adding the ingredients in the order shown above with one exception into your mixing bowl…start with 7 cups of flour and slowly add more flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. I use a Bosch Mixer.
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I grew up making bread without a mixer, it can be done by hand. I grew up letting my bread rise twice so I still do that. Old habits are hard to break!
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I mix it for 10 minutes in my Bosch. Cover with greased plastic wrap until it doubles in size.
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Punch down and form dough into eight one-pound loaves or less if your bread pans are larger. I let the dough rise one more time with greased plastic wrap.
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Bake the bread at (350°F) = 176°C) degrees for 27-30 minutes. If your pans are larger you will bake your bread longer. You will love making whole-wheat bread, I promise!!
French Bread In One Hour
- 2-1/2 cups hot water
- 4 teaspoons SAF instant yeast
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon Real Salt
- 6 cups white BREAD flour or freshly ground hard white wheat
- egg whites (lather loaves with a brush after first bread rise/cut 4-5 shallow cuts on top of loaves)
- sesame seeds or poppy seeds (optional sprinkle on egg whites before the 2nd bread rise time)
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Preheat the oven to (400°F) = (204°C) degrees.
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Mix everything in the order shown except the egg whites and optional seeds. Knead for about five minutes in a bread mixer.
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Let rest for 15 minutes covered.
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Shape the dough into 2 loaves and place on a greased cookie sheet.
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Lather the tops of the loaves with the egg whites, and cut four to five shallow slices/slits on top of the loaves. Next, sprinkle seeds if desired.
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Let rise one more time for about 15 minutes covered with greased plastic wrap.
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Remove the plastic wrap. Preheat the oven to (400°F) = (204°C) degrees and bake for 25 minutes.
No Fail-Cinnamon Rolls
- 4 Teaspoons SAF Instant Yeast
- 1/2 Cup Water
- 2 Cups Warm Milk
- 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1-1/2 Teaspoons Sea Salt
- 4 Teaspoons Dough Enhancer
- 2 Eggs
- 6-7 Cups White Bread Flour
- 1/2 Cup Softened Butter (1/4 cup for each rectangle of dough)
- Cinnamon-cover the dough with the desired amount of cinnamon. I use a lot of cinnamon!
- 1 Cup Brown sugar (1/2 cup for each rectangle of dough)
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First, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yeast, warm milk, olive oil, sugar, sea salt, dough enhancer, butter, and eggs.
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Next, add half the flour. Then, keep adding the flour gradually until the dough pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl.
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Cover your mixing bowl with plastic wrap and place the bowl with the dough on the countertop. You want to let it rise for about an hour.
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After an hour, remove the dough from the bowl. Punch the dough down and roll it into two 12” by 18” rectangles.
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Lather each 12" by 18" rectangle dough with softened butter. Each rectangle will need about 1/4 cup. Add your desired amount of cinnamon on top of the dough. Then, sprinkle 1/4 cup brown sugar on EACH 12" by 18" rectangle of dough.
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Roll the dough tightly into a tube. Then, cut it into 1-1/2-inch rolls. Tuck the "tail" under the cinnamon roll. Place the rolls on a greased cookie sheet and cover them with greased plastic wrap and let them rise one more time for about an hour or until the dough doubles in size.
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Finally, preheat your oven to (350°F) = (176°C). Then, bake your cinnamon rolls on a greased cookie sheet for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.
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Frost your cinnamon rolls while they are still warm so that the frosting melts on top of them.
Don’t overheat the milk. Warm your milk to about (110°F) = (43°C)
Anything over that will kill the yeast, and anything lower can increase the time it takes the dough to rise. Dip your finger in the milk, it should be warm, but not hot.
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- Use soft butter. The secret to super tender cinnamon rolls is the butter! You want very soft butter, but not melted butter. Take it out and set it on the counter a few hours before you start the recipe.
- Do Not scoop the flour with the measuring cup! Flour packs tightly so if you use your measuring cup to scoop it, you will use too much flour and your rolls will be dry. Instead, use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup, and then scrape the excess off with a butter knife.
- Use room temperature butter for the rectangles. When lathering with butter before adding the cinnamon, it’s best to use room temperature butter rather than melted butter. This prevents the cinnamon and brown sugar from seeping out of the sides. Use the back of a spoon to gently spread the soft butter on the dough.
- Don’t overbake the rolls. Your cinnamon rolls should be a golden brown. If you overbake them, they will not be as soft and moist as you would like them. Check them after 15-minutes of baking.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1- eight-ounce cream cheese softened
- 3 to 3-1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1-2 teaspoons vanilla
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Cream the butter with the cream cheese and slowly add the powdered sugar to the thickness you desire. Add the vanilla until blended.
