Baking your own bread is a satisfying endeavor. Nothing compares to the smell filling your kitchen, the crackly, golden crust as the loaf emerges from the oven, and that first warm slice smeared with butter.

If you’ve never baked bread before, the process might seem intimidating. Do you really need all this special equipment? What does “proofing” mean? Is yeast REALLY alive?!

The good news is that baking homemade bread is much easier than it looks. With a few simple ingredients, some patience, and a little practice, you can make a delicious loaf right in your own kitchen.

This beginner’s guide to baking bread will walk you through everything you need to know, from choosing ingredients to kneading, proofing, and baking your first loaf.

Why Bake Your Own Bread?

First of all, the taste. Homemade bread tastes nothing like that squishy store-bought loaf wrapped in plastic. Plus you have complete control over the quality ingredients. A basic loaf requires just flour, water, salt, and yeast.

Most importantly, at least in my mind: bread baking is a grounding practice.

As food writer MFK Fisher says in her book the Art of Eating, there is no other activity that will “leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread.”

Ingredients You Need to Bake Bread

For a simple beginner-friendly loaf, you only need a few basic ingredients.

Flour

All-purpose flour works well for beginners, but bread flour is an excellent choice if you want a chewier loaf with a stronger structure. Bread flour contains more protein, which helps create gluten.

Yeast

Active dry yeast or instant yeast are both good options. Yeast is what makes the dough rise and gives bread its light, airy texture. If you’re just getting started, don’t bother with sourdough quite yet. You’ll quickly get overwhelmed and be tempted to give up.

I call my Bake & Pray technique a “sourdough on training wheels.” The texture, flavor, and technique are quite similar to sourdough—but using a pinch of instant yeast instead of natural leavening allows you a wider margin of success as you get comfortable working with dough.

Water

Use room temperature water rather than very hot water. Water that is too hot can damage or kill the yeast.

Salt

Salt adds flavor, helps control the fermentation process, and provides color to your crust. Don’t skip it! I recommend coarse kosher salt.

Essential Bread Making Tools

Plenty of cookbooks will try to convince you that you need a Dutch oven, proofing baskets, a special razor blade, a Danish dough whisk, and a plastic dough bin to begin baking bread. Some might even encourage you to invest in a temperature controlled countertop proofer!

While these items might be fun to work with, they are not essential for baking.

Bear in mind that our human ancestors have been baking bread for millennia, feeling their way through the process day after day.

Here’s my quick list of bread baking essentials (and a couple items that are fun but not necessary):

Bowl Scraper 

A bowl scraper is the most underrated piece of kitchen equipment. I keep one on every surface of my kitchen! It’s cheap, small, and a total workhorse. Not only will it help you clean the sides of your bowl, clear your fingers of lingering dough, and scrape up the remnants on your table—it will also help you cut your dough, shape it, and transfer it to a piece of parchment or loaf pan.

A bowl scraper doesn’t need to be limited to baking either! I use mine to transfer items from my cutting board to a pot or pan and to clean dried on bits in my sink.

Loaf Pan

While loaves baked in a Dutch oven can be beautiful, if you don’t already have one, I would resist investing right off the bat. 

Until you get comfortable shaping sticky dough and building tension across the surface of your loaf, your bread will turn out prettier if you bake it in a loaf pan. I like to say that the external structure provided by the sides of the pan covers a multitude of shaping sins!

Kitchen Scale

You might be thinking, “is a scale REALLY essential to bread baking?” And technically, the answer is no. You can use measuring cups and spoons.

But of all the specialized pieces of equipment you could invest in, a kitchen scale will make the biggest difference in the end result of your loaf. The density of flour changes a lot depending on how you scoop it into your measuring cup, which means that your recipe could change significantly from batch to batch. A scale helps to standardize the measurements so that you can better learn how to read the behavior of your dough.

Beginner Bread-Baking Tips

Alright, you’ve got your ingredients and your tools. You’ve chosen a recipe to begin with. It’s time to dive in, right?! 

Here are a few tips I recommend you bear in mind as you get started.

Stick with a Single Recipe

You might be tempted to try out a bunch of different techniques straight out of the gate. But bread, unlike other recipes, requires repetition. It will vary from bake to bake. It asks you to slow down and learn to read the signs it’s giving you.

