My Mother’s Peasant Bread: The Best Easiest Bread You Will Ever Make
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This is the no-knead bread recipe my mother has been baking for 45 years. Start to finish, it can be ready in three hours. It bakes in well-buttered Pyrex bowls — no need to preheat a baking vessel for this recipe — and it emerges golden and crisp with a soft, tender crumb. 🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞
When I tell you that, if forced, I had to pick one and only one recipe to share with you that this — my mother’s peasant bread — would be it, I am serious. I would almost in fact be OK ending the blog after this very post, retiring altogether from the wonderful world of food blogging, resting assured that you all had this knowledge at hand. This bread might just change your life.
The reason I say this is simple. I whole-heartedly believe that if you know how to make bread you can throw one hell of a dinner party. And the reason for this is because people go insane over homemade bread. Not once have I served this bread to company without being asked, “Did you really make this?” And questioned: “You mean with a bread machine?” But always praised: “Is there anything more special than homemade bread?”
And upon tasting homemade bread, people act as if you’re some sort of culinary magician. I would even go so far as to say that with homemade bread on the table along with a few nice cheeses and a really good salad, the main course almost becomes superfluous. If you nail it, fantastic. If you don’t, you have more than enough treats to keep people happy all night long.
The Magic of the Peasant Bread
So what, you probably are wondering, makes this bread so special when there are so many wonderful bread recipes out there? Again, the answer is simple. For one, it’s a no-knead bread. I know, I know. There are two wildly popular no-knead bread recipes out there.
But unlike the others, this is a no-knead bread that can be started at 4:00pm and turned out onto the dinner table at 7:00pm. It bakes in well-buttered Pyrex bowls — there is no pre-heating of the baking vessels in this recipe — and it emerges golden and crisp without any steam pans or water spritzes. This is not artisan bread, nor is it trying to be. It is peasant bread, spongy and moist with a most-delectable buttery crust.
Genuinely, I would be proud to serve this bread at a dinner party attended by Jim Lahey, Mark Bittman, Peter Reinhart, Chad Robertson, Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. It is a bread I hope you will all give a go, too, and then proudly serve at your next dinner party to guests who might ask where you’ve stashed away your bread machine. And when this happens, I hope you will all just smile and say, “Don’t be silly. This is just a simple peasant bread. Easy as pie. I’ll show you how to make it some day.”
Peasant Bread Variations
Once you master the peasant bread, you can make any bread your heart desires — this simple no-knead bread recipe is the foundation of many of the other bread recipes on this site, namely this hugely popular overnight refrigerator focaccia and this simple homemade pizza dough. It’s even the inspiration behind this sourdough focaccia and this sourdough sandwich bread and this simple pita bread recipe.
The below post is organized as follows:
- How to Make Peasant Bread, Step by Step
- The Best Way to Store Bread
- Peasant Bread Dinner Rolls
- Peasant Bread Sandwich Bread
- How to Add Seeds and Nuts to Bread Dough
- How to Make Gluten-Free Peasant Bread
- How to Coat the Loaves in Seeds
- How to use Whole Wheat Flour
- How to Bake the Peasant Bread in a Dutch Oven
Many more variations on the peasant bread can be found in my cookbook, Bread Toast Crumbs:
Bread Toast Crumbs
Love the peasant bread? There’s now a book filled with 40 simple bread recipes plus 70 recipes to use up every crumb of every loaf you bake.
How to Make Peasant Bread, Step by Step
First: You need yeast.
This is the yeast I buy exclusively: SAF Instant Yeast. Instant yeast can be whisked into the flour directly without any blooming or proofing. If you want to stick to active-dry yeast, there are instructions in the recipe notes on how to do so. Red Star yeast is great.
Whisk together flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast. Add lukewarm water.
Mix until you have a sticky dough ball. Let it rise for 1.5 to 2 hours…
… or until it looks like this:
Punch down the dough using two forks.
Then split the dough down the middle again using the two forks.
Because this is a very wet dough, it must be baked in an oven-proof bowl. I am partial to the Pyrex 1L 322 size, but any similarly sized oven-proof bowl will work.
Butter the bowls well; then transfer half of the dough to each prepared bow.
