For The Love Of Food: How To Make Homemade Bread

Over the weekend, I decided to diss the regular store bought sliced bread and the very popular 'Agege' or 'Ifo' bread and make my very own loaf at home. It was really easy and it turned out nice. If I can, then you can too! Check out the recipe and the method below. I'll share a photo of how the one I made turned out right at the end of this post. *winks*

This is what you need for 1 loaf of bread:

3 cups of flour(any kind is fine. I use all purpose flour)
3 tsp active dry yeast
3 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup of warm water
1tbsp margarine (oil or butter work just fine, I prefer margarine)
1 egg

Step 1

Start by putting the flour, the yeast, the sugar and the salt and start mixing. (I was supposed to use a mixer, but thanks to NEPA, had to mix with my hand). Add warm water, 1 cup or as much as you need, until you make a nice consistent dough. You don't want the dough to be too soft, but if you by mistake end up pouring too much water, don't worry, it happens all the time. Just add some more flour. At the end, cut the margarine into small cubes and add it to the mixing dough.

When you're done mixing and the dough is a bit sticky but not significantly sticking to your hands, start kneading it with a bit of flour and form it into a ball. After that, put the dough on the counter or on a cutting board and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Kneaded dough resting

Step 2

After about 10 minutes, take the dough and roll it. It should look something like what's in the picture. Divide it in 2 equal parts and roll it again into 2 rolls of about 15 inches long and as wide to fit into your hand.

Put the 2 rolls next to each other, connect the at one end, and start braiding them together.

Step 3

Once you're done braiding, take the bread pan and spray it with PAM (what is PAM, abeg, I used oil!). Take the bread and put it into the pan slowly, tuck the ends underneath if needed. 

Take the egg and beat it, and with a brush brush it on the bread. This will give your bread a nice color. If you happen to be allergic to eggs, you can do that with oil or don't do it at all. Put it to bake at 350 degree, for 30 minutes.When it's done, take it out and let it cool at least 15 minutes before cutting into it. If you cut too early, the inside will be kind of gummy.

Finished product

Now I must confess that my own bread did not look exactly like this. For starters, I did not have a bread tin handy so I improvised with a small cake pan that limited the rising of the bread and affected the shape, but it didn't look all so bad, and it tasted really good and fresh too. You can be sure the next loaf I bake will be a lot better. 

TIP: I heard mixing in vinegar (equal amount with yeast) makes the yeast more active and does not affect the taste of the bread. I'll be sure to try that out next time too. Plus, if you have a sweet tooth, the quantity sugar in the above recipe won't do, double it!

Recipe and images from Instructables