Looking for a simple bread recipe? I’ve been making this one for almost 20 years, and it’s our favorite when we need an unfussy loaf.
Before you skip this post like, “Who has time to bake homemade bread?!?” Let me admit that I don’t either. Obviously. I am a normal 21st-century person with important demands on my time, like scrolling Facebook and posting food pics on Instagram.
So are you. You have important things to do and important people to feed. Like yourself. And anyone else who needs you to put food on their plate so they can make faces and throw it under the highchair.
However, this bread is different. It only takes 15 minutes (maybe 20 the first time) of active cooking time* and almost no skill.
That means NO KNEADING.
Cue confetti!
In case you’re one of the few people who don’t think homemade bread is the GREATEST thing to happen in a kitchen, allow me to persuade you:
Budget-Friendly Homemade Bread: 50 cents – $2 Per Loaf
Home-baked bread is super cheap. Like when was the last time you bought fresh, preservative-free baked awesome for $1/loaf?
In Nashville (my area), that costs at least $5/loaf. You’re looking at a savings of $4, so if you take 15 minutes to bake… you’re getting paid $16/hour. Not bad.
Like I said, I don’t make this all the time. It is a frugal, delicious addition to our meals periodically, and it is completely worth the effort and almost no time it takes.
*Active cooking time means the amount of time you are actually chopping/stirring/sautéing/kneading/measuring/etc. It doesn’t include pop-in-oven-and-bake-30-minutes or turn-on-low-heat-and-cook-20-minutes time. In those cases, you can simply set a timer and do whatever you want. Like scroll Twitter and Instagram.
Easy Homemade Bread
The rules for baking this bread are not hard and fast. There is no telling when I’m going to run out of honey and grocery money at the same time, so I need a recipe as flexible as my pantry supplies.
This recipe uses white flour or wheat flour, butter or oil, honey, sugar, or molasses. I have even successfully used different kinds of yeast. Naturally, every ingredient change creates slightly different results. However, I’m convinced that every bread recipe also works differently in each kitchen. So adapt it to whatever method works for you.
Simple Homemade Bread Recipe
How impressive is it to bake bread? Guys. If you want to impress your girlfriend (or wiiiife… they were your girlfriend once and still think this is attractive), bake some bread. Nothing says I’m a skilled, confident, flexible man like being a one-man bakery machine.
Moms… you probably pressure yourself too much and hate me for adding to your impossible to-do list. Just listen. You don’t have to bake bread to be great. You’re probably doing a great job already.
Then again, you might love it. You might realize having a quick, easy bread recipe gets you in touch with your inner June Cleaver. If you get nothing else done today, YOU BAKED BREAD, GIRL. You win.
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and tag a photo #cheapskatecook and @cheapskatecook on Instagram.
The Easiest Bread You Will Ever Bake
Looking for a simple bread recipe? I’ve been making this one for almost 20 years, and it’s our favorite when we need an unfussy loaf.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups warm water, (not hot)
- 1/3 cup oil, (butter, olive oil, and coconut oil work great)
- 1/4 cup sweetener, (sugar, honey, molasses, or maple syrup)
- 5-7 cups unbleached white flour
- 1 tbsp active dry yeast
- 2 tsp salt
- Butter or oil, (for greasing)
Instructions
- In a medium-sized bowl, stir together water, oil, sweetener, and yeast. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine 5 cups flour and salt.
- When liquid mixture looks bubbly, add it to the flour mixture.
- Stir until dough is uniform in color. Add more flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well between each addition until a smooth, stiff dough forms. If it gets too hard to stir with a spoon, you might need to use your hands. Go ahead, get a little messy.
- Cover bowl with a dishtowel and set someplace warm. I turn the oven light on and place the bowl in my oven. PUT A STICKY NOTE on the oven controls so you don't turn it on accidentally.
- Let dough rise for 30 minutes. Then uncover it, punch it down (three swift punches does the trick), and cover again.
- Let dough rise another 30 minutes.
- Grease two bread pans with butter. Gently rip dough in half, then smooth one half into an oblong shape that fits the pan. Do the same with the other half.
- Cover bread pans, return them to a warm place, and allow them to rise another 30 minutes.
- Uncover risen loaves. Bake at 350 F for 30-40 minutes, until light golden brown.
- Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes. Gently slide a butter knife around the outside of the loaf, between the bread and the pan, to loosen it from the the pan. Then use pot holders to carefully flip the bread pan upside down and let the loaf fall out onto the counter.
- Place loaves on a cooling rack. Allow them to cool a few more minutes before slicing and spreading with copious amounts of butter.
Notes
If you want to see what the dough is supposed to look like before it's ready to rise, watch this short video of me making it!