Let the dough rise again until it crowns the rim of the bowl, about 30 minutes.
Transfer the bowls to the oven to bake:
This bread is irresistible when it’s freshly baked, but it also makes wonderful toast on subsequent mornings as well as the best grilled cheese. It’s also my favorite bread to use for these egg salad sandwiches and for this no-tuna “tuna” salad.
The Best Way to Store Bread
If you want to store the bread at room temperature for 3 to 4 days, I think the best method is in a ziplock bag. I’ve tried other eco-friendly options, but nothing seems to keep bread freshest — the crumb the softest — better than a ziplock bag. You can re-use the bags again and again.
If you intend to keep the bread for longer, I would freeze it. I often slice bread as soon as it cools completely, transfer the slices to a ziplock bag, then freeze. This way, I know the bread was frozen at its freshest.
A ziplock bag will not prevent the crust of bread from turning soft, which is why I suggest always reheating day-old bread. I use a toaster at breakfast for slices of bread, and I reheat half or quarter loaves in the oven at 350ºF for 15 to 20 minutes when serving for dinner.
Bread revives so beautifully in the oven or toaster.
No-Knead Dinner Rolls
To use the peasant bread dough to make rolls, simply divide the dough into smaller portions and place in a buttered muffin tin as in these No-Knead Thyme Dinner Rolls (pictured above). This recipe for no-knead buttermilk pull-apart rolls is also based on the peasant bread as are these brioche pull-apart rolls.
No-Knead Sandwich Bread
To make sandwich bread, multiply the recipe below by 1.5 and bake the bread in two buttered 8.5×4.5-inch loaf pans.
Made with half all-purpose flour and half King Arthur Sprouted Wheat Flour, these seed-coated sandwich loaves (pictured above) have a soft and light crumb. I really like KAF’s sprouted wheat flour, which is made from white whole wheat berries that, when sprouted, yield a creamy, sweet, milder-tasting flour. You can use 100% all-purpose or bread flour for an even lighter loaf or your favorite whole wheat flour in place of the sprouted wheat flour.
How to Add Nuts and Seeds to Bread Dough
To add seeds and nuts (or dried fruit and cheese), simply stir them into the dry ingredients. This recipe for Quinoa-and-Flax Toasting Bread will offer guidance on how much to add.
How to Make a Gluten-Free Peasant Bread
Making gluten-free peasant bread (pictured above) unfortunately isn’t as simple as swapping in gluten-free flour for the wheat flour. But the process and recipe is still super simple — in fact, because there’s only one rise, many people find the gluten-free peasant bread to be even simpler than the original. Find the recipe here: Gluten-Free Peasant Bread
How to Coat the Loaves in Seeds
To coat the peasant bread in seeds, as pictured above, simply coat the bowls with everything bagel seasoning or with dukkah or sesame seeds or whatever seed mix you wish. The seed-coated loaves look so beautiful, and it’s amazing how much the flavor of the coating permeates the loaves. Find the recipe here: Everything Bagel Seasoning Peasant Bread
How to Use Whole Wheat Flour
To use whole wheat flour in the peasant bread, simply replace as much as 50% of the all-purpose flour with your favorite whole wheat flour: I like KAF’s sprouted wheat flour, and I’ve been loving the Cairnsprings Mill Trailblazer stone-milled flour. With the Trailblazer, I can use up to 75% of it in the peasant bread, and it yields a beautiful, chewy texture as well as a lovely flavor and aroma.
When using whole wheat flour, you may have to use more or less water — there is no rule as to how much more or less, and it will take some trial and error to get right because all flours absorb water differently. When I use KAF sprouted wheat flour, for example, I don’t change the water amount at all. When I use the Trailblazer flour, on the other hand, I reduce the water by at least 50 grams.
If you’d like to learn more about whole wheat flour and stone-milled flours, read this: Easy Sourdough Bread (Whole Wheat-ish)
How to Bake the Peasant Bread in a Dutch Oven
If you’re looking for more of a crackling crusted boule (characteristic of a loaf of sourdough bread) as opposed to the buttery crispness of the peasant bread, you can bake the peasant bread dough in a preheated Dutch oven.
