This is a recipe for beginners or for those with unhappy attempts. We´ll use only 4 ingredients. No special kitchen tools are required to make a crispy crust yet soft core bread.
I´m Adriano Ribeiro and this is “I Love Homemade Bread” a channel to learn recipes and techniques to make homemade bread. If you are a new viewer don´t forget to subscribe. This recipe was created to be the simplest as possible.
I banished all the unnecessary steps and will explain in details every step for those who has no experience in bread making. Homemade bread in most Brazilian areas is generally related to fluffy bread with eggs and milk and the dough´s rolled with a rolling pin. There´s another video for this type of dough in our channel.
See the link at the card. The bread we´re making is even cheaper and more simple, I like it better. It has a crispy crust on the outside and soft, airy bread on the inside.
We´ll use 4 ingredients: White flour, water, salt and dry yeast. This recipe is for a bread near half a kilo. Double the ingredients to make 2 loaves.
In this case the rise timing and baking remains the same. Don´t mind taking notes during the recipe explanation, just pay attention to the steps. The ingredients list will be on the video descriptions.
Let´s get to the recipe. Add 360 gr of white flour in a large mixing bowl. It´s about 3 cups.
You can use any white flour you can find in the grocery/ supermarket but don't use any self rising flour. On another video I mention the (Brazilian) flour brands I use. For this recipe we´ll use instant dry yeast It´s found in a 10 gr bag.
When using wet compressed fresh yeast multiply the measure by 3. We´ll need 4 gr of instant dry yeast. Using the digital scale might be difficult to weight so little.
So you can do like this: there´s 10 grs in the bag, so pour the whole bag in a saucer and divide it visually. Therefore a bit less than half of the bag will be 4 grs. We´ll use 7 grs of salt which is nearly half tablespoon.
Add the dry yeast and the salt to the bowl. Add the yeast and the salt separately. It's important to ensure the two ingredients don't mix so the yeast can rise properly.
Now mix all the dry ingredients and open a well in the centre of the mixture Add part of the water saving a bit for later. Each flour band absorbs the water in a different way. On your first trials you should keep the dough a bit firm better than soft as we can adjust it before start kneading as you will see further on.
Start using a spoon and after the hands. Try to use only one hand as the other gets clean to hold the bowl. Use all the flour attached to the bowl Now let´s transfer the dough to the countertop Before kneading with all the ingredients well mixed fell the dough structure.
The secret is to use as much as water you can. The bread will get lighter if you use much water. But if you overwater the dough the flour won't absorb it and you´ll get a dough sticky and hard to knead.
For the first trials, don't use much water you can prepare a thicker, denser dough. I add the water little by little one or two bottle caps at once I mix and check the structure. To end this step we´ll make a ball cover it and let it pause for 10 minutes before start kneading.
During this pause the flour will absorb better the water and kneading´ll be easier. Look how the dough texture changes after the pause and gets elastic There's no need to sprinkle more flour on the dough or the countertop For this type of consistent dough we´ll use the classic kneading method: Hold the end with one hand e push the dough over the countertop using the palm base of the other hand. There's no need to use force nor tear the dough Fold or roll the dough over itself going to the initial step.
Now you turn it 90º, ends facing up and repeat it. The knead might take nearly 10 minutes. After this time it's important that the dough is smooth and stretchy.
If it's not as explained, knead it for 5 more minutes. Face the smooth side up and make a ball using both hands get the dough back into the bowl. Cover it with a kitchen towel and let it proof for 1 hour until it double the size When the weather is warm it proofs faster.
In this first proof the dough may rise, but not too much. If it over rises it will lose the structure, the brad will be flat and won't get a golden crust. While the dough proofs get a baker tray and grease it with butter or oil See how the dough´s stretchy.
Use the tip of your fingers to detach the dough from the bowl being always gentle to it. Put the dough over the countertop, smooth side facing down. If the dough gets a bit sticky you can sprinkle a bit of flour.
Knead it with your finger tips not using much force until you get a rectangle. Let´s start modeling. Lightly fold the dough from the base to the center fold the two sides towards the center making a triangle Start to roll the dough from the tip of the triangle Roll and lightly press the dough with the tip of your fingers.
When you get close to the base use your thumbs to press the dough over the countertop Keep the dough ends facing down Try to use both hands to slightly drag the dough over the countertop. It´ll create a strain on the bread surface and will help to create the bread “ear”, the lifted part of the crust. Put the modelled dough over the greased tray and wait for the 2nd rise.
Cover it and let it proof for 30 more minutes Remember that if the weather is warm it´ll take a bit less than that. Preheat the oven on 250ºC The preheating can take from 20 to 30 minutes. To bake this type of bread it's necessary much heat so don't be afraid to set the oven to the maximum temperature Don´t worry as the kitchen appliances usually don´t get over 200ºC even if the thermostat shows more than that.
We'll need the heat only at the bottom of the oven. If you oven has a top heater usually named grill or broiler keep it off by now. We also need to insert steam inside the oven at the initial minutes.
How to do it in a domestic oven? I´ll teach you 2 different methods: The 1st one is more simple, we´ll use a spray to sprinkle water inside the oven On the 2nd method you´ll need 1 or 2 kitchen cloths and a loaf tray. Less than 5 minutes before start baking the bread roll 2 cloths and put them inside the tray.
Pour boiling water over it and place it on the bottom of the oven. Use at least one of these 2 methods to get steam inside the oven. Rather use both methods as we´re doing here.
After the rise the bread is ready to the oven But before you´ll need to cut on the surface so the crust won't crack while baking. You won´t need a razor blade you can improvise by using a serrated knife Slash the bread surface from one end to the other Try to make an unbroken moviment of a slightly curved line to one end about 0. 5 centimeters deep Now we´re ready to bake the bread.
Fastly open the oven door, place the tray and spray some water After 15 to 20 minutes, if you used the rolled cloths method remove the tray from the oven to stop the steam Now let's wait from 20 to 30 minutes until the bread gets pretty golden. It´ll be nearly 50 minutes in total If the bread doesn't get golden brown after this time turn on the grill function for 5 minutes, if the oven has this function and change the temperature from 250ºC to 210ºC. Look how amazing it is!
At this moment your house´ll be involved of the smell of warm bread But before eating you´ll need to wait for 30 more minutes. I surely know it's hard to wait but if you cut the bread now it´ll be lumpy. Put the bread over a wire rack to get it cool you can use a pan support for example.
Now yes, we´ll cut the bread. This noise pays off all the effort. The bread gets a crunchy crust and a soft inside The 1st bread making use to be difficult.
If it didn't work for you, don´t worry. Make the recipe again to get practise and write your doubts on the comments below I'll reply to you whenever possible. This is a bread recipe for beginners.
If you´re looking for an airy and open inside you´ll need to practise, to do the long proof and rather use the wild yeast. There´s enough content about it on our website and soon in our channel If you liked the video don´t forget to click on “like it” and subscribe to be advised of the new videos. See you!
