Homemade bread… one hour. No special equipment, no stand mixer with a dough hook… just your two paws and one hour of your time. I’m not sure I am emphasizing this enough… homemade yeast bread… in an hour. This won’t be the most remarkable/perfect bread you’ve ever had (mine was pretty dense/can’t say I’m not honest)… but it was homemade, yummy, slather with butter, fill the house with the smell of baking, homemade bread. That took you one hour. That is all.

Inspired by MySequinedLife

You’ll need:

2 tablespoons active dry yeast

1 cup plus two tablespoons warm water (if you want to be official between 110-110 degrees F)

1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil

0.25 cup honey, plus additional for topping

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

1/16 teaspoon baking soda

3 to 3.5 cups white whole wheat flour

Pre-oven/happiness

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Pour in oil and honey and stir. Let sit for five minutes until yeast is activated/frothy.

Add egg, salt, baking soda and three cups of flour and knead for a few minutes (just right in the bowl is fine). Depending on how sticky your dough is, you may want to add an additional 0.5 cup of flour (I did).

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place dough in bowl and cover with a dish towel or plastic wrap and let sit for ten minutes.

If you’ve always felt like you were better at hair than at baking: this is your moment.  Turn dough onto floured surface and portion out into four even sections if you are doing a four strand braid which can be easily achieved through this King Arthur Flour Tutorial. You are still a winner if you just want to do a traditional three strand braid just divide into three sections and braid like you’re babysitting.

Once dough is braided to a level you feel comfortable with (the point is to eat carbs not to perfect your braiding skills) place on a greased baking and sheet and brush top with honey. Sprinkle with oats, almonds, nothing, whatever to your liking.

Bake until crust is golden brown (10-12 minutes) and then cover loosely with aluminum foil. Continue baking until loaf is cooked through. I took it out after 10 minutes and I wish I had waited longer.

Let cool (or don’t) and eat.  I suspect that if any of this bread survives til the next day it would make excellent french toast.