White Bread For Two-No-Fail
- 1 cup warm milk
- 2 tsp. SAF instant yeast
- 2 tsp. dough enhancer (optional)
- 1 egg
- 1/8 cup oil-I use olive oil
- 3/4 tsp. sea salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 3 to 3-1/2 cups white bread flour
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I start with a Bosch bread mixer, although you could make this in a bowl. I put the yeast, warm water, salt, oil, and sugar in the bowl.
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I then add the eggs and lightly mix them in the Bosch so the egg does not “cook”.
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Then I add the warm milk and flour slowly. I continue to add flour until the bread dough pulls away from the sides of the Bosch bowl.
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Then knead the dough for about 7-8 minutes. I place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
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Let the dough rise until it's double the original size. Then punch down the dough and make it into loaves and place these in greased pans (this recipe makes two-1-pound loaves).
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I let it rise once again (using the same plastic wrap) until doubled in size.
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Remove the plastic wrap and bake them at (350°F) = (176°C) degrees for 27-30 minutes. I lightly butter the tops of each loaf after baking and remove them from the pans.
HOW TO MAKE SCONES aka Fry Bread
- I start with a very large skillet and heat the oil one to two inches deep until I can spritz a few drops of water into the oil ever so carefully, then I know it’s hot enough.
2. You will start with one ball of dough about the size of a tennis ball, maybe a little smaller, but bigger than a golf ball.
3. Then mash the dough with the palm of your hand on a greased countertop and use a rolling pin to roll the dough from the center out. You keep rolling from the center out until they are very thin.
4. Then place them in the hot oil really carefully because the oil will splatter. Here’s the deal, yes, it’s a big mess, but I’m talking about memories right now.
5. Adults and kids always love hot scones. You fry them until they are golden brown, and turn them over to cook the other side until that side is golden brown too.
Whole Wheat Bread For Two-No-Fail
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 cup or so of honey
- 1/2 tablespoon salt
- 1/2 tablespoon SAF instant yeast
- 1/2 tablespoon dough enhancer
- 1/2 tablespoon wheat gluten
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 3-1/2 to 4 cups whole wheat flour
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Start adding the ingredients in the order shown above with one exception into your mixing bowl…start with 2 cups of flour and slowly add more flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. I use a Bosch Mixer.
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I grew up making bread without a mixer. It can be done by hand. I grew up letting my bread rise twice so I still do that. Old habits are hard to break!
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I mix it for 10 minutes in my Bosch. Cover with greased plastic wrap until it doubles in size.
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Punch down and form dough into two one-pound loaves. I let the dough rise one more time with greased plastic wrap.
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Remove the plastic wrap Bake the bread at (350°F) = (76°C) degrees for 27-30 minutes. If your pans are larger you will bake your bread longer. You will love making whole-wheat bread, I promise!!
Dinner Rolls
- 4 Teaspoons SAF Instant Yeast
- 1/2 cup Water
- 2 Cups Warm Milk
- 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1-1/2 Teaspoons Sea Salt
- 4 Teaspoons Dough Enhancer
- 2 Eggs
- 6-7 Cups White bread flour Add 1/2 of the flour and then add more until the dough pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl
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Place all of the ingredients in order into your mixing bowl. Be careful with the eggs not to add the warm milk too slowly or you will have scrambled eggs.
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Add half of the flour and keep adding the rest of the flour until the bread dough pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl.
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Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise the first time for about an hour.
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Punch the dough down and mold it into small balls about 1-1/2 inches to 2 inches in diameter.
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Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise one more time about an hour or until double the size.
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Remove the plastic wrap and bake at (350°F)= (176°C) degrees for about 15-20 minutes on a greased cookie sheet. Do not overbake.
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They should be golden brown. I spread a little butter on the tops after baking so the rolls are soft on top. If you like a crispier top you can skip this step.
Easy To Make Breadsticks
- 4 Teaspoons SAF Instant Yeast
- 1/2 Cup Water
- 2 Cups Warm Milk
- 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1-1/2 Teaspoons Sea Salt
- 4 Teaspoons Dough Enhancer
- 2 Eggs slightly beaten
- 6-7 Cups White Bread Flour
- 1/4 to 1/2 Cup Melted Butter
- Garlic Salt
- Parmesan Cheese
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Place all of the ingredients in order into a Bosch Bread Mixer or a very large bowl to mix and knead by hand. The recipe calls for 6-7 cups of white bread flour…you add flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
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Knead by hand or machine for 8-10 minutes. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise until double in size.
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Roll the dough out after the first rise and cut with a knife or pizza cutter into desired shapes.
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Dip in melted butter and place onto a greased cookie sheet.
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Sprinkle with garlic salt, parmesan cheese, or any desired seasoning of choice.
