No loaf pan? No problem! You can bake this wonderful, chewy easy one-bowl bread in an oven-safe dish. There’s also no need to proof your yeast — it’s added right in with the other ingredients, which are mixed with lukewarm water to activate the yeast.
The recipe calls for all-purpose white and white whole wheat flours, but feel free to play around with your own substitutions. There are some rules for substituting flours in bread recipes; this article from Epicurious is a great reference to learn more.
A note about rising: bread dough should be in a warm place to rise properly. One way to create a nice warm place for your bread dough is to turn your oven on to the lowest temperature for 2 minutes and then turn it off (be sure not to leave it on!). Place your covered bowl of dough in the oven and leave the oven door slightly open.
Easy One-Bowl Homemade Bread
Materials
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons yeast
- 2 cups lukewarm water 1.5 cups room temperature water + 0.5 cup boiling water
Instructions
- Add all dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Stir well to combine.
- Combine room temperature water and boiling water in a measuring cup (total water should be 2 cups).
- Add water to dry ingredients and stir until all dry ingredients are incorporated.
- Cover bowl with a towel and set in a warm place to rise. Let rise for 2 hours.
- Remove bowl from oven. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Grease one large or 2 small oven-safe bowls and set aside.
- Punch down dough with 2 forks. To do this, place one fork on each side of the dough and fold in. Do this several times around the edges of the dough until you have a "wad" of dough in the center of the bowl.
- If baking in 2 bowls, separate the dough in two equal pieces. Place dough in the greased bowl(s).
- Cover and let rise again for about 30 minutes (just until the dough reaches the top of the bowl(s)). Because the oven is preheating, do not place your dough in the oven for the second rise! I like to set mine on top of the oven instead.
- Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.
- Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake and additional 15-17 minutes, until top of bread is crusty and golden brown.
- Remove bread from oven and allow to cool in bowl(s) for 10 minutes.
- Run a knife around the edge of the loaf to loosen it from the bowl and then turn the bowl upside down to remove bread.
- Place bread on a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before storing. Store in an airtight bag or container.