There are detailed instructions below the recipe in the notes section, but one thing to keep in mind before you begin is dough hydration. The peasant bread is a very high hydration dough, meaning there is a lot of water relative to flour. Because baking the peasant bread in a Dutch oven will require some handling of the dough — to shape it into a round and to create some tension — you may want to reduce the water from the start. Consider holding back 20-30 grams of water to make the process more manageable for you.
My Mother’s Peasant Bread: The Best Easiest Bread You Will Ever Make
- Total Time: 2 hours 27 minutes
- Yield: 2 loaves
Description
Notes:
The bread:
This is a sticky, no-knead dough, so, some sort of baking vessel, such as pyrex bowls (you need two 1-qt bowls) or ramekins for mini loaves is required to bake this bread. See notes below the recipe for sources. You can use a bowl that is about 2 qt or 2 L in size to bake off the whole batch of dough (versus splitting the dough in half) but do not use this size for baking half of the dough — it is too big.
Peasant Bread Fans! There is now a book: Bread Toast Crumbs, a loaf-to-crumb bread baking book, filled with tips and tricks and answers to the many questions that have been asked over the years. In the book you will find 40 variations of the master peasant bread recipe + 70 recipes for using up the many loaves you will bake. Learn more about the book here or buy it here.
Ingredients
- 4 cups (512 g) unbleached all-purpose or bread flour
- 2 teaspoons (10 g) kosher salt
- 2 cups (454 g) lukewarm water (made by mixing 1.5 cups cold water with 0.5 cup boiling water)
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) sugar
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) instant yeast, I love SAF Instant Yeast, see notes below
- room temperature butter, about 2 tablespoons
Instructions
- Mixing the dough: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast (I love SAF Instant Yeast). Add the water. Mix until the flour is absorbed. (If you are using active dry yeast, see notes below.)
- Let it rise. Cover bowl with a tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for at least an hour. (In the winter or if you are letting the bread rise in a cool place, it might take as long as two hours to rise.) This is how to create a slightly warm spot for your bread to rise in: Turn the oven on at any temperature (350ºF or so) for one minute, then turn it off. Note: Do not allow the oven to get up to 300ºF, for example, and then heat at that setting for 1 minute — this will be too hot. Just let the oven preheat for a total of 1 minute — it likely won’t get above 100ºF. The goal is to just create a slightly warm environment for the bread.
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Grease two 1-qt or 1.5-qt oven-safe bowls (see notes below) with about a tablespoon of butter each. Using two forks, punch down your dough, scraping it from the sides of the bowl, which it will be clinging to. As you scrape it down try to pull the dough toward the center (see video below for guidance). You want to loosen the dough entirely from the sides of the bowl, and you want to make sure you’ve punched it down. Then, take your two forks and divide the dough into two equal portions — eye the center of the mass of dough, and starting from the center and working out, pull the dough apart with the two forks. Then scoop up each half and place into your prepared bowls. This part can be a little messy — the dough is very wet and will slip all over the place. Using small forks or forks with short tines makes this easier — my small salad forks work best; my dinner forks make it harder. It’s best to scoop it up fast and plop it in the bowl in one fell swoop. Some people like to use flexible, plastic dough scrapers for this step.
- Let the dough rise again for about 20 to 30 minutes on the countertop near the oven (or near a warm spot) or until it has risen to just below or above (depending on what size bowl you are using) the top of the bowls. (Note: Do not do the warm-oven trick for the second rise, and do not cover your bowls for the second rise. Simply set your bowls on top of your oven, so that they are in a warm spot. Twenty minutes in this spot usually is enough for my loaves.)
- Bake it. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375º and bake for 15 to 17 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and turn the loaves onto cooling racks. If you’ve greased the bowls well, the loaves should fall right out onto the cooling racks. If the loaves look a little pale and soft when you’ve turned them out onto your cooling racks, place the loaves into the oven (outside of their bowls) and let them bake for about 5 minutes longer. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before cutting.
Notes
- The bowls: The cheapest, most widely available 1-qt bowl is the Pyrex 322. Update: These bowls are becoming harder to find and more expensive. As a result, I’m suggesting this cheaper option: the Pyrex 3-piece set. You can split the dough in half as always (see recipe) and bake half in the 1-quart bowl and half in the 1.5 quart bowl. The loaves will not be the same shape, but they will be delicious nonetheless.
