How to Make Perfect Bread | Chickens in the Road

Apr
19

If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me how they could make perfect, pretty loaves like mine, I’d have, like, at least a dollar. I did include a demonstration about bread pan size and how to get taller loaves in this post. (In short, narrower pans make taller loaves. Also, a bread recipe that is bigger will make taller loaves, too–sometimes a bread recipe is simply too small. My Grandmother Bread recipe is designed with tall, pretty loaves in mind.)

Yet sometimes you can do everything right and still have ugly bread.

Or maybe you didn’t really do everything right. Maybe you are so snotty about your bread-baking prowess that sometimes you don’t bother to measure and you make too much dough. And because of that, maybe sometimes you bake bread so tall that the bread overflows and sticks to the edges of the pan where you didn’t grease it. And maybe by the time you hack it out of there, the top breaks off and it looks like you made three (mutant) loaves of bread instead of two.

Good thing you don’t have company coming over again.

Oh, wait! You do!!!

Maybe you can stick that top back on there and nobody’ll notice…..

Or not. THAT’S WHAT YOU GET FOR BEING SUCH A SNOT.

Oh, wait. That would be me, because I’m totally sure you would never do that.

But! All is not lost. Perfection is still within our grasp.

All you need for perfect bread, no matter what it looks like, is….

…..butter.

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22 Responses
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4-19
2:41
am

Now if I could only make a perfect biscuit like KFC. As far as the loaf that split in half, scoop out the inner bread and fill with beef or chicken stew. A different version of a bread bowl?

maryann - Reply
4-19
4:11
am

I wondered why I woke up so dadgum country early (I’m a 9-9:30am riser, if my cat will allow it)!!! It was the smell of fresh-baked bread! No, not in MY apt., but in my head – I KNEW you were posting about bread. Darn it. Wish you’d send some down here.

Good morning!

Nancy in Atlanta - Reply
4-19
4:38
am

Butter makes everything better!! I would chunk it all up and serve it on a platter with a bowl of butter in the middle…..like that’s what I’d planned all along! (Been there, done that )

CindyP - Reply
4-19
5:07
am

Amen to that! Butter, lots of it, and never, never, never margerine!

Sue - Reply
4-19
5:09
am

I personally like a little bread with my butter.

WV_Hills - Reply
4-19
5:47
am

UH-HUH!

shirley - Reply
4-19
6:13
am

Goofed up homemade bread is better than store bought bread any day. So butter up and enjoy. I am sure your company did.

Diane

Diane - Reply
4-19
6:23
am

I just need to get where I make more good loaves than bad loaves. We go through a lot of butter around here when I make bread.

beekudzu - Reply
4-19
6:32
am

Margarine is evil. I had a friend who used to called it axle grease. Butter is the answer, if that doesn’t work, then add more butter. Your day will only improve from there. Also, there is always bread pudding, croutons, stuffing, and bread crumbs to consider when bread loaves are less that picture perfect.

Sheila Z - Reply
4-19
6:37
am

I cannot make bread. Even with a breadmaker. I guess it’s a good thing I wasn’t born in pioneer times. My man and child would have starved.

Lucy - Reply
4-19
6:43
am

I love the shape of homebaked bread! The taste is lovely, especially with homemade jam! I am so lucky that I have a bread machine! It is just so hard to wait for it to be ready to eat! If I made it now . . . .it would be ready for lunch. MMMMMMM!!!

monica - Reply
4-19
7:35
am

Oh that’s torture…..you just had to add a little pat of butter!I bet it’s nice and hot too! Hummm.

Leah - Reply
4-19
7:58
am

Yep! Give me fresh hot bread and butter any day!!!!! When my hubby gets in from cutting the grass – I’m going to show him your recipe – he loves to make bread – maybe today I’ll have some!

Angie - Reply
4-19
8:08
am

OMG You are so funny! And all this time I thought there were people out there like “YOU” that always made perfect loaves of bread. I do know however that most of the time the uglier the better it tastes….especially with lots of butter ;0)

Becky - Reply
4-19
10:49
am

I’m so happy to see that you are not perfect! lol Maybe now I will try making bread again. My first batch was so ugly I haven’t tried again. Your are so right about the butter part though!!

I hope everyone on the farm is doing ok today!!!

trish - Reply
4-19
1:49
pm

Perfect or not, your bread makes my mouth water!

Estella - Reply
4-19
2:13
pm

Amen!

Katharina - Reply
4-19
2:17
pm

Oh, I use to make a beautiful loaf of wheat bread. The smell would make you salivate. But now that my girls are grown, I just don’t anymore. And I haven’t been able to smell that wonderful yeasty smell in a long time either!
Brenda

Brenda Kula - Reply
4-19
2:34
pm

now finally i see my bread (using your recipe) on your site!
those look normal to me….aren’t they? and the butter part
is so true or even just jam – guava jam! lots and lots of jam!

robin - Reply
4-19
6:17
pm

When my children were children, I used to bake bread all the time. I would make whole grain breads with sourdough. I would throw in leftover porridge and raisins and sunflower seeds and whatever else looked good, and I would produce heavy but delicious loaves. I miss those days and that bread, but I don’t dare start doing it again, because I don’t know how to make a little bread. Whatever I start out to do, I end up with a kitchen full of dough, and my burgeoning waistline doesn’t need a kitchen full of dough. I don’t suppose you send out care packages?

Sandra Leigh - Reply
4-19
8:59
pm

Gimme lots of butter..everything goes better with butter..

SuzieQ - Reply
5-6
5:38
am

We enjoy your Grandmother Bread a lot. I usually make it once a week and combine, white, whole wheat, rye and oatmeal flours for a good multi-grain bread. One loaf will be plain and one with cinnamon, sugar and raisins rolled in it. I also like to knead Italian Seasoning in a loaf sometimes. Thank you for posting this good recipe.

Frances Robson - Reply