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Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise once more. Remove plastic wrap and bake at (350°F) = (176°C) degrees for 12-20 minutes depending on the size of breadsticks you make. Do not overbake. Serve warm right out of the oven.
Hamburger Buns
- 2-3/4 cups flour – I use bread flour
- 2-1/2 tablespoons SAF instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon of sea salt
- 4 tablespoons butter softened
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2/3 cups parmesan cheese-grated
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cups water
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Combine the ingredients in the order shown above into your Bosch or Kitchen Aid Mixer with a dough hook. This is by far the easiest recipe to make hamburger or hot dog buns (depending on how you shape them).
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I add more flour until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Cover and let rise with some greased plastic wrap for about one hour. Remove plastic and evenly divide the dough into 6 balls.
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Roll each ball, tuck the edges under, and place on a greased cookie sheet. Flatten each ball to about 3-1/2 to 4 inches wide.
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Cover the rolls with plastic wrap and let rise until double. Remove plastic wrap and bake at 350°F) = (176°C) degrees for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
If you are looking for bread bags for storing your bread, these are the ones I buy: Bread Bag – 100-count/ Includes 100 Cable Ties
I’ve started using a bread-making machine again instead of using a stand mixer or my Bosch. I use the machine to mix the bread, but I still cook it in my oven. The brand I use is Zojirushi. I have a great friend in Florida whom I introduced to making bread a few months ago and she now has one. She loves it and makes bread or rolls for her family almost every day.
If you want to have a unique experience, consider making bread in your Dutch oven. It’s fun to cook outside, or in your regular oven.
Some Fun Ways to Use Your Homemade Bread
Sure, you can use your bread to make those standard sandwiches for a school lunch or to pack for work. But don’t forget homemade bread is delicious when making French toast, grilled cheese sandwiches, bread with soup, or just a slice with warm butter, jams, and jellies. We’ve grown to love garlic bread, and have also added some spices or other add-ons for a unique artisan bread option.
Final Word
Please learn how to make bread, it’s really easy to do if you have fresh ingredients. I’ll personally walk you through it every step of the way if you just follow the instructions shown, along with the special tips given. Let’s teach the world to be self-reliant, cook from scratch, and love doing so! May God bless this world, Linda
Linda ~ Thank you for this post. I am going to send it along to my daughter who for some odd reason, has a problem making bread. I have tried to teach her and it hasn’t worked!
I taught her how to proof her yeast and advised her to use dough enhancer and vital wheat gluten. Still, not as much luck as she would like. She tried using a bread machine and was unsuccessful with that as well. Then she tried the “rustic” bread that you bake without a bread pan and was moderately successful with that. I don’t know, she is a terrific baker with other recipes but bread not so much!
During our winter storm in the last week, people were running out of bread before any of us could get out of our parking lot! I made the remark to one of my neighbors that I had made bread. Well, our apartments are pretty small and she asked me where in the world I stored my bread machine. I told her that I don’t have a bread machine nor a large stand mixer. She asked me then how in the world I made bread. I told her that I made bread the way my mother and her mother and her mother before made bread. Using my arm muscles!!
Sometimes we become dependent on machines to do our work – I love my dishwasher for example, but I do know or remember how to wash dishes by hand!! Not only do we need to know how to do things the “old fashioned” way but we need to practice them!
I remember my mother baking once a week for our family: bread, rolls (regular and cinnamon), pies, etc. She wasn’t so much on cookies or cakes, though. Anyway, on baking day, she made a treat for us that she called “dough gobs” or perhaps it was “dough gods”. I remember the first! What she did was pinch off gobs of the risen dough and deep fried them. We then bit off a tiny bit just to make a hole and filled them with jam or honey. Sometimes we rolled them in cinnamon/sugar. They were a wonderful treat. She didn’t do this every time she baked bread so they were a wonderful treat and I remember them well.
Another time, I think I was a teenager: Mom had gotten a recipe for “Farmer’s Market Bread” (I think I have the recipe somewhere). She thought we HAD to make this bread. What she didn’t realize was that it made 10 loaves!! Well, we made it and she did NOT like the bread and wanted to throw it out! Dad tried it and he loved it. It was a dark, heavy loaf. Anyway, we (Dad and I) ate that bread for weeks – kept it in the freezer and it kept really well.
Keep the great posts coming. I love reading them all even though I don’t always comment!
Hi Leanne, oh my gosh, I love your comment! Hopefully, this post will help your daughter make bread!! Hugs! Linda
Leanne:
Could you possibly find the recipe and send it in. I would love to try it. My husband like breads like that. I will probably have to use a bread machine for mine because I have Osteo Penea which is also called brittle bone disease. Every one I talk to laughs when I call it Swiss Cheese Disease but that is what the bones look like Swiss cheese. I never made bread at home as a child but when I met my husbands Grandmother she told me I had to learn how to cook like a southern girl if I wanted to keep my husband. Must have worked we have been married 53 years
Not sure what recipe you are wanting. If it is for the Farmer’s Market Bread – sadly it has been lost. I have searched on-line for a similar recipe but no luck to date.