- Yeast: I buy SAF Instant Yeast in bulk from Amazon I store it in my fridge or freezer, and it lasts forever. If you are using the packets of yeast (the kind that come in the 3-fold packets), just go ahead and use a whole packet — It’s 2.25 teaspoons. I have made the bread with active dry, rapid rise, and instant yeast, and all varieties work. The beauty of instant yeast is that there is no need to “proof” it — you can add the yeast directly to the flour. I never use active-dry yeast anymore.
- If you have active-dry yeast on hand and want to use it, here’s how: In a small mixing bowl, dissolve the sugar into the water. Sprinkle the yeast over top. There is no need to stir it up. Let it stand for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the mixture is foamy and/or bubbling just a bit — this step will ensure that the yeast is active. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. When the yeast-water-sugar mixture is foamy, stir it up, and add it to the flour bowl. Mix until the flour is absorbed.
- Troubleshooting: You can find step-by-step video instruction here.
- Several commenters have had trouble with the second rise, and this seems to be caused by the shape of the bowl they are letting the dough rise in the second time around. Two hours for the second rise is too long. If you don’t have a 1-qt bowl, bake 3/4 of the dough in a loaf pan and bake the rest off in muffin tins or a popover pan. The second rise should take no more than 30 minutes.
- Also, you can use as many as 3 cups of whole wheat flour, but the texture changes considerably. I suggest trying with all all-purpose or bread flour to start and once you get the hang of it, start trying various combinations of whole wheat flour and/or other flours.
- The single most important step you can take to make this bread truly foolproof is to invest in a digital scale. This one costs under $10. If you are not measuring by weight, do this: scoop flour into the measuring cup using a separate spoon or measuring cup; level off with a knife. The flour should be below the rim of the measuring cup.
- Here’s a printable version of this recipes that’s less wordy: Peasant Bread Recipe, Simplified
- How to Bake the Peasant Bread in a Dutch Oven: Preheat a Dutch Oven for 45 minutes at 450ºF. Dust a clean work surface with flour. After the first rise, turn the dough out onto the floured surface and shape it into a ball: I like to fold it envelope style from top to bottom, then side to side; then I flip it over and use the pinkie edges of my hands to pinch the dough underneath and create some tension. Transfer the dough to a sheet of parchment paper. Let rest for 20 minutes. If you feel your dough is spreading too much you can lift up the sheet of parchment paper, dough and all, and place it in a bowl of a similar size. After the 20 minutes, transfer the dough, parchment paper and all to the Dutch oven. Carefully cover it. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover. Bake 15 minutes more.
- To bake the peasant bread in a loaf pan: If you are using an 8.5×4.5-inch loaf pan or a 9×5-inch loaf pan, you can bake 3/4 of the dough in it; bake off the rest of the dough in ramekins or other small vessels … the mini loaves are so cute. You can also make 1.5x the recipe, and bake the bread in 2 loaf pans. If you have a large loaf pan, such as a 10×6-inch loaf pan, you can bake off the entire batch of dough in it. For loaf pans, bake at 375ºF for 45 minutes.
- How to Bake at Hight Altitude:
- First try the original recipe as written (preferably with a scale). You may not need to make any adjustments. One commenter, who lives at 9200 ft finds the original recipe to work just fine as is.
- If the original recipe doesn’t work, try adding a little bit more water because it rises fast and it is so dry: about a quarter cup for every 512 g of flour.
- Try decreasing the yeast to 1.5 teaspoons.
- If your dough is especially gooey, try decreasing the water by 1/4 cup. But, if you aren’t using a scale, my first suggestion would be to buy a scale and weigh the flour, and make the bread once as directed with the 2 cups water and 512 grams flour, etc.
- Punch the dough down twice before transferring it to the buttered Pyrex bowls. In other words, let it rise for 1-1.5 hours, punch it down, let it rise again for about an hour, punch it down, then transfer it to the buttered bowls.
- Variations:
- #1. Cornmeal. Substitute 1 cup of the flour with 1 cup of cornmeal. Proceed with the recipe as directed.
