Alex "French Guy" posted a YouTube video on Apr 18, 2020 where he goes over how to cook a stupid-simple load of the most basic white bread possible, the video is titled "Homemade Bread for Beginners". I've cooked it several times and it is always delicious. The only problem is that he produced the written instructions in what I assume was great haste, and they leave much to be desired. After several years of dealing with my own half-assed transcription I am finally getting around to writing it up in a useful format to share with folks.

Because this is baking I am assuming that you already have a digital scale and will weigh out your ingredients. So don't complain to me about units, just push the unit button.

Thing Amount
Butter 100g
Whole Milk 2.5 cups 😉
Yeast 9g
Bread Flour 907 g
Sugar 88g
Salt 18g
  • Get your butter out and warming up so it is easier to deal with later, measure out 100g
  • Get your milk warmed up to where it's not cold. 75℉, or about 24℃, has worked for me, add your yeast to the milk and stir it around
  • Measure out and combine all your remaining dry ingredients in a big mixing bowl
  • Pour in your milk and add your warmed up butter, mix it all up with your hands until "it's a shaggy mess" (his words)
  • Walk away for up to an hour. Alex says this is the "autolyse method" (see notes below). This should help soften up the dough to make kneading easier
  • Knead the dough for 5 minutes
  • Pause for 15 minutes
  • Knead again for 5 more minutes

Now we do the first round of proofing.

  • Add a swirl of olive oil in a big bowl, place the dough in. Wipe the bowl with it. Cover with cling film or a lid.

You can transfer the dough to a refrigerator now, or not, that's up to you. People say this makes the dough tastier if you extend the proofing duration.

  • Wait until it has doubled in size, usually 2 hours at room temperature, sometimes more
  • This can be an overnight process if you choose to refrigerate your dough instead

Once the dough has risen:

  • Deflate it (pick it up, handle it a bit, slap it around, etc) and split it into two equal halves

Now you have a decision to make, are you baking now or are you waiting until later? You can plastic wrap or vacuum seal your loaves if you want to freeze them to cook later.

If you are baking now, roll out the loaf you're going to bake such that it will fit in your bread pan. Oil up your pan with some olive oil, I use it in a spray can and it works just fine. If you're feeling fancy you can cut a few oblique slashes into the top of your loaf. Now you wait for it to rise. This could take hours, or less. It depends on a lot of factors.

When it's risen to typical "bread size" you can pre-heat your oven to about 390℉ (200℃). Some folks like to put a pan of water in too so the baking zone stays kind of moist, that's up to you.

Put the loaf in the oven for 30 minutes, and walk away until the timer goes off. If you don't trust your oven, peek in from time to time and pull the loaf if it's going past golden chicken-nugget colors.

Leave it to sit for 30 minutes. I baste it with butter I melted during the bake. There's some food science reason for this. You can look it up. Correct me if I'm spreading Internet lies please!

Enjoy!