The Simplest Bread Recipe Ever

I know I’ve made claims about my special banana cake recipe and that recipe is simply superb and just too easy BUT this time, I take my topi off to Yeo for the easiest bread recipe ever.
Even if you haven’t baked anything in your life, I bet you could bake this bread.

This is how the bread looks like, sliced...
This is how the bread looks like, sliced...

Especially if you enjoy chewy bread that’s stuffed full of pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.
Bread that is not made with white flour. (Ooooh, the white culprits.)
Bread that’s healthy. Made with organic rye flour and organic (unbleached) wholemeal flour.
When Yeo told me about this recipe, I didn’t really believe him. After all, he is a bread maestro. He makes things sound easy.
But I did taste his bread and I must say I was impressed. (As an aside: Did I tell you that I took home to Penang 3 slices of his homemade bread on the AirAsia flight from KL and the bread still tasted divine upon arrival? Make that 3 slices of homemade bread AND a box of sinfully rich butter cake and marble cake, tar-pau’d from the famous OUG weekend market.)
He made it sound too easy so I was keen on trying his recipe out only to find that I didn’t have the flours needed to make this bread and I had been way too buggered by work and projects to pop into Jusco to get my organic flours.
Until last week when I managed to get to Queensbay Mall.
I say this recipe is easy because I didn’t even need to knead the dough.
I just mixed everything up, put it aside to rise for a few hours, came back to stir it a bit, left it to rise again for an hour and then scooped the dough into a loaf pan and popped it into the oven. About 40 minutes later, the bread was ready!
I am not kidding.
The white stuff are rolled oats sprinkled on the top for rustic charm!
The white stuff are rolled oats sprinkled on the top for rustic charm!

If you’re new to bread-making/bread-baking and want something fail-proof, this has got to be it.
For this wholemeal rye bread, you’ll need to mix together in a fairly large mixing bowl:
3 cups wholemeal flour (I used Country Farm brand from Jusco, 500gm for RM4.10)
1 cup rye flour (also Country Farm brand from Jusco, 500gm for RM4.50)
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon salt (mine’s Himalayan Rock Salt)
2 cups warm water
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
You’ll get this gooey mess when everything’s nicely combined. Leave this in a warm corner of your kitchen for 3 hours. It will rise and become double its size. After 3 hours, stir it a bit (to deflate those air bubbles created by the yeast activity) and leave it for another 1 hour. It will start to rise again.
Get a loaf pan. I didn’t grease it but just sprinkled plain flour in it. I was worried the bread might not come out of the pan if I didn’t do that.
Scoop the dough into the loaf pan. (Remember to pre-heat your oven for 20 minutes at 180C before this.) Put the pan into the oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Once done, cool and pop bread out.
A closer look at the bread
A closer look at the bread

As this bread does not have any preservative or bread improver or anything faintly synthetic, it keeps well in a tightly covered container in the freezer. To serve, just thaw it by leaving it out at room temperature for a few hours or warming it in the oven for a few minutes. Great with pats of fine butter.
Nutty, healthy, dense and chewy bread - yummy with butter!
Nutty, healthy, dense and chewy bread - yummy with butter!

I found that a slice of this dense and nutty bread keeps me full the whole morning! It must be all those healthy seeds!
Thanks, Yeo for a brilliant bread recipe. This will probably be my fave bread too!

23 thoughts on “The Simplest Bread Recipe Ever”

  1. congrats! glad you like it! i include flaxseed too. these little fellas are great for omega 3s.
    i couldn’t buy rye the other day so went for just wholemeal. it rose even higher! but there is more depth in the taste with rye.
    if you fancy beer or stout, repeat above recipe but instead of water, go for beer or stout! then you have this thing called beer bread!
    no alcohol in the bread as at 180c, every bit of it is gone but it leaves behind a slight beery taste.
    one of these days i’m going to try to make some sun-dried tomatoes (tips courtesy from my friendly italian pizza chef in my neighborhood!). this should make even tastier bread.
    there’s so much variation we could do here!

    Reply
    • BG/Yeo – Gosh, I am confused what to call you here haha. You know me, I don’t even know where to get the flaxseeds from. If not for you who brought me to Bake with Yen the other time, I won’t know there’s so much out there ;-). I never go poke about baking shops in Pg (then again, maybe I should but there’s this very pushy auntie who tries to sell me all sorts of baking classes when I am there). I will try with beer soon (got to get some cheap beers from Langkawi). I read about your cool Italian pizza chef. Show some pictures of the hunk. Hmm, where to get sundried tomatoes lah?

