- Hey, guys.
Today I'm gonna share with you
a recipe that you guys keep requesting
over and over again.
It's for how to make homemade bread.
And the best thing about this recipe
is you don't need any fancy bread machines
or special equipment to make it.
All you need is just a few basic kitchen tools.
This recipe is also part of a collab
with one of my favorite Youtube channels
called The Gray Boxwood.
If you don't already know of this channel,
I encourage you to subscribe.
You will fall in love with Kaleb's recipes
as much as I have.
He lives out in Iowa, on a farm with his partner Joel,
and the two of them live a pretty idyllic lifestyle.
I love to live vicariously through their recipes
and blog posts, and I think you'll enjoy them
as much as I do.
So be sure to subscribe.
After my video is done, be sure to click the thumbnail,
and you can head on over to see Kaleb's recipe
for a delicious rhubarb butter,
which is a fantastic fruit spread
that is the perfect complement
to this homemade bread recipe.
So you be sure you want to check that out.
Let's get started, and I'm gonna show you how to make
a fantastic homemade bread recipe.
You're first gonna take out a large bowl.
To that, you're gonna add four cups of flour.
Just regular all-purpose flour.
That's the best part about this recipe: Nothing fancy.
Then, you're gonna add a full packet of active yeast,
two teaspoons of salt, and then give it a whisk.
Then, you're going to warm up two cups of water.
Now, I just pop mine in the microwave for about 55 seconds.
Basically, what you're looking for is for the water to reach
the temperature of anywhere between 112 to 115 degrees.
This is the perfect temperature to activate the yeast.
If it's any colder than that, the yeast will not activate,
and your bread will not rise.
If it's any hotter, you can actually kill the yeast,
and then your bread's not gonna rise, either.
So you want to make sure you get it within that range.
Then, you're going to pour your water
into the flour mixture, and take out a wooden spoon,
and just start mixing it together.
You really want to incorporate all of that flour
into the dough and make sure that it's nice
and well-mixed.
When it reaches that stage, and it doesn't need to be
totally perfect and come together,
it can still be a little bit misshapen.
Not to worry, you're gonna take out another bowl,
and you're going to add a tablespoon of olive oil.
Then, you're just gonna take your hands.
Make sure they're clean.
And go into that bowl and just spread the oil
all the way around, up the sides.
You don't want to rinse of your hands,
because they're nice and oily now,
which is going to help you form your dough.
So you can go in with your hands and just start to kinda
knead that dough in the bowl.
Basically, what you're trying to do
is just to get a nice round mass.
Just about two minutes or so will do the trick.
And then you can transfer that dough
into the bowl with the oil,
and then you can kinda rub the dough around the oil
a little bit, just making sure it's nice and incorporated,
and then let it sit.
At this point, go wash your hands,
and then you're gonna come back,
and you're going to place some plastic wrap
all along the side of the bowl.
Now here's the fun, easy part.
What you're gonna do is just let this dough rise over night.
So when you go to bed, you're gonna wake up,
and the dough is gonna be nice and risen.
The place that I really like to choose
is inside my oven, with the oven turned off,
just because it's draft-free, and it keeps it out of the way
from any little prying hands.
At our house, we have a lot of prying hands,
so it keeps it safe.
Then, in the morning, you will see
when you take that plastic wrap off,
you will have this beautifully risen dough.
What you wanna do is make sure your hands
have some nice flour on it.
You're gonna grab that dough
and put it down on a floured surface.
And at this point, you're just gonna knead it
for about three to four minutes.
Then once you get to the part where it's actually turned
into a little ball, you're going to pop it on
a parchment-lined cookie sheet,
and then you're gonna let it rise for one more hour.
I know, you've come this far, and you want to just
pop it in the oven.
But it's really gonna help to let it rise for one more hour,
because that's what's gonna help that dough become
really nice, beautiful fluffy bread.
So, give it one more hour.
After it's risen for another hour, you'll see your dough
has kind of increased in size.
Two tips before you bake it:
The first thing you want to do is remove all the racks
of your oven.
You'll want this bread to go on the very low rack,
because that way, it just won't burn on the top.
It's gonna be in the oven for a least 40 minutes,
and you want to make sure that it ends up being
golden brown and not scorched on the top.
The other thing that is going to give us
a really nice, crusty crust
is by placing some water in with our bread
in a little cake pan.
You can use a cake pan or a pie plate,
anything that will hold about a cup of water.
The reason we want to do that
is as that oven heats up, all of that water will start
to evaporate and will create kind of a steamy environment,
and that's what's gonna help that bread
create a really nice crust.
Then, you can pop it in a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes.
Now, the 30 minute mark, you might be looking in the oven
and think, "Oh, it looks like it's done."
Don't take it out, because even though it might be
golden brown on the outside,
it still isn't really baked in the inside.
I can't tell you how many times I've taken it out,
cut into it, only to have raw dough inside.
It's a terrible feeling, especially after you've let it
rise all that time, and you're all excited
for your homemade bread.
There's really nothing you can do about it at that point,
so let it go the full 40 minutes,
and you'll be glad you did, because you'll have
really well-baked bread inside.
When it is done, you're gonna allow it to cool slightly.
My favorite way to actually cut into this bread,
because it is quite a large loaf,
is to cut it in half,
then take that half, and cut it vertically into slices.
Then, I like to pile my bread in a basket
and serve it with some really high-quality butter.
And then of course, you want to top that with some
of Kaleb's delicious rhubarb spread.
So if you want to find out how to make the rhubarb spread,
you can click the annotation and it'll take you over
to that video.
I love this recipe because it is so easy,
it takes hardly any effort,
and it's really affordable, too.
You don't need any fancy gadgets or machines
to achieve a fantastic homemade bread.
I hope you guys give this one a try,
and let me know what you think.
I will see you back here next week
when we are gonna tackle homemade ice cream.
Another one of my favorite things to make, homemade.
Alright, I'll see you then.
Bye.
(high-spirited folk)
♫ I've been holding you up so you know
♫ That the waves are tied to the shore ♫