Since embarking on our journey to becoming more self sufficient, I have been making a point to buy less of our bread products from the store. This has been going really well and we are loving the fresh baked bread. Since starting this lifestyle, I have now made homemade bread (sandwich and sourdough,) focaccia bread, dinner rolls, pita/ flatbread, tortillas and pizza dough.
Today I am going to share the recipes I use for sandwich bread, flat bread, focaccia, pizza dough and dinner rolls.
For all of these recipes, we will be using yeast as that is an entry level dough product.
Easy Yeast Sandwich Bread
Ingredients:
~1/2 cup milk of choice (I use oat)
~1/2 cup boiling water
~2 Tbsp sugar (I use brown but you can use whatever you have on hand)
~1 Tbsp instant yeast (or 1 pack)
~3 cups of all purpose flour (you can use a blend of whole wheat up to 1/2 the amount)
~1/4 cup butter, coconut oil or tallow, melted
~1 tsp salt
Instructions:
- Combine the cold milk and the boiling water (you can use the hottest water from the tap but we have a water cooler that gives us very hot water.)
- Add the sugar and then sprinkle the yeast over the top of water and set it aside for at least 5 minutes.
- After the yeast is frothy (this is called blooming) add the melted butter, coconut oil or tallow, flour and salt.
- Mix together with a heavy duty spoon and then flip over onto a clean working surface.
- Start kneading the dough, adding a small amount of flour as needed to avoid the dough from sticking. If you have a stand mixer, you could also let the stand mixer do the work with a dough hook. You want the dough to be super smooth and elastic.
- Spray the bowl with cooking spray and place the dough ball back in the bowl. Place a clean dish towel on top and set aside to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. My kitchen is usually warm enough for this but the oven with a light on would also work!
- Punch down the dough and then roll it out into a rectangular shape (the length doesn’t matter but the width should be the side of your bread loaf container.) I like to shape it by hand but you could also use a rolling pin.
- Roll the dough up cinnamon roll style and place seam side down into a well greased bread pan.
- Cover it with the clean dish towel and set it aside to rise for another hour. If you are doubling the recipe, make sure the loaves are not too close or they will touch when they rise and then collapse when you separate them. (Ask me how I know this lol)
- Preheat the oven to 350F and then bake the dough 30 minutes, adding an additional 5 minutes if the bread is not golden.
- Let it cool in the pan until it is handleable (5-10 minutes) and then flip the bread upside down and out of the pan to cool the rest of the way.
- Slice it up with a bread knife and store in an airtight container or bag in the fridge for up to 4 days, or the freezer up to 3 months.
Easy Yeast Flatbread/ Pita Dough
Ingredients:
~1/2 cup cold water
~1/2 cup boiling water
~1 Tbsp sugar (I use brown but you can use whatever you have on hand)
~1 Tbsp instant yeast (or 1 pack)
~3 cups of all purpose flour (you can use a blend of whole wheat up to 1/2 the amount)
~2 tbsp butter, olive oil or tallow, melted
~1.5 tsp salt
Instructions:
- Combine the cold water and the boiling water (you can use the hottest water from the tap but we have a water cooler that gives us very hot water.)
- Add the sugar and then sprinkle the yeast over the top of water and set it aside for at least 5 minutes.
- After the yeast is frothy (this is called blooming) add the melted butter, coconut oil or tallow, flour and salt.
- Mix together with a heavy duty spoon and then flip over onto a clean working surface.
- Start kneading the dough, adding a small amount of flour as needed to avoid the dough from sticking. If you have a stand mixer, you could also let the stand mixer do the work with a dough hook. You want the dough to be super smooth and elastic.
- Spray the bowl with cooking spray and place the dough ball back in the bowl. Place a clean dish towel on top and set aside to rise for 1/2 hour or until doubled in size. My kitchen is usually warm enough for this but the oven with a light on would also work!
- Punch down the dough and then divide it into 8 equal sections (you can be precise with a kitchen scale but I just do my best!)
- Stretch the dough out into a circular shape and then fry it in a hot frying pan that has been greased. You want both sides to be a nice golden brown. If you plan to bake these like a flatbread, they only need a quick panfry on both sides but if you plan to eat them fresh from the pan, ensure they are cooked all the way through by cooking on a lower heat.