      Reply
  2. ohhhhh…you evillll, eviiiillllll woman youuuuuu!! now have to go out and get some of them seeds and flour to have a go at this delicious bread. I’m drooling all over the place as it is…eeeeeeeeeeeeviiiiilll….hahahaha!!!
    i want to try oso lah! πŸ™‚

    Reply
    • Dotty – I wish I could poslaju the bread to you. But you try it. I can tell you, guarantee jadi punya. The bread is a no-brainer. It does not need to be uli by hand and that’s the beauty of it (anyway, cannot uli also…it’s so wet and sticky). Eh, cubalah and then you report and tell me jadi ke tak jadi. πŸ˜‰

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  3. a name is just a name. either is fine.
    organic shops, and even jusco, sells flax seeds. linseed oil is made from flax seeds. i’m sure nic has used some!
    i haven’t tried with beer but did so with stout. used “nautilus” a much cheaper stout. if i were to drink it, i’ll go for a better variety but to feed the yeast, they should be happy they even have some stout! tried once with royal stout, no difference in bread compared to using nautilus.
    i’ll snap pics of tony next time. with clothes on or without?!
    you could buy sun dried tomatoes from places like cold storage, but expensive! i’ll try making some. it can’t be that difficult. the name itself is a giveaway!

    Reply
  4. Wow! Looks sooooo good. I bet it’s great toasted with butter and jam. I wonder if you’d like my banana bread recipe – it’s made with whole wheat flour, molasses, yogurt, and more banana than most recipes call for. I spent a couple years getting it perfected and foolproof. Let me know if you’re interested!
    Thanks for the great recipe!

    Reply
  5. Hi I’m a first time bread maker. I found this site when I google searched for simpleset bread making receipe. I have tried it out yesterday and I was shocked to see the bread when I took it out from the oven, it looks almost the same like the one I used to buy from the bakery shop. The only different is the texture as I find it a bit moist inside when I sliced it. It is not so much on the whole bread but on few batches or lumps as if it is not evenly cooked. I’m not sure what has gone wrong or what is missing, appreciate if you could advise me or give me some pointers to improve.
    Thanks again for the receipe, it’s really easy to make and it definitely boast sup the confidence of a first timer like me to continue to make more … hope you have more receipes to share with πŸ™‚
    Regards
    Li Foong

    Reply
    • Hi Li Foong: Glad your first time at making bread is giving you a leap of confidence. I am not a super baker but I can point you in the direction of a good friend who is a superb baker. Please check out http://www.bleedinggumsmurphy.blogspot.com as he is my bread sifu! πŸ˜‰ He has excellent pointers and tips on everything you need to know about bread and making it at home.

      Reply
  6. hi maya, i tried nigella lawson cupcake recipe…yes it turned well…this time around, i nak cuba buat bread….yes the simplest bread ever recipt tuh….by the way nak tanya kalau i tak bubuh rye flour …just wholemeal flour….boleh ke maya?

    Reply
    • Hi Aisyah: Happy to note that your cupcake recipe turned out well. You should also try the banana cake recipe. Some of my friends have tried the banana cake recipe and it was a success. As for the bread, hmmm, I tak pernah try tanpa rye flour. Maybe boleh kot sebab dua-dua pun flour. I think it’s for health reasons that you can add rye flour. Can you try and let me know too? πŸ˜‰ thanks!

      Reply
  7. aah…you replied me SUPERB fast..hehe..thanks maya…yes! i will try your banana cake recipe…this saturday i wanna bake the bread without the rye flour….and will let you know on monday…

    Reply
  8. hi maya…this is aisyah again……tak jadi ler my bread maya….so saddd…i mixed everything as your recipe including the rye flour…..by the way what instant yeast brand you use ?

    Reply
  9. hi aisyah
    maya told me about the problem you faced.
    rye flour or whole wheat flour should still work well. only difference being rye has less gluten so doesn’t rise as much (or as easy) as wheat flour.
    ok. first thing first, did the dough rise? it should puff up by quite a lot. if it didn’t, then either your mixture isn’t correct or your yeast is dead. now don’t be surprised by this. despite my best efforts, sometimes my yeast is “compromised” too. so i just chuck it away and get a new supply.
    i better write a “troubleshooting” guide on my blog.

    Reply
    • Hi Elaine: If it didn’t rise, it could mean that your yeast wasn’t alive (maybe it has expired already). To test your yeast, take a little bit of yeast and stir into lukewarm water mixed with some sugar. The mixture should bubble within 20 minutes. This shows that the yeast is alive and kicking. If it does not, you have to get another packet of yeast.

      Reply

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