Fresh Home baked Bread without Machine

When I step out to buy any grocery, I get confused with too much of options these days. One such confusions comes in choosing the yeast I buy. I wanted to look into what each yeast is for and what major variations they could bring?

Some facts from the web, the particular brand which I buy has these options for the type of yeast to choose;

Cake (moist) - the traditional live yeast; needs to be dissolved in water
Active dry - the traditional dry yeast; needs to be dissolved usually with a bit of sugar
Instant - contains a bit of yeast enhancer (citric acid, maybe some other stuff?) and is possibly more concentrated than active dry; does not need to be dissolved
Bread Machine - exactly the same as instant in a different package
Rapid Rise - larger amount of yeast enhancers and other packaging changes to the granules. Does not have to be dissolved. Works very fast and is intended for straight doughs that you want to complete within an hour or so. Generally not used by artisan bakers who seek slower, not faster, rise.

The confusing part is that some manufacturers reverse the meaning of "instant" and "rapid rise", and vary on which they call "bread machine".

Coming to our topic, making fresh bread without much hassle. It is just amazing to make your bread and have them fresh. It tastes great and better to store bought one, for just one reason they were baked by you fresh.

Fresh Home baked Bread
(Print this Recipe)

You need

all-purpose flower - 2 1/2 cups
water - 2/3 cup (more, if required)
Active dry yeast - 2 1/4 teaspoons
sugar - 1 teaspoon (for activating yeast)
salt - 1 teaspoons
milk - 1/4 cup (you may use water instead)
olive oil - 2 tablespoons (or butter)

nonstick cooking spray to line the bread pan

Lets get to activate the yeast. Warm water in a bowl. As I always say, not too hot and less than warm. If you measure with thermometer, then make it 100F. Now add the sugar and then the yeast to the warm water. Let it rest for 10 mins. The yeast would have risen to double its quantity by now. If this does not happen, discard it and use fresh yeast. There are chances that your yeast is not fresh or you had your water more than 100F so the yeast is not live.
Once the yeast mixture has risen, add salt and milk. Add the flour 1 cup at a time and keep mixing. If you have a dough beater, mix with the dough blades on.
Now add the oil or butter, once you have added the entire amount of flour. Oil helps to keep the dough smooth and not sticky.
If the dough is still sticking to the surface of the mixing bowl, add water - 1/2 teaspoon at a time - till the dough comes together into a ball.

Then, again knead well with your hands for about 10 mins.
Place the dough in a bread pan that has been lined well nonstick cooking spray. The temp has to approx. 70-75 Fahrenheit. Room temperature should typically work just fine. Let it sit for 45-60 minutes.
The dough would have risen to double its size now.

Once the dough has doubled in size, place it on a clean surface and pound it with you fist to flatten it out, then roll it out like shown below.

Place this again the bread pan which is lined with oil or the spray. Cover with towel and let sit for about an hour.

The dough would have doubled in size by now.

Preheat oven to 400F, sometimes temp differs from oven to oven. Sometimes when the recipe calls for 400F, I have it at 375F as my oven gets very hot.

Place the bread and bake for about 30 mins.

Take it out immediately and transfer to cooling rack.
Wait for it to cool, and then slice it with bread knife.
Enjoy the Fresh home-made bread.

Fresh home-made bread are always a great treat for the breakfast, I love to make sandwiches, or just have with cream cheese.

Now I can call myself the bread maker for the family ;)