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Bread

Leavened or Fermented Bread

A simple yeast-leavened bread made with flour, yeast, water, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Leavened or Fermented Bread

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the dough

  1. In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt.

  2. In a separate bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water and let it sit for 5 minutes until frothy.

  3. Pour the yeast mixture into the flour mixture and stir until a dough forms.

  4. Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.

  5. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover it, and let it rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours until doubled in size.

Shape and bake

  1. Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Shape the dough into a loaf and place it in a greased loaf pan.

  3. Let it rise again for about 30 minutes, then bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Provides the gluten network that traps gas and gives the loaf its structure.
Active dry yeast
Ferments sugars in the dough, producing carbon dioxide that makes the loaf rise.
Warm water
Hydrates the flour so gluten can form and activates the yeast.
Coarse sea salt
Controls yeast activity and strengthens the gluten, adding flavour.

The step that matters

Letting the dough rise until doubled. Rising is what gives bread its open crumb. Under-proofed dough stays dense, while over-proofed dough can collapse or lose structure in the oven.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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