How to Make a Quick Homemade Bread

Co-authored by JoAnna Minneci

Last Updated: December 18, 2022

Certain meals call for a loaf of fresh bread, but you don't always have time to wait hours on end for it to rise. When you need hearty, fresh bread in under an hour, making this quick recipe won't let you down. This crusty, fragrant bread is the perfect partner for any meal.

Ingredients

2 cups very warm (not boiling hot) water
4 tablespoons instant yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
5 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Making the Dough

1
Pour the water into a bowl. It's important that you use water that's very warm, but not too hot! Hot water could kill the yeast. Warm water will wake it up without killing it, which is what you want - that way the yeast will help the bread rise.
2
Add the yeast and sugar. Use a spoon to stir it all together. The yeast will begin to react with the sugar, and the mixture will become bubbly and foamy. This should happen within just a few minutes.
- If 3 minutes have passed and nothing has happened, your yeast might be stale, and you may need to use another batch.
- You could also try again using water that's a little warmer or cooler, depending on what temperature you initially tried.
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3
Pour the flour into a big mixing bowl. Five cups will yield two loaves of bread. You can use either all-purpose flour or bread flour. The bread flour might have a bit more height, but all-purpose flour works just fine, too.
- To make a good dough, you need self-rising flour like white lily and buttermilk.
- You can use cold butter. The easiest way to use it is to grate it directly into the flour.
- Then stir in the salt and buttermilk. So that it comes together in a mass.
4
Add the oil, salt, and yeast mixture. Pour them one at a time over the flour.
5
Mix the dough. Use either a mixture with a dough hook attachment, a hand mixer or a wooden spoon to mix all the ingredients until they come together in a big, sticky ball of dough.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Rising and Kneading

1
Put the ball of dough in an oiled bowl. You can wash out the mixing bowl and oil that one, or use a separate oiled bowl. It should be at least twice the size as the ball of dough, so the dough has room to rise.
2
Cover the dough and put it in a warm place. Cover it loosely with plastic wrap - it shouldn't be airtight - or place a clean dishcloth over the bowl. Put it in a warm area in your kitchen. If your kitchen tends to be drafty, preheat your oven to 200 degrees, turn it off, and put the bowl in there. It'll be just the right temperature for the dough to rise.
3
Let the dough rise for 25 minutes. During this time it will start puffing up. It won't quite double in size, but it will rise enough to give the dough a good texture.
4
Punch and knead the dough. If you have a stand mixer, use the dough hook attachment and knead the dough until it relaxes - about 5 minutes. If you don't have a mixer, you can knead the dough by hand. Turn it out onto a floured surface and use the heels of your hands to knead for 10 minutes, or until the dough relaxes.
- You'll know the dough has relaxed when it stops pulling back into a ball shape when you pause your kneading. It should be loose and malleable.
- The dough will also start to look shiny and stretchy.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Dividing and Baking

1
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180°C).
2
Divide the dough. Roll it out or press it into a circular shape, like a pizza crust. Use a knife to cut the dough in half, so you have two half-moons of dough.
3
Roll it up. Place one piece of dough in front of you so that one of the corners is pointing toward you. Pick up the corner and roll the dough away from your body, like you would a jelly roll. Roll it all the way up until you have a loaf. Repeat with the other piece of dough.
- If you don't want a rolled loaf shape, you can divide and shape the dough any way you want. Make traditional loaves, dinner rolls, pizza crust, or any other shape you like.
4
Make slits in the top. Use a knife to make a few slits in the top of each loaf. This helps the bread cook more evenly.^{[1]
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5
Place the unbaked bread on a baking sheet. A cookie sheet works great, or you could nestle it into a loaf pan.
6
Bake the bread for 30 minutes. It's ready when the top looks slightly golden brown. Serve it with butter and jam or alongside soups and stews.
7
Finished.

Community Q&A

Question

What's causing my bread to have holes throughout it?

Community Answer

Yeast is what causes bread to rise. Yeast is a type of live fungi that consumes sugar and releases carbon dioxide as a waste product. The little holes in bread are from the pockets of carbon dioxide gas that the yeast released. If you have bigger, uneven holes in your bread, perhaps you did not evenly distribute the yeast.
Question

Can I use baking powder instead of yeast?

Community Answer

No, baking powder and yeast work in fundamentally different ways.
Question

What temperature should I set the oven at?

Community Answer

You should set the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celcius). Bake the bread for 30 minutes.