Five Ingredient Beginner Bread

“I can’t believe it’s already January 2024! Where did 2023 go?” I’ve heard this phrase muttered over and over again within my social circle. And though my brain decided to park itself back in September, I know exactly where the remaining months were lost. They were lost in “more.”

More appointments, more errands, and more extracurriculars. I need to accomplish more at work or I should spend more time being social. I need to do more, be more, go more…more, more, MORE!

Despite how hard I try not to be, I constantly find myself stuck in the more cycle. Some of it is due to the season of life I’m in, but some of it is self imposed. After digger further into the “why” behind my “more” I noticed an interesting pattern.

The more convenient something is for me to do, the more to-dos I tend to cram into a day. However, if I know something is going to be inconvenient, I become more intentional about budgeting my time and my energy.

Resolution In Motion

I chuckled when I realised that my time allotting abilities actually mimic Newton’s First Law of Motion…”an object at rest will remain at rest while an object in motion stays in motion.” Or in my case, “a Stephanie at rest tends to stay at rest while a Stephanie in motion tends to stay in motion.” At this point, you might be wondering what any of this has to do with bread. Hang in there…we’re almost to it.

After I had finished amusing my inner nerd, an interesting thought popped into my head. Originally, my New Year’s resolution was to be more intentional about having, doing, and spending less. But what if my resolution was actually to inconvenience myself more?…Starting with food.

I decided to make a list of products I refuse to purchase from a supermarket in 2024. Instead, I will either make the items from scratch or purchase them from someone local. Items on this list include pasta, dressings, baked goods, pudding, broth, boxed mixes, and you guessed it….bread.

Why Bread?

To make a loaf of bread from scratch, you only need a handful of pantry staples…flour, water, and yeast. If you want to make your bread taste better, you can add salt, honey, or seasonings. It’s that simple!

If you look at the label on the back of store bought bread, you’ll notice way more ingredients than the ones listed above. Since homemade bread only lasts 3-5 days, preservatives, additives, and flour conditioners have to be added in order to extend the shelf life of store bought loaves. This gives the bread enough time to get from factory, to store, to your home before molding.

However, if you’re like me, I prefer for the list of ingredients on my bread to be shorter than the list of ingredients on my bottle of shampoo. Unfortunately, many bread brands don’t qualify. But, by making my own bread, I can control exactly what goes into each loaf. This also means I control what ingredients go into my body.

Be sure to check out my Grain-Free Charcuterie Bread post if you’re interested in taking your clean eating bread adventure to the next level.

The Breadmaking Process

Mix it, knead it until it passes the pane test, then let it rise. Punch it, shape it, let it rise again. Then, you can finally bake it. Five hours and two mental breakdowns later, your family eats the entire loaf in one sitting because there’s nothing better than freshly baked bread. Now, you’re stuck having to repeat the whole process over again. Traditionally, this is how bread is made. Let me reassure you, it doesn’t have to be that way.

While it’s true that certain varieties of bread are an intricate work of art, others don’t have to be. I truly believe anyone can make a basic, everyday loaf of bread. The five ingredient bread recipe at the bottom of this post is the easiest one you’ll ever find.

This bread recipe requires a minimal skill level and is extremely beginner friendly. This bread dough is both versatile and forgiving. Simply mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and let it rise. Divide and shape it (boule or loaf) while your oven pre-heats. Then, bake it for thirty minutes. Let it cool. Done! Baking this bread almost doesn’t qualify as an inconvenience.

Conclusion

The act of intentionally inconveniencing myself by baking bread might sound absurd at first. But when I look back through human history, it was the moments of inconvenience that forced families to slow down. Skills were learned, character was developed, and relationships grew.

In my humble opinion, we live in a society that has made convenience synonymous with better. Quality has been traded for quantity. In just a few generations, we’ve traded the ability to feed ourselves for a dependence on supermarket convenience. If 2020 taught us anything, let it be that supply chains can be broken but self reliance is priceless.

In 2024, dare to be inconvenienced. Challenge yourself to bring quality food back into your home. Find contentment in less. Change how future generations see food and build your self reliance. And above all…go bake yourself some deliciously easy homemade bread. WINK!