- #2. Faux focaccia. Instead of spreading butter in two Pyrex bowls in preparation for baking, butter one 9×9-inch glass baking dish and one Pyrex bowl or just butter one large 9×13-inch Pyrex baking dish. If using two vessels, divide the dough in half and place each half in prepared baking pan. If using only one large baking dish, place all of the dough in the dish. Drizzle dough with 1 tablespoon of olive oil (if using the small square pan) and 2 tablespoons of olive oil (if using the large one). Using your fingers, gently spread the dough out so that it fits the shape of the pan. Use your fingers to create dimples in the surface of the dough. Sprinkle surface with chopped rosemary and sea salt. Let rise for 20 to 30 minutes. Bake for 15 minutes at 425ºF and 17 minutes (or longer) at 375ºF. Remove from pan and let cool on cooling rack.
- #3. Thyme Dinner Rolls
- #4 Gluten-free
- #5. Everything Bagel Seasoning Bread. Simply coat the buttered bowls with Everything Bagel Seasoning. Watch a how-to on Instagram Stories here.
- #6: Whole Wheat Peasant Bread. Use as much as 50% whole wheat flour. I like King Arthur Flour’s white whole wheat flour (see this post) or sprouted wheat flour (see this post).
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 32 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
6,381 Comments on “My Mother’s Peasant Bread: The Best Easiest Bread You Will Ever Make”
I have made this recipe half a dozen times and it always turns out great! The faux fococcia is delicious dipped in olive oil with spices. In fact I’m making it right now to go with minestrone soup that is cooking on the stove!
So happy to hear this, Holly!
Alexandra:
The weighing of flour instead of simply loading a 1-cup measure at a time is brilliant.
Can I apply this to ANY baking I do, and where do I find a cup-to-dry-ingredient conversion chart? Everything I find is cup-to-liquid-measure. From the PB recipe, I’d infer that the (4 cups is 1 lb. 2 oz.) the measure would seem to be one cup = 4.5 oz. Whaddya think?
Hi Joey! Baking by weight is so important and so life changing — once you start baking by weight, it’s hard to go back to volume measures. Everyone has his/her own standard when it comes to what 1 cup of all-purpose flour weighs. For me, it’s 128 grams — oh, that’s another thing! Grams. They’re more precise than ounces. I think Cook’s Illustrated or Milk Street’s standard is 130 grams. Check King Arthur Flour’s website, too — they likely have a detailed chart of various ingredients and their weights.
This chart is great, I converted all of my recipes to weight instead of volume and it’s so much better!!
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart.html
Had everything on hand – even the same Pyrex bowls and SAF instant yeast. They both turned out beautifully. A great bread to bake when you want something quick. Followed the directions to a T. I’ll make this again but for now it’s going to be served with my roast. Yum!
Wonderful to hear this, Beth!
I just made this bread and I was GREAT! My first ever loaf of bread and it turned out awesome. I used active dry yeast with no issues, and used a 1.5L loaf pan so I made 3/4 of the recipe and couldnt be happier. Thank you!
Wonderful to hear this, Richard!
I am wondering what is the rationale behind baking it at 4:25 and then turning the heat down for the rest of the bake
I Make this bread frequently substituting what I have in my house including malt for the sugar, and a little bit of whole-wheat and rye ,lecithin and ascorbicacid as well as the white-a great recipe
The rationale is that the hotter temperature initially gives the loaves that jump or oven-spring. If you cooked it at 425 the entire time, however, the loaves would be too brown for my liking. Your adaptations sound delicious!
I also had dough that turned out very wet. When I was almost finished mixing the last of the water and noticed how wet it was getting, I double checked the recipe. The recipe at first says “2 cups” but then breaks it down to two “1 1/2 cup” measures which totals 3 cups. Perhaps this could be corrected so that readers aren’t adding and entire cup too much
Hi Sunnyjbean, I think you misread the ingredient list? It calls for 2 cups of water made my mixing 1.5 cups cold water with .5 cups boiling water. So, did you end up using 3 cups water?
How long would you bake it in a larger Pyrex without dividing the dough?
I would bake it at 425 for 15 minutes, then for 25 minutes or until golden all around at 375F. If you have an instant read thermometer it should register 207-210ºF.