Thank you for letting me know Leanne. I love to make bread. The biscuit recipe I shared was given to me by my husbands grandmother. When I share I am really estimating what I use as there is 5 people in my family. I use Martha white flour which is in Tennessee but my source is out of town right now so I find what I can and although there are some other good self rising flour I just wish I could find it out here in New Mexico.
Hi Jackie, you been married 53 years, I love hearing this! Linda
WOW, what a wonderful treasure post. Thanks Linda, I can’t wait to start baking.
BLessings,
Gayle
Hi Gayle, you are so cute!! I hope you have fun making bread!! Linda
do you have a rye bread recipe or pumpernickle? I want to be able to have these available because I was raised in Germany to a military family and that was what we ate, mostly.
Hi Elaine, oh my gosh, I love rye bread. Let me see if I can come up with a good recipe. I would have to order some rye flour maybe from King Arthur’s. Great idea! Linda
Elaine:
I can find my rye recipe but I don’t have one for pumpernickel bread. I am also of German decent but I also have Irish and Austrian Hungarian ancestors. I love Rye bread.
Oh, great!!! I can’t wait….
What if the big disaster happens, and there is no yeast, no dough enhancer, no gluten?
That’s how our ancestors really made bread, with something they didn’t buy at the grocery store. I want to know how to make THAT kind of bread. Have I missed a post on that?
Hi Angela, we would make natural yeast, which is with ground wheat and water. We can also make bread without yeast and it will be similar to pita bread or flatbread. It’s delicious. I have helped Melissa Richardson teach her classes on Natural Yeast. I’m glad you mentioned this because people do need to know how to make bread without yeast. I highly recommend getting her book. Here is one of the posts I wrote about cooking with natural yeast. I need to write some new ones. https://www.foodstoragemoms.com/natural-yeast/ Great comment! Linda
In the white bread for two ingredients you list one egg but in the description you mention so the “eggs” do not cook… Is this just a typo or should there be more than one egg in the ingredient list?
Hi Debbie, I just changed it. I have the same instructions for two loaves and 8 loaves. Thanks for the heads up, I just changed it. Thanks so much for letting me know. Linda
Look forward to trying your recipes! Do u have one for Italian Bread? My husband loves that. Also do u ever use a bread machine?
Hi Arlene, I do not have a recipe for Italian bread, that’s a great idea. I use a Bosch bread Mixer. I’m so thankful you want to try my recipes! Linda
I, too, have made whole wheat bread for years adding things like gluten and potato flakes to make it lighter, but a year ago I found this recipe: https://grainsandgrit.com/simple-yeast-bread-loaf/ [makes 3 loaves.]
It just has the basics: whole wheat flour, honey (I usually use sugar), oil, salt and yeast. Yet it makes a nice soft loaf, every time!
HI CT, oh I love looking at other whole wheat recipes!! Thank you for sharing! Linda
All of these recipes look delicious! I will be trying some of them.
Hi Paula, I hope you have fun trying them! Thank you for the 5 stars, my sweet friend! Linda
can the recipe for hamburger buns be made without the cheese ? I have a family member that cannot have cheese
HI JudyP, oh yes, that’s optional! Linda I have another hamburger bun recipe as well. I will repost it in a few days. Linda
Wowser! These are some great recipes. Baking bread is one of the most important skills a Prepper can learn.
HI Ray, thank you for the 5 stars, my sweet friend! I miss grinding my wheat because of the move and everything in storage. I will send you some pictures. It’s framed partially, they delivered the trusses today. Things are happening. Linda
Linda, Yikes! Construction at a snails pace. I hope they at least get you dried in before snowfall.
Hi Ray, oh yeah, it’s been slow. I forgot I was sending pictures. Linda
I forgot I was going to share my husbands grandmothers biscuit recipe.
I use 6 cups self rising flour
2 sticks butter & about 1/2 cup bacon fat. I mix enough buttermilk in the flour mix until it makes a smooth dough. Now my bacon fat still has some flecks of bacon in it. If you like cheese in your biscuits you can put about 1/2 cup in the mix. Make a small ball and put on cookie sheet. Leave enough room between the biscuits to rise. Bake until browned.
The good thing about these biscuits is the ease of making them because the flour already has everything except the butter and bacon fat and flour. They are called Cats head Biscuits in Tennessee
HI Jackie. oh thank you for sharing! I love biscuits! Linda