The Best Easy Homemade Bread

Have you ever wanted to try making homemade bread, but were just intimidated by the whole process? I get it! For a little over a year now, I have been almost exclusively making our bread at home, and there is no turning back! After trial and error, I have landed on the perfect easy homemade bread recipe! Your family will love this, whether you’re having a slice buttered with your meal, toast in the morning, or grilled cheese, this is your recipe! After all, it is both delicious and simple!

My biggest drive for finding an easy homemade bread recipe was eliminating all of the nasty chemicals that come in store bought bread. Once I landed on the perfect combination of clean ingredients, there was no comparison! My kids absolutely devour it, and I can feel so much better about them eating it because I know EVERYTHING that is in it!

• Stand mixer with dough hook
• Whisk
• Medium mixing bowl
• Liquid measuring cup
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Bench Scraper
• Dough mat
• 2 Loaf Pans

• 1 cup water (110 degrees)
• 1 cup milk (110 degrees)
• 2/3 cup organic cane sugar
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons non-GMO active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup avocado oil
• 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• Avocado oil cooking spray

• First, add the hot water, milk, sugar, and yeast to the bowl of your stand mixer. Whisk together and allow to stand for 5 minutes. You should begin to see it bubble and foam up.

• Next, add the salt, avocado oil, and 1 cup of flour. Whisk together well.
• Thirdly, add remaining flour and use the low-medium speed on your mixer fitted with a dough hook. Knead for 5 minutes. It should not be a super wet dough. It should cling to the dough hook and be easy to remove from the mixer bowl. If it is too sticky, you could add just a little more flour.

• Fourth, grease medium sized bowl with avocado oil spray and place the bread dough in the bowl. Allow to rise in a warm place until double. The time this step takes will vary depending on the temperature of your house. This will take at least an hour, but could take a couple of hours if your house is cool. To speed up this process, I literally use a heating pad (yes, the one you use when your back hurts)! It works so well for maintaining warmth if you keep your house cool and need a fast rise!

• Once the dough has doubled, punch down the dough with your fist.

• Place dough on either a well-floured surface or a dough mat.
• Knead by hand for three minutes.
• Divide in half using a bench scraper (or a knife if you don’t have one) and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

• Grease loaf pans using the avocado oil spray
• Flatten each piece of dough into a rectangle/squarish shape (let’s not get too technical) and roll the dough into a small loaf. You can tuck under the ends if needed.

• Allow to rise again in a warm spot until double or the height you want your loaves to be. I personally like tall, fluffy loaves, so I allow mine to rise for a while. Again, this will be at least an hour, but it could be more depending on the coolness of your house. This is a great place to pull out your heating pad again to speed up the process.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes.
• Remove from oven and rub a stick of butter over the tops. This gives them a soft, yummy crust.
• Allow to cool in pans for at least 20 minutes. Trust me on this. If you get impatient, half your loaf will stick in the pan (ask me how I know)!
• Use a butter knife to go around the edge of the loaf pan to loosen it and reduce the chance of it sticking.
• Lastly, turn loaf out of the pan to finish cooling.

• While this is absolutely DIVINE sliced immediately after it is removed from the pan and slathered with butter, I have found that when I do this, the loaf does not hold up as well for later slicing. It can be more “smooshed” and crumbly. For best results, let it cool completely before slicing. However, I still do slice it fresh from time to time because it’s so amazing that it’s worth it!
• I am a simple baker. After all, I know “true bakers” would probably be appalled by this, but I do not sift my flour or anything! Rather, I kind of gently shake it out of the measuring cup and it still does just fine!
• Although this is a simple recipe, you still must have grace with yourself. Baking does take practice, so if you have some work to do after your first time making bread, it’s perfectly ok! Don’t give up! To this day, I will have some variation in my loaves. Maybe I didn’t let it rise enough or accidentally made the dough a little too sticky! Persevere and keep practicing! I promise, it is worth it to perfect the best easy homemade bread for you and your family!

If you try this recipe, please leave a comment below! I would love to hear from you!