- Top with your favourite toppings and bake in the oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until the tops of your flatbread are golden and delicious! I chose to use cream cheese, a beef mixture, tomato and cheese. It was amazing!
Quick Focaccia Bread
Ingredients:
~1/2 cup cold water
~1/2 cup boiling water
~1 Tbsp sugar (I use brown but you can use whatever you have on hand)
~1 Tbsp instant yeast (or 1 pack)
~3 cups of all purpose flour (you can use a blend of whole wheat up to 1/2 the amount)
~4 tbsp butter, olive oil or tallow, melted
~1.5 tsp salt
Instructions:
- Combine the cold water and the boiling water (you can use the hottest water from the tap but we have a water cooler that gives us very hot water.)
- Add the sugar and then sprinkle the yeast over the top of water and add the flour and salt.
- Mix together with a heavy duty spoon until a dough ball forms but you do not need to knead it. Roll the dough in 2 Tbsp of oil or melted butter and cover.
- Place it in the fridge for up to 24 hours covered, or on the counter for at least 30 minutes, covered.
- When you are ready to bake it, grease a baking tray with 1 Tbsp of oil or melted butter.
- When it has risen and you are ready to bake it, plop it down on the baking tray. Use your finger tips to make impressions all over it. Once it is sufficiently impressed (lol) top it with fresh herbs (I used basil, oregano, thyme) or flaky salt.
- Preheat the oven to 425F and bake the bread for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
- Slice it up and serve warm!
Simple Pizza Dough
Ingredients:
~1/2 cup cold water
~1/2 cup boiling water
~1 Tsp sugar (I use brown but you can use whatever you have on hand)
~1 Tsp instant yeast (or 1 pack)
~2 cups of all purpose flour (you can use a blend of whole wheat up to 1/2 the amount)
~1 tsp salt
Instructions:
- Combine the cold water and the boiling water (you can use the hottest water from the tap but we have a water cooler that gives us very hot water.)
- Add the sugar and then sprinkle the yeast over the top of water and set it aside for at least 5 minutes.
- After the yeast is frothy add the flour and salt.
- Mix together with a heavy duty spoon and then flip over onto a clean working surface.
- Start kneading the dough, adding a small amount of flour as needed to avoid the dough from sticking. If you have a stand mixer, you could also let the stand mixer do the work with a dough hook. You want the dough to be super smooth and elastic.
- Spray the bowl with cooking spray and place the dough ball back in the bowl. Place a clean dish towel on top and set aside to rise for 1/2 hour or until doubled in size. My kitchen is usually warm enough for this but the oven with a light on would also work!
- Once it has doubled in size, you can make your pizza! This dough does not need to be pre baked.
Delicious Dinner Rolls
Ingredients:
~2 cups milk of choice (I use oat milk)
~1/ 4 cup sugar (I use brown but you can use whatever you have on hand)
~2 Tbsp instant yeast
~5 cups of all purpose flour (you can use a blend of whole wheat up to 1/2 the amount)
~2 tsp salt
8 Tbsp tallow, butter, olive oil, melted
Instructions:
- Start by warming up your milk to bath temperature and then add the sugar and sprinkle the yeast on top.
- Set it aside for 5 minutes until it is frothy. When it is frothy, add the melted butter, tallow or oil and then the salt and four.
- Turn it out onto a clean counter dusted with more flour and start kneading.
- Knead the dough for 5 minutes (you can use a stand mixer with a dough hook if you have one but kneading works just fine too.)
- Add more flour as needed to make a smooth and elastic dough. After the 5 minutes is up, grease the bowl you made the dough in and place the dough in it, covered with a clean dish towel. Set it aside for 30 minutes to rise.
- When it has risen, punch the dough ball down and then separate it into 12 relatively even balls. You can use a kitchen scale to be extremely accurate but eyeballing it is perfectly fine too.
- Take the ball of dough and pinch the seam at the bottom, leaving a smooth top (see the video below for reference.) Place these seam side down in a greased 9×13 baking dish. Cover with the clean dishtowel again.
- Let it rise for another 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 375F about halfway through the rise time.
- Bake the buns for 18-20 minutes and make sure they are cooked through by inserting a toothpick and making sure it comes out clean.
- Let them rest in the pan for 5-10 minutes before serving. These make great breakfast buns or sloppy Joe/ burger buns.
