Make Real Bread at home

With rising food costs and a growing awareness of the negative health impacts of ultra-processed foods, it's becoming increasingly popular to make food staples at home with minimal wholesome ingredients.

Real Bread Week, celebrated annually in the second half of February, is all about appreciating real bread made without additives, preservatives or artificial flavors. Learning to make your own bread is an incredibly rewarding journey, connecting you to an ancient practice, saving you money, and improving your health in the long run by knowing exactly what's in your food.

To get you started, here are 5 breads that you can easily learn to make from home with the simplest ingredients: flour, water, yeast (or sourdough starter) and salt!

Fumie's Rosemary Focaccia - Jenny Lynn's No-Knead Rustic Bread

1. Sourdough

Sourdough is a special type of bread which is made using a fermented ‘starter’ dough rather than traditional bakers yeast. The natural yeasts present in the starter make the bread rise and give the loaf it’s characteristic flavor and chewiness. It's also incredibly gut-healthy with lower gluten levels than other types of bread, making it much easier to digest.

This bread may seem like a lot of work at first but once you have your starter, it's incredibly rewarding to make such a beautiful loaf at home.

If you don't have a starter, here's a recipe for one - it uses rye flour but you can use any bread flour:

How to Make Rye Sourdough Starter Recipe by Felice

Making your very own sourdough is super duper easy and you need only 2 ingredients - whole grain flour, in this case rye flour, and water. The third ingredient is time ;) The process involves only mixing together the same amount of flour with the same amount of water (by weight) and waiting a couple…

CookpadFelice

Once you have your starter, you can make your bread! We have tons of recipes for sourdough bread, sourdough pizzas, sourdough pancakes and more! Here are few recipes to get you started:

Basic Sourdough Bread Recipe by Lavender

After making natural yeast, I try to make this one! Love the crust and crumb! So tasty: fluffy and airy! Recipe adapted from Foodbod Sourdough. #mycookbook

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Sourdough pizza Recipe by Sam Meadley

Once you get into the habit of building the levain before bed, this is actually really easy to fit into your life. Tastes so much better than anything you’ll buy from a shop and it’s a lot of fun. My kids love it!

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California Farm Soft Crust and Hard Crust Sourdough Bread Recipe by Hobby Horseman

Water, flour, sourdough starter and a pinch of salt, the classic way to bake bread. We bake four french rolls of sourdough bread a week, either white sourdough bread or wheat sourdough bread. I make the dough and replace the sour dough starter Sundays. Depending on the time of year, it takes the dou…

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find more sourdough recipes

2. White Bread

With a few simple ingredients and a little bit of patience, you can make this everyday bread at home, perfect for toasts in the mornings or sandwiches for lunch.

If you have a dutch oven, try this recipe by Elyse Rose:

Artisan style white bread Recipe by Elyse Rose

Great recipe for Artisan style white bread.

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You can also use a loaf tin to make a taller, fluffier loaf:

Mums homemade white bread Recipe by Teri-lynn

This is my mothers homemade bread recipe that originated in Ireland from my great grandmother .

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explore all our white bread recipes

3. Flatbread

Possibly the easiest bread to make, it's no wonder why flatbreads are a staple in so many cuisines - from Indian naan or roti to Middle Eastern pita, Mexican tortillas, and more. These breads don't need an oven to bake, just bring the dough together with your hands, roll out until flat and toast them up in a dry pan.

You can use them to make your own wraps, or freeze them to eat anytime with your favorite curries, salads or soups.

Arabic pita breads Recipe by Stella T

Pita breads with no yeast

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Garlic Butter Naan Recipe by Helen Klassen

Soft and pillowy naan is easy to make at home and will melt in your mouth!!

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explore all our flatbread recipes

4. Homemade Bagels

The only thing better than sliced bread is bagels, and the only thing better than bagels is... homemade bagels. These Jewish breads are traditionally boiled before they are baked which help create that irresistible chewy texture. Learn to make them at home with this easy to follow recipe:

Homemade Everything Bagel Recipe by Minda

https://www.mindas-kitchen.com/

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Want to make them even quicker? Try greek yogurt bagels that are made with baking powder instead of yeast and don't require boiling.

Gluten free or want a healthier alternative? Make a slightly denser version with almond flour instead – they toast up beautifully!

Quick and Simple Bagels! 🥯 Recipe by Caitlinn King

This recipe is so easy and a healthier alternative to regular bagels. Enjoy!

CookpadCaitlinn King

explore more bagel recipes

5. Bread Rolls

A breakfast staple from Germany to Malaysia, bread rolls are easy and satisfying to make at home, plus they freeze well and are perfecting for meal prepping. Try different versions of bread rolls from around the world: