Fall is typically a great time to do some baking and there nothing quite like the taste and smell of homemade bread!
Check out this episode of our podcast for our discussion on all things bread, or read on for a summary of what we discuss on the show!
 
Why Bake When You Can Buy? The Benefits of Baking Your Own Bread
 
You Control The Ingredients
One of the biggest benefits of making your own ANYTHING is that you get to control what goes in and what you keep out. 
Shelf brands typically have a lot of preservatives. Your homemade bread can have as few as 4 ingredients; flour, water, salt, and yeast. 
You can also customize your bread by adding any other ingredients you want.
 
Tastes Better
Without all of those icky preservatives and additives, your bread just tastes better.
 
Cost
If you’re comparing the cheapest white bread you can find at the store to homemade bread, the difference in cost probably isn’t that impressive. 
However, when you get into artisan and organic breads, which can cost you $4 to $6 at the store, making your own will definitely save you money. Even if you buy expensive organic nuts, seeds, grains, and other ingredients for your bread, your cost per loaf will still be less. 
 
The Smell Of Freshly Baked Bread in Your House
Who needs a fake scented candle when you can have the REAL smell of freshly baked bread wafting through your house?  
 

 
Will I Need a Lot of Weird Ingredients to Bake My Own Bread? 
Nope! The 4 main ingredients for bread are flour, water, salt, and yeast. Anything else you choose to add is up to you. 
All bread is a twist on these original ingredients. The best way to see what you like is to make a basic loaf a few times, and then start subbing different flours or adding mix-ins like jalapenos, olives, or dried fruit. 
 
Let’s talk about the main ingredients a bit more:
 
Yeast
Yeast is necessary for your bread to rise. Of course, there is bread that doesn’t contain yeast, like banana bread. These are called quick breads, and we could do a whole separate podcast just on them (and we probably will!). 
 
There are two main types of dry yeast:

Regular Active Dry – This yeast needs to be mixed with warm water and allowed to sit for a short period of time in order to activate the enzymes. This is called “proofing.”
Instant Yeast (aka Fast-Rising, Rapid-Rise, Quick-Rise, or Bread Machine) – This yeast activates more quickly and doesn’t have to be mixed with water to get it going. It can be added right into your dry ingredients as-is. 

There are other types of bread leaveners, such as sourdough starter, but we’re going to keep it simple for the purposes of this “101” article. 
 
Flour
While any all-purpose white flour will do, there are some other types to consider that are easy to find and can help you customize your bread.
 
Bread Flour
Bread flour adds a bit more “chewiness” to your bread due to its higher protein content. Protein is needed to produce gluten, which gives bread its chewy texture. There are both white and wheat versions of bread flour.
 
Whole Wheat Flour
Whole wheat flour is a bit denser than white flour so you would not just want to do a 1 for 1 swap for white flour in a recipe. Most recipes for wheat bread actually call for both types of flour. 
 
Other Flours
Strolling down the flour aisle at your local grocery store, you’ll find quite a variety of different flours. Until you get some bread baking experience, you’ll probably want to avoid swapping these into your recipes. 
Later on, you can always experiment with flours such as rye, oat, etc.