Whole Grain Baking
This recipe works great with whole wheat and spelt flour. You can use half whole and half white, or simply use all whole grain. Obviously, the results will vary, but it all tastes fantastic.
Either way, I highly recommend kneading it for a few minutes before allowing it to rise. This helps activate the gluten strands, which are a little lazy in whole grain flour.
I've kneaded it in the bowl, and I've kneaded it on the counter sprinkled with flour. You will get the best results with a 10 minute knead, but any amount will likely improve the bread.
I've also used a Kitchen Aid mixer to knead the bread. Just check with the manufacturer instructions regarding whole grain flours. THEY WILL BURN OUT THE MOTOR if used improperly. Ask me how I know.
You may also need to double the rise time (again with the lazy whole grain gluten).
Whole grain breads tend to be more crumbly, so if you're looking for a non-crumbly whole wheat sandwich bread, go here!
Also
I use this recipe for more than just bread loaves! It's our dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls (substitute water for milk and oil for butter if you like), and bread braids.
Sometimes I replace part of the flour with oats or cornmeal. Sometimes I add chopped nuts or seeds for a multi-grain flair. Just monkey with it and have fun.
Nutrition Information
Yield 10 Serving Size 2 slicesAmount Per Serving Calories 312
Please note: The actual calories and nutrition of this dish will change depending on what ingredients you use. Nutrition information is not always accurate.
More Homemade Bread Recipes:
- Non-Crumbly Whole Grain Sandwich Bread
- Easiest Make-Ahead Sandwiches
- 1-Bowl Pumpkin Bread (or sweet potato!)
- Mookies (easy muffins – no clean-up!)
- Healthier Banana Bread
- Cinnamon Rolls (instructions in this baking haul post)
- Garlicky Pizza Crust (for 70 cents!)
- Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole
What You Can Do Now:
Have you ever made your own bread?
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Thank you for inspiring me to be more homey, and for giving me an idea of how to carb load for labor ?
LOL, happy to help, Cortney!
I love this recipe. It’s so easy and delicious. Plus… if you want to de-stress… you can still knead it… (may change the outcome a bit) I enjoy kneading… I find it relaxing.
So true! Kneading is therapeutic. But I like it’s optional 😀
Guys…’easy’ is no lie! I’m posting this while nursing an 8 week old baby, and I’ve already made the recipe 3 times!! Okay…I did have a new birthday kitchenaid I was eager to try out. But still. 8 week old baby. Voluntarily making bread. Those things shouldn’t go together, but my family and I are in food heaven. Thanks, stephani!!
WOW!!! YOU GO, GIRL! And thanks – I’m glad this recipe helped you guys have homemade bread in the midst of this season. And congrats!
Making this again today… so good.
I feel like mine didn’t rise womp womp but it’s cooking now so we’ll see how it turns out!
oh no! was it made with any whole grain? That needs longer to rise than white flour.
It was! But it ended up turning out just fine. My son even asked me if I can make his lunch the next day with that bread instead of the store bought stuff!
Oh, I’m so glad he liked it! Yeah, whole wheat is a new beast when it comes to homemade bread. I’ve found that a longer rise really helps. Some people swear by adding lecithin and gluten powder in order to improve the texture – both of those really work, but we have a mild gluten intolerance at our house, so that’s not an option. I LOVE this bread on sandwiches – even when it’s a little crumbly! Glad it turned out for you!
Have you ever thought about investing in a bread machine? Ours has paid for itself over and over again with cheap homemade loaves of bread. And it will take your easy homemade bread and turn it into ridiculously easy. I was on the fence for years and am so glad I finally invested. You literally dump ingredients in and press start. Then in 3 ish hrs, I have bread. I can make a loaf of bread in about 5 min. (maybe 7. definitely less than 10). Plus, I bet you can find these at garage sales and thrift stores because I bet there are lots of people who thought they would make bread and then didn’t!
I have! For various reasons (we were GF for a while, I was working exclusively with Sourdough for a while, etc.) I haven’t invested in one yet, but we’ve reached a season where it would be so handy. I have it on my Amazon wish list 🙂
Just made the bread! I did 2 cups of unbleached white flour and 3 cups of whole wheat flour. It came out SO good!! Thank you for sharing the recipe! I’m so glad I found your website! We spend SO much on groceries and I’m trying to find ways to spend less on groceries and still eat healthy!
Ahhhh! Awesome! So glad 🙂
I experimented with this recipe yesterday. I halved it and put it in my bread maker, using 1.5 cups of unbleached all purpose flour and 1.5 cups whole wheat flour. It came out perfect using the basic cycle! Thought you might want to know it transfers easily to a breadmaker.
Awesome! That’s even easier. 🙂 Thanks for letting me know!
Great tips! Thanks for sharing!