100 Homemade Bread Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to making homemade bread? ›

In a nutshell, if you're buying basic, cheap sandwich bread, it's probably cheaper than you can make it at home. But if you compare two loaves similar to what you could make at home — one made with high-quality ingredients as opposed to one made with lesser quality ingredients — home baking becomes much cheaper.

Add Sugar

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

It adds nutritional value to baked goods. Mainly protein, calcium, and vitamin B12 which are all necessary for a heathy diet. But we don't only look for the nutritional benefits when using milk in our bread dough. The fat and lactose in milk help with tenderizing the crumb of the bread making it softer and sweeter.

And It's not just cakes that benefit from a touch of vinegar, but also biscuits, muffins, and even bread. So when it comes to bread, it's the same concept – vinegar inhibits gluten formation which leads to a more relaxed and extensible dough, resulting in a less dense and chewy bread.

Johanna Hartzheim, co-founder and head of product at Wildgrain, a bread and pasta delivery service, recommends eating homemade bread within three days but says it will last up to a week. "The bread will start to dry up and become a bit harder over time, but it takes much longer until it becomes moldy," she says.

Another benefit is that homemade bread doesn't contain any chemicals or artificial additives. It's also generally lower in calories than store-bought bread.

Store-bought bread is also often higher in sodium and contains more trans fats due to margarine and vegetable shortening. Whereas, in your homemade bread, you can use healthy unsaturated fats such as extra virgin olive oil or grapeseed oil.

There's something magical about the bread you get at your local bakeries - they're always sooo soft and fluffy. Many of these breads, especially packaged ones, are made with a ton of chemical additives such as calcium propionate, amylase, and chlorine dioxide which help keep them soft, light, and fluffy for days.

Is it better to use oil or butter for bread? ›

When you substitute oil for butter, you need to take note of the texture. If you want delicate, soft, and tender baked goods, I recommend using oil vs. butter. Butter will result in a denser crumb and not be as moist.

For example, fats like butter or oil can help keep moisture in, while sugars will help to caramelize on the outside and create a golden crust. These ingredients can also play an essential role in keeping your bread moist when added in smaller quantities.

If you're looking to ramp up the taste of your favorite bread recipe, we recommend adding a bit of fat. A fat like butter, olive oil or coconut oil in small quantities will help your bread achieve a higher rise and it will also boost its flavor by tenfold.

The whey in milk can actually prevent yeast from doing its job — causing bread to rise. But scalding milk weakens whey, allowing yeast to work. In fact, scalded milk actually speeds up the rate at which yeast causes bread to rise because yeast starts working more quickly in warm liquids than cool ones.

The added sweetness and protein helps bread dough rise—particularly enriched dough like brioche. It lends a more tender crumb, and actually helps these breads last longer. High-heat milk powder might be a little trickier to find, but it's certainly worth the search for its impact on baking breads.

How can you keep homemade bread soft and moist? Store bread in an airtight container or plastic bag: This will help trap the bread's natural moisture and prevent it from drying out. Keep bread at room temperature: Storing bread in the refrigerator can cause it to dry out, so it's best to keep it at room temperature.

Kneading Dough: Kneading bread dough is an important process to developing a gluten structure which strengthens the bread. It also creates a more even crumb for the final product and improves the flavor of the bread.

Potato Flakes or Potato Water

Starch helps the dough by trapping the gas from the yeast in the dough and makes the bubbles stronger. This helps the bread to rise and be lighter and fluffier.