Baking bread with only 3 ingredients
Baking bread can really be that simple! On the internet or in cookbooks there are countless recipes. Many recipes, however, are complicated. Practically no bread is easier to bake than with this recipe. This recipe requires only three basic ingredients and tap water – yet the result is delicious. You can adapt the recipe as you like: the type of flour can be adjusted to your preferences, and seeds or spices give the bread a personal flavor note. Also, working with the dough and experimenting is great fun. This makes it easy to introduce children to the craft of baking.
Baking bread with only 3 ingredients – the basic concept
Getting started with bread baking does not have to be complicated. Neither unusual, expensive ingredients nor professional recipes are necessary. You can do without sourdough, pre-ferments, soakers and cooked pieces if you wish. You also don’t have to work with a stopwatch. Who can manage that alongside work and family? Short ingredient lists, working and proofing times make preparation much easier. This recipe allows you to produce an incredible bread with little effort: moist inside, crispy outside.
Preparing and baking the bread with only 3 ingredients
For a simple bread you don’t need much: flour, yeast, a little salt and water are enough for a tasty result.
There are many options when it comes to flour: the base recipe is designed for a plain wheat flour (approx. Type 550). If you want a darker bread, you can also use wholemeal spelt flour. Depending on the chosen flour type, the amount of water, kneading time and amount of yeast may vary slightly. After a few attempts, baking becomes quite intuitive.
With so few and simple ingredients, it’s worth paying special attention to the quality of the ingredients. You can especially focus on the flour here. A regional organic flour is unbeatable—not only because this is beneficial for the environment and climate, but also because the baking properties are usually better.
You also don’t have to rely on the supermarket variant for yeast. It is packaged in sachets and plastic wrap. At the organic shop you can find more environmentally friendly bulk packages. You can also use homemade yeast.
Ingredients
For one loaf or a loaf tin (25 cm length) you need:
– approx. 325 mL lukewarm tap water
– 7 g dry yeast (equivalent to one packet)
– 500 g flour (here: wheat flour, Type 550)
– 1 teaspoon salt
Preparation
1. Place the dry ingredients in a sufficiently large mixing bowl and combine them briefly.
2. Add the water and knead the dough until it no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl and feels elastic. You can work the dough with your hands, a hand mixer, or with a stand mixer.
3. Let the dough rise, covered, in a warm place until its volume has doubled. This will take 60 to 90 minutes.
4. Knead the dough vigorously again on a floured work surface and shape it into a round loaf.
5. Place the loaf on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and let it rise again, covered, for 30 to 60 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 230 °C (top and bottom heat) and place an ovenproof dish with water inside.
7. Slide your bread into the oven and bake it for 10 minutes at 230 °C on the middle rack.
8. Remove the water dish and reduce the temperature to 200 °C. Finish baking the bread for 35 to 45 minutes. You can check whether the bread is done by tapping its underside — it should sound hollow.
9. Let the bread cool completely on a wire rack and then store it in a bread box. You can also freeze it whole or in part, remove it from the freezer as needed and thaw.
Tips and Tricks
This recipe is deliberately designed so that you can either follow it directly or give free rein to your creativity. A simple variation is to add seeds and kernels to the dough. For example, you could add about 100 g of sunflower seeds to the dough and then garnish the outside of the bread with additional seeds. Chia seeds, nuts or flaxseed also work very well.
Oats are an equally good addition to your bread. You can simply knead them into the dough; you may then need a little more water.
For added flavor, spices are an option. A straightforward choice is a bread spice mix — you could add one teaspoon here, depending on taste.
This bread can also be baked in a loaf pan. For that, place the dough into a greased loaf pan after step 4 and then follow the recipe as described.
A proofing basket is an ideal tool for producing particularly well-shaped and attractive loaves. In it you would let the bread rise after step 4 and then turn it directly onto the baking sheet just before baking.
You can bake this recipe with all wheat and spelt flours. Other cereals, such as rye, contain less gluten and bind less well. Flours from these cereals are usually used in combination with other flours or in sourdough recipes. The amount of water required for this recipe can vary with the type of flour. Not only the flour type affects the necessary water amount: even flour of the same designation and grain can vary depending on manufacturer and quality. It is best not to add all the water at once. Add the majority of the water to the dry ingredients and observe the dough’s consistency.
This simple recipe is also suitable for bread machines.
Conclusion
You have probably noticed from this recipe that baking your own bread does not have to be complicated. More than three ingredients are by no means necessary for a tasty result! A homemade loaf is not only cheaper, but also healthier, more environmentally friendly and more satisfying than a supermarket loaf.
Hopefully the „Tips and Tricks“ section also sparked your imagination a little. This recipe makes getting started in the world of baking particularly easy. Once your first loaves turn out well, your curiosity will surely grow and make you more willing to experiment.
Have fun baking and enjoy your meal!