Sunday, March 22, 2009

Miracle Bread


My friend Hannah brought me a loaf of this bread, along with a copy of the recipe. It's really good! And the best part is, it only takes one hour to make, start to finish! (That's why I named it miracle bread. It seems miraculous to me.)

I've made the white and the whole wheat, and they are both delicious and super-fast. Both a hit with my family. With bread this fast and easy, I just might stop buying bread altogether!

5 1/4-1/2c. white bread flour
1/4 c. sugar or honey
1/2 T. salt (I use kosher)
1 1/2 rounded tablespoons instant yeast (I buy my yeast at Costco and keep it in the freezer)
3 T. vegetable oil
2 c. hot tap water

Mix dry ingredients. Add oil and water. Mix briefly and check consistency. If dough is too dry, add a little more water; if very sticky, add a bit more flour. (It's best if you leave it on the slightly sticky side.) Mix for 5 minutes. Spray bread pans with Pam. Divide dough into two equal portions; shape loaves, place in pans and cover with a dish towel. Let rise 25 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. (I use 9" loaf pans, but 8" ones should work as well.)

Makes 2 loaves.

For whole wheat bread, use the same recipe, substituting whole wheat flour for the white; add 1/2 c. applesauce with the hot water and oil and use 1/4 c. oil instead of 3 T. You may need to increase the mixing time a bit.

If you have a high-capacity mixer, you can double the recipe and make 4 loaves.

*Lately, I've been mixing this by hand, since my KitchenAid is on the fritz. I knead it for about 3 minutes, and the texture of the bread is wonderful! (I like the texture of all of my breads best when I mix them by hand, but do what you prefer.)

19 comments:

Lisa H. said...

This is the first bread I ever tried to make from scratch. Other bread recipes always seemed like too much work. It turned out WONDERFULLY!

Tara said...

I found you via Pinterest and I'm currently on my second batch. My husband and 10 yr. old son especially loved this bread. :) Thanks so much for sharing!

Unknown said...

This is my go-to bread recipe. I use 1 cup oats (sometimes I grind them, usually not), 2 cups whole wheat and 2 cups un bleached all-purpose flour. All the other measurements are the same, but i let it rise for an hour since the oats and whole wheat flour aren't as rise-friendly. it is such a yummy bread, hearty without being too dense. It also stays fresh for several days, which is unusual in my bread-making experience. My whole family loves it. Thanks for sharing!

Jen said...

Help! I love this recipe, but it seems hit and miss for me. I used freshly ground spelt, whey instead of water and lemon juice for added dough enhancer for the spelt. I have a hard time getting it to rise and don't know what I'm doing wrong. I find it really really sticky, but don't want to make it too dense. Oh and I also do probably 7ish cups of spelt to get it to pull from the sides of the kitchen aide. Any help? Please! I want to make all my families bread, but don't have time to make anything else if I am going to be baking it a couple times a week. Suggestions?

Anonymous said...

I would love to make the bread but I don't understand the instructions. The measurements are confusing to me. How do I measure 11/2 yeast? When do I add the honey? Thanks

Unknown said...

Wow! Best bread ever! I used unbleached all purpose white flour. It's amazing how lovely it looks and tastes and how easy this is!!!! My life is changed!

Anonymous said...

Anon, it's not 11/2 yeast... it's 1 1/2 (or 1.5 may be easier to see). Hope that helps!

Anonymous said...

Hiya! Just wondering if the applesauce is instead of the honey for the wholewheat version?

The Relative Detective said...

I made this recipe on Friday and our family loved it so much my husband made french bread out of it on Sunday (2 loaves). It worked out wonderfully. This is miracle bread and truly only takes an hour to make.

Right now I'm trying the whole wheat version to see how it turns out. I'm using honey since we didn't have applesauce and did add a 1T each of dough enhancer and gluten. The dough looks perfect thus far but I can tell it's going to need more than the 25 minutes to rise.

Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! It's a keeper at our house and I would definitely recommend it to anyone sitting on the fence. (and I don't do that lightly)

Anonymous said...

Sorry this may sound like a dumb question but when you say 1/2 T. salt do you mean teaspoon or tablespoon and the same with the oil teaspoon or tablespoon.

Anonymous said...

Not a dumb question. Capitol "T" is a tablespoon. Small "t" is a teaspoon. Good luck.

Amy said...

We use this for our sandwich bread every week! We love it!

Anonymous said...

I'll make this today. The longer bread dough is kneaded, the tighter the crumb. It only take a few minutes more...8-10 min. I knead a total of about 10 min. I'm always looking for a speedy loaf to make that the family will enjoy, but kneading the dough sufficiently is very important for many reasons, too lengthy to go into here.

Unknown said...

Pinned and trying today... I could use some comfort food. Can't wait to try this out!

Hillary said...

I've made this recipe a few times now, always with success. I usually make the whole wheat version with white whole wheat flour and yogurt instead of applesauce. I let mine rise at least an hour for it to reach higher than the lips of the pan. It freezes very nicely. Thanks!

Unknown said...

Great recipe!!! I've made this twice. The first time I did the whole wheat and honey version. Tasted great but didn't rise as much as I would have liked. My husband mentioned it might have been from the honey since yeast can eat sugar a lot easier than honey. Today I made the white four and sugar version. It rose beautifully! This bread tastes amazing! I now don't ever have to buy store bought sandwich bread ever again. Thank you for creating and sharing this ridiculously easy and delicious recipe!!!

Unknown said...

I liked this recipe so much I shared it on my blog's Facebook page. It really did come together in about an hour and my boys liked it so much that they ate about a half of one loaf! Found the recipe on Pinterest. Thanks for a great everyday bread recipe. I can't wait to try the wheat version!

Joy

Anonymous said...

How long do you let the kitchen aid knead the bread?

Anonymous said...

Hi! I'd like to bake this bread recipe. Is there only one rise?