5 Easy Ways To Enjoy Homemade Bread

Making bread is easier than you might think. Here’s my top five recipes to enjoy homemade bread for yourself.

I used to think making bread was difficult, that it took skill and lots of baking experience. I have since discovered that it actually is not that hard. I have also discovered how rewarding it is and how great homemade bread tastes. Here’s my guide to getting started in baking homemade bread and my favourite recipes.

1. Soda Bread

One of the easiest breads to make. It contains no yeast so requires no fermenting time and no kneading. Simply combine the dry ingredients with the wet into a sticky dough, turn out onto a baking tray and bake!

These two recipes are my favourite ones to make;

Nigel’s Lazy loaf using buttermilk  and this Seedy Rye Soda Bread from the Sainsbury’s magazine Feb 2015 issue

2. Guinness Bread

One of my most favourite recent discoveries is Guinness Bread. An adaptation of soda bread where the milk/water is replaced with stout! There is also a bit more sugar added to this loaf making it a little sweeter. I love this recipe by AllRecipes.co.uk. Not overly sweet and delectably Moorish! I was quite worried when I first made this recipe as the mix was very runny, but don’t let that bother you. The long bake ensures it’s cooked through. Bakes into a delicious moist cake like finish.

3. Moroccan Bread

I first experienced this bread in Spain visiting my in-laws. The local homeless immigrant Moroccan women in Mazarron bake this bread and give it as a gift of thanks for the charity they receive. It’s a wonderful flat round bread about an inch thick. The perfect accompaniment for any meal, especially stews and curries. It also makes a great pizza base if you slice it in half through the middle. I use this recipe for Moroccan bread by Culinary Anthropologist. This bread does take a bit more time to make as it involves yeast and some kneading. You can knead by hand or use a food mixer with the hook attachment. Here’s a quick video from YouTube on how to knead a dough by hand.

4. Chapattis

My husband and I are big spice lovers and often cook Asian food, in particular Thai and Indian. As we eat some kind of curry almost every week I thought it apt to start making my own Indian bread to go with it. Chapattis are a flat pancake like bread which you actually cook through in a pan on the hob rather than in the oven. There is no yeast involved in this recipe but it does require a little resting in the fridge before you roll it out. I find it a similar process to making short crust pastry. There is some kneading work required but only around 5 minutes or so. The hard part is making the chapattis round! There is a special shaped rolling pin to make the task easier. Best eat freshly made, hot with a light pasting of melted butter. Yum!

Chapatti Rolling Pin

5. Nan Bread

There are some easy to make Nan bread recipes out there that avoid yeast but I dislike them. I find they turn out a little bit hard and dense. I much prefer the light fluffy style of Nan bread, the likes of which can be found in this lovely Southern Indian cookbook by Rafi Fernandez. The book is available on Amazon for just 40p.  This book also contains a good recipe for chapattis. It’s will make a great addition to your cookbook collection with lots of authentic Indian curries and accompaniment recipes. I just adore Nan bread, which can be made plain or topped with garlic and butter, coriander and chilli or whatever you like.

Nan Bread Topped With Coriander and Chilli

I hope I have inspired you to give making homemade bread a go. It really is a wonderful thing and the smell in the kitchen is second to none. Please leave your comments with your own bread making experiences tips or questions.

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