This looks like something I will have to try.
FWIW-I let my dough rise in the microwave. Put a cup of water in the microwave, heat it for about 40 seconds. Remove the cup and slide in your bread dough.
I love the idea of cooking bread in a glass bowl. I will be trying this recipe soon!
I love this bread – I always make it for my husbands birthday every year. I want to do 2 batches this year but don’t have 4 (1L) bowls. I am wondering if I could not split one of the batches and just use a 2L (or 2.5 L) bowl. Would that effect how it bakes?
Yes, absolutely! You’ll just need to make sure you bake the larger one for a longer period of time. I would do 15 minutes at 425, then 25 minutes at 375 — make sure it’s golden brown all the way around. If you have an instant read thermometer, it should register about 207-210ºF.
Hi Alexandra,
I weighed all my ingredients and followed your (your mom’s) recipe to a T and I’m obsessed with how well my first batch turned out! I like the no nonsense way you explain to use the heat temperatures for the water and the oven too, super easy to grasp. I’ll be buying your book soon (and some more 1 quart pyrex)!
Any tips on how I can get the tops of the loaves to be as crispy as the buttered pyrex sides?
Thank you!
So happy to hear this Jasmine! Yes re one more 1-qt Pyrex bowl 🙂 As for your question, I don’t know! The magic crust comes from butter + glass (or other surface). You probably could brush some butter on the exposed side of the dough so that it browns as it bakes. Or maybe even brush it with butter just for the last five minutes or even when it comes out of the oven??
I don’t have a pyrex bowl – can I use a stainless steel bowl or a dutch oven?
any oven-safe bowl will work. be sure to grease very well with softened butter. If your butter isn’t soft, use nonstick spray in addition to the butter.
Hello Alexandra! I am gonna try this recipe out today and only have Morton’s kosher salt. I saw the comment about 2tsp of Morton’s kosher salt makes it too salty! Would you happen to know how much I would need to use of the Morton’s brand to make it come out right?
I’ve used two teaspoons of Morton’s kosher salt in this recipe, and it’s fine. Diamond Crystal kosher salt is less salty, and that’s what I typically use here, but Morton’s is fine. If you are worried, you could use 1.75 teaspoons Morton’s kosher salt. Good luck! And happy baking! Good day to do it (here in upstate New York at least 🙂 :))
Hello again, Alexandra. Just wanted to let you know that the bread turned out amazing!😋 I only used 1tsp of Kosher salt because I started it before I got your response and was afraid I would use too much. I will probably try more in my next batch, but it was still very tasty😊 Thank you for sharing this recipe!!
Wonderful to hear this, Heather!
Wouldn’t a curved, plastic bench scraper or bowl scraper, possibly sprayed with oil, make it easier to divide and transfer dough to baking bowls? Seems 2 forks would make it more difficult, unless a second set of hands holds the proofing bowl.
Sure, if you have a plastic bench scraper, go for it.
This bread looks delicious. Have you made it in a bread cloche before? I just got a Le Creuset one for Christmas and want to use it more.
Thanks,
Joe
Hi! I have not. My one concern because I’ve tried to use the dough using a ceramic baguette mold is sticking — if you use the cloche — be sure to grease it very very well! You may even consider using parchment paper to line it. I would hate for this dough to cause a sticky disaster … it’s a very wet dough.
I’m so excited to see how this works for me (currently waiting for the first rise to finish).
Can the dough be frozen or saved to bake another time? If so, how?
Yay! I have frozen the bread after the first and after I’ve punched it down. To use, let the dough thaw at room temperature or in the fridge, then proceed with recipe (i.e. butter two pyrex bowls very well, divide the dough in half, let it rise till it crowns the rim, then bake as directed.)
Good luck!!
I have some old Fire King bowls. Could I use them to bake the bread in?
What size are they? And are they oven safe?
I made this recipe following it EXACTLY with no changes because I’m NOT a baker, sadly. It was easy, beautiful loaves and so tasty! Wow, I think I’m a baker now 😂 Thanks so much
Wonderful to hear this Edna!
Could I use 2 vintage pyrex 401 bowl instead of the 441?
