Published: · Modified: by Deborah Rainford · This post may contain affiliate links · 16 Comments
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Soft and fluffy with the perfect rustic crust. This easy basic bread recipe is the best bread that will ever grace your kitchen. It's only 5 ingredients (all available from Aldi) and it only takes 60 minutes to make.
Imagine fresh bread straight from the oven broken open, steaming hot, and slathered with butter and dipped into soup or chilli. This is the homemade loaf of bread that will turn you into a bakeoff champ! So let's stop talking about how fluffy and crusty this loaf is and start talking about how you make your own 60-minute bread and start dunking!
Basic Bread
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Ingredients for Making this Basic Bread Recipe
- Strong Flour
- Yeast (fast-acting)
- Sea Salt
- Honey
- Warm Water
Making Bread Step By Step
- Start by adding all of the ingredients *except the water to a large bowl. Measure out the water in a jug and make sure that it is warm to the touch. Pour the water into the flour and use a wooden spoon to mix.
- You will end up with a rough shaggy looking dough like in the above photo on the right.
- Once you have poured in the water and you have a rough dough scoop it onto the worktop and knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Or you can use a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. A stand mixer is a "nice to have" when making bread. But it's not necessary to have.
- Once you have kneaded the dough it should spring back when poked and the dough should be smooth and springy. See the photo above on the left.
- Leave the dough in the bowl to rise for 45 minutes while you preheat the oven. Once the dough has risen, there should be an indentation left in it when poked. See above photo on the right.
- Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a floured surface and reform it into a round loaf shape. Place the loaf on a piece of baking paper. Using the corners of the paper lift the dough into a cast iron pan and cover. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes covered, then uncover for the last 10-15 minutes.
- Once you've baked the perfect loaf of rustic white bread, leave it to cool on a wire rack until cool enough to slice. Or tear it steaming hot and dunk into soup. It's your choice!
What kind of yeast should you use to make this basic bread recipe?
Fast-acting dried yeast is what this recipe uses. It is the one available from Aldi and it works perfectly every time. If you're not sure if your yeast is still active, you can add it to some warm water and if it starts to froth on the top after about 5 minutes, it's still active and ready to use.
Why does this recipe have honey?
Honey or sugar is sometimes an ingredient in bread as it helps to speed up the yeast. I always prefer to use honey but you can use some white sugar, or skip it altogether. It's not necessary, but if you are in a hurry, then it will help to speed up the rise of the yeast a little bit.
The Best & Most Basic Bread Recipe
Bake fresh bread without the effort. This Dutch oven bread is simple to make and perfect for everydaybaking.
5 from 3 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Baking
Cuisine: British/ American
Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes
Resting Time: 12 hours hours
Servings: 12 portions
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Author: Deborah Rainford
Ingredients
- 500 g (3 ⅘ cups) strong bread flour
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) salt
- 10 g (⅓ oz) active dried yeast
- 350 ml (1 ⅖ cups) warm water
- 1 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) honey
- Extra flour for dusting
Instructions
Place the bread flour and salt in a large bowl and whisk in the yeast.
Pour the warm water into a measuring jug and add the honey. Mix well.
Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour the water in. Using a wooden spoon, or your hands mix the water into the flour to create a dough.
Flour the work top well and place the dough onto the work surface. Knead well for about 10 minutes until the dough springs back and is smooth and supple.
Place the bread dough into a clean bowl and cover with a tea towel. Leave in a warm place to rise for 1 hour. While the dough is rising preheat the oven to 200ºC and place an empty cast iron Dutch oven into the oven to get hot.
Once the dough has risen and double in size, gently knock the air out of the dough and form it into a round ball with the seam on the bottom. Place the unbaked bread dough onto a large piece of baking paper and gently lift the paper into the hot cast iron pot. Cover and bake the bread for 25 minutes.
After 25 minutes remove the lid and let bake for another 15 minutes. Until the bread is golden and the crust is crisp. Very carefully pick the edges of the paper up and lift the bread out of the pot. Slide the bread onto a cooling rack and discard the baking paper, or use it for more bread.
The bottom of the bread should sound hollow when tapped.
Nutrition
Calories: 160kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 198mg | Potassium: 54mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 7mg | Iron: 2mg
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Caroline
Hi could this be made into cheese & onion bread?
If so recommended quanties pleaseThank you
Reply
Deborah Rainford
Hi Caroline. Absolutely, You can make this into cheese and onion bread. You can pan-fry some diced onions until they're golden and tender. Drain them off on some kitchen towel and then add them into the flour along with the cheddar. I'd use about 25-30g of onion and about 75g-125g grated mature cheddar. You can adjust the quantities by about 10-15g less or more to suite you taste. Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
Reply
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CAROLINE GOODSHIP
WHAT SIZE POT DID YOU USE TO BAKE THE BREAD IN PLEASE
Reply
Deborah Rainford
A casserole pan with a base of at least 23cm. You can use a cast iron pan or a stainless steel one. Cast iron would be a little bit better because it holds more heat, but they both work really well. 🙂
Reply
CAROLINE GOODSHIP
Thank you.
Just checked mine and it is 21 cm 😒
Do you think you could add cheese and sundried tomatoes. If so what amounts do you think would be suitable.
I want to get into bread bakingReply
Deborah Rainford
It's close enough; that size should be fine. You just don't want something tiny. You can definitely add sundried tomatoes and cheese. I'd start with about 50g of chopped sundried tomatoes and about 75g of shredded cheddar. Add both into the flour before adding any liquid and carry on with the recipe following the remaining instructions. This is a great base recipe and would also make lovely raisin cinnamon bread. About 100g of raisins and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon would be great! Happy baking! 🙂
Reply
CAROLINE GOODSHIP
Excellent. Thank you for your helping.
I going to make your seafood chowder and do this bread to go with it
❤️😍💕Deborah Rainford
Amazing! Let me know how it goes! And if you have any questions just let know and I'll get right back to you! 🙂
Scott G
Great basic bread recipe used brown flour and made into rolls and worked well.
Bread rolls went superb with some home made veg soup!
Will definitely use again, and so much better than shop bought.Reply
Deborah Thompson
I'm so happy you like the recipe. It's such a great basic recipe for turning into all kinds of rolls and loaves!
Reply
Nadine
When are you meant to add the salt? The pic shows salt but I can't see quantity. I just realised now I have made it without salt 🙁
Reply
Suzie
Absolutely brilliant everyone loved the bread I was so proudReply
Deborah Thompson
That's amazing Suzie!!! Thanks so much for leaving a comment and a rating. I love that you used the word proud!!!! That's exactly what I want for people. To be proud to feed their families amazing food and to be proud of themselves for making something amazing!!! 🙂
Reply
Sue
I loved this recipe and I wondered if I could add olives or turn it into a fruit loaf? Any suggestions for quantities of ingredients? ThanksReply
Deborah Rainford
Hi Sue! Absolutely. Olives (black or green) and dried fruit would both be great additions to this bread recipe. To add olives make sure they are well drained of oil first and chop them. There isn't anything you would need to do for adding dried fruit. Add either one (fruit or olives) into the flour before adding any other ingredients and proceed with the recipe as usual. They loaves may need an extra 5 minutes or so of baking time (maybe) just to be sure that the inside crumb of the bread is dry and not still dough-y. Keep me posted on how it goes! 🙂
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