Skip to main content
Bread

Wheat Bread

A simple wheat bread made with flour, yeast, salt, and water, baked in loaf pans.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Wheat Bread

Wheat Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 pounds of flour and salt.

  2. Dissolve the yeast in a bowl with the tepid water.

  3. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the yeast mixture through a strainer.

  4. Stir in the dry flour from the sides until smooth, then cover and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours.

  5. Sprinkle the remaining ½ pound of flour over the dough and knead until it pulls away from the bowl.

Shape and rise

  1. Divide the dough into two equal parts and shape into loaves.

  2. Grease two bread pans and place the loaves inside, letting them rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Bake and cool

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and bake the loaves for 1 ½ hours.

  2. Cool the bread on a sieve or towel before storing to prevent dampness.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Provides the gluten network that gives the loaves their structure and chew.
Compressed yeast
Produces carbon dioxide during rising, which leavens the dough and gives it an airy crumb.
Tepid water
Hydrates the flour to form dough and gives the yeast a warm liquid to activate in.
Coarse sea salt
Strengthens the gluten and controls yeast activity, adding flavour.

The step that matters

Kneading the dough until it pulls away from the bowl. Kneading develops the gluten network that traps the gas from the yeast. Under-kneaded dough rises poorly and bakes dense, while the dough should feel smooth and elastic rather than sticky.

“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.

More wheat bread recipes

Whole 125Barley 5Unfermented Whole 3 See all 74 →

You might also like

CornbreadCornbread345 recipesBread PuddingBread Pudding336 recipesMilk Bread RollsMilk Bread Rolls242 recipesPotato BreadPotato Bread124 recipes