Yes, give it a go! The shape will be different, but I think the size is nearly identical.
I’ve made this bread for years now. I have the recipe memorized. I was wondering if a topic search box could be added to the reviews. I am sure the many questions have already been asked, but going through thousands of reviews to find it is somewhat difficult. I am almost positive someone has asked about using loaf pans. Can you use regular glass loaf pan(s)? We just moved and I can’t find my bowls. I dread the idea of buying more (I have already done it in the past for this recipe. I really don’t need anymore). Anyway, I’ll see what happens; I want to make the bread today.
Thanks,
MEG
Meg, this is a great idea! I don’t know how to implement the search at the moment, but i’ll add it to my to-do’s.
Re loaf pans: glass or metal is fine. I make 1.5 times the recipe and use two 8.5×4.5-inch pans. If you don’t want to make any changes to the recipe, you can bake 3/4 of the recipe in one loaf pan and bake off the rest of the dough in ramekins or muffin tins.
When making 1.5 times the recipe, you can use the same amount of instant yeast.
Good luck with the unpacking!
Very easy and gorgeous. I did have some funniness in the middle but I’m sure I did something wrong. Just need to figure out what!
Gumminess- not funniness.
Yay! Regina, if you experience some gumminess, try either letting it bake longer and cool longer before you cut into it. ALSO: extending the first rise to 2 hours may help, too. The second rise should take as long as necessary — the dough should crown the rim of the bowls.
This bread was so easy and it tastes delicious! This was my first attempt at baking bread and everyone in my family loved it!
This was so easy I decided to show my mother (89 yrs old) how to make it. She lives in the Dominican Republic and the bread isn’t too good there. It took us 3 batches of yeast until I decided we had a good one! The loaves could have risen a bit more but were still good & made great toast. We’re on our second batch now as I’ll be leaving soon so want her to be able to make it once she’s alone again (got brand new yeast too!). There’s no way she could knead a dough so this is perfect.
This makes me so happy! Thanks for writing 🙂
Can you add cheese to this recipe (cheddar)
Yes! You can add as much as 2 cups. Toss with the dry ingredients before you add the water.
I make this bread for our little UMC church’s Holy Communion. The second loaf is shared with an elderly couple who eagerly await it. Thank you for this recipe. It has never failed.
So happy to hear this Jeanann!
I LOVE this bread! I discovered it after watching “The Great British Baking Show” where they were making quick breads and came across this recipe. So glad i did! I’ve made it probably 5 or 6 times since discovering it 3 weeks ago, and it’s been perfect every time. Thank you!
Wonderful to hear this, Taylor!
I LOVE this recipe! I make it at least once a week now, and have found an easy way to deal with the sticky dough after punching it down with the forks. Put a nitrile or vinyl glove on one hand, spray it Pam or some other cooking oil spray, and use that hand to scoop the dough out of your rising bowl and plop it into your baking bowls!
And then put your glove into the freezer until you are making bread the next time and you can use the glove again and again. Store it in a plastic bag in the freezer and let it warm up a bit at room temperature before re-using it. Waste not, want not!
This bread is truly one of the easiest and most delicious you are ever going to make. I now make it twice a week and if you follow the recipe, it never fails. Thank you Alexandra to your mom and you for sharing it with others. It is a winner!
Oh heyyyyy Judy!!! xo
Question: if you don’t have glass/Pyrex bowls, would it work in a deep stew pot? Thanks!
You can really bake it in any oven-safe dish. Be sure to well butter whatever dish you choose. The shape of the finished loaf will be determined by the vessel, so keep this in mind — your loaves might not look like the photos, but they will still be delicious.
This is my family’s favorite! I’ve been teaching my niece how to cook and bake, and this was the first recipe she asked for! It is an easy recipe for a beginner, and it gave her the confidence a beginning baker needs. Thank you for a tried and true recipe.
So wonderful to hear this, Susan!
Simple but delicious.
Looking forward to making this bread. Can you use Bread Flour instead of all purpose? Thanks for your help.
Absolutely!
If making a single loaf, how long do you recommend to bake it for?
When halving the recipe, I use 3/4 tsp fine sea salt instead of 1 tsp kosher, 1 tsp instant yeast and bake the same time.