Choose a single recipe to begin with, and bake it over and over until you begin to understand what the dough is telling you. I’d recommend a recipe by a writer you provides deep explanation into their process and technique.

In my book, Bake & Pray, I encourage you to bake the simple loaf at least six times before moving on to more advanced techniques. With each bake, I provide more context for the technique, helping you slowly grow in your understanding of the loaf in your hands.

Signs over Times

I tell all new bread bakers to look for the signs, not at the times. Learning to bake bread requires practice. You have to communicate with your dough, batch after batch. Slowly, you’ll begin to notice the signs it’s giving you that it’s ready to move on to the next step. 

The timing of your loaf can vary a lot depending on the temperature and humidity of your environment, as well as the flour you are using. Use the time frames listed in a recipe as a suggestion, not a hard and fast rule. They will provide a framework for when your dough might be ready, but it’s on you to learn whether or not your dough is ready to proceed.

Check the Freshness of Your Yeast

Old or inactive yeast might prevent your bread from rising properly. I suggest using instant yeast rather than active dry yeast, as it tends to be more shelf stable and therefore less likely to cause you trouble.

Take a peek at the expiration date on the yeast packet. If you’ve blown past it, toss it in the trash. If the yeast has been opened and then left at room temperature…unfortunately, it’s not likely to work. If you’re worried that it might cause you issues, you can place a pinch in some warm water and see if it slowly foams up. That’s a sign that the yeast is still alive and ready to rise.

Cool It!

I know that there is nothing better than a slice of warm bread, fresh from the oven, slathered in butter.

It’s so tempting to run your knife through your loaf as soon as it emerges from the oven.

But let it cool 15-20 minutes before you cut into it. If you let the crumb finish setting first, your loaf will have much better structure!

Common Bread-Baking Mistakes

If your first loaf doesn’t turn out exactly as planned, don’t give up.

A dense loaf can be caused by inactive yeast, not allowing the dough enough time to rise, or, in some recipes, underkneading.

If your bread is very flat, the yeast may not have been active, or the dough may have been over-proofed.

If the bread is dry or crumbly, you may have added too much flour or baked it for too long.

Bread baking is part science and part experience. The more loaves you make, the better you’ll become at recognizing how properly developed dough should look and feel.

Easy Ways to Customize Homemade Bread

Once you’re comfortable with a basic loaf, you can start experimenting.

Try adding:

• Rosemary and garlic
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Everything bagel seasoning
• Sunflower or pumpkin seeds
• Rolled oats
• Cinnamon and raisins
• Dried herbs
• Jalapeños and cheese

You can also replace some of the white flour with whole wheat flour for a heartier loaf.

Frequently Asked Questions About Baking Bread

Is homemade bread difficult to make?

No! While bread baking takes some practice, a basic yeast bread is very approachable for beginners. Start with a simple recipe before moving on to more complicated breads.

Why didn’t my bread rise?

The most common causes are inactive yeast, water that was too hot or cold, or a kitchen that is too cool. Give the dough plenty of time and check that your yeast is still active.

Can I make bread without a stand mixer?

Absolutely. You can mix bread dough entirely by hand. In fact, hand-mixing is a great way for beginners to learn what properly developed dough feels like.

What is the best flour for beginner bread?

All-purpose flour is a convenient choice for beginners. Bread flour is another excellent option and can produce a chewier loaf with a stronger structure.

My favorite is Lindley Mill’s organic bread flour, which is milled right near my home in North Carolina. Fun fact: they supply King Arthur organic here in the eastern half of the United States! If you’re not here in NC, then I recommend King Arthur—regular or organic.

Your Homemade Bread Journey Starts Here

Learning how to bake bread from scratch doesn’t have to be complicated. Start with a simple recipe, learn how the dough behaves, and don’t be afraid of a few imperfect loaves along the way.

The more you bake, the more confident you’ll become at knowing when dough has been mixed enough, when it has finished its bulk fermentation, and when your loaf is perfectly baked.

And once you pull that first golden loaf from the oven, you’ll understand why homemade bread is worth the effort.

Looking to get started? Try my Bake & Pray book and digital workshop.

Save this beginner’s bread-baking guide to Pinterest and come back to it when you’re ready to bake your next loaf!