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Bread

White Bread

A simple yeast bread made from flour, water, salt, and yeast.

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

White 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.

Knead

  1. Dust a little flour on the dough and your hands.

  2. Fold the edge of the dough farthest from you toward the center, pressing down and away with your palms.

  3. Turn the dough and repeat the folding and kneading process.

  4. Knead until the dough is smooth, elastic, and no longer sticks to your hands or the board.

Rise and shape

  1. Place the dough in a wet bowl, brush the top with water, and cover with cloth.

  2. Let it rise near a warm place until it doubles in size.

  3. Shape the dough into small loaves and place in pans.

  4. Cover and let rise again until doubled in size.

Bake

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

  2. Bake small loaves for 35 minutes or brick loaves for 50-60 minutes.

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

Flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the bread its structure and chew.
Water
Hydrates the flour so gluten can develop and moistens the dough.
Yeast
Produces carbon dioxide gas that makes the dough rise and become airy.

The step that matters

Knead until smooth and elastic. Kneading aligns gluten strands into a stretchy network that traps gas. Stopping early leaves a dense loaf that tears easily and rises poorly.

“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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