Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Yeast is well known for being one of the most common bread making ingredients. But what if you don't have any yeast? The good news is you don’t have to give up your bread making hopes, and it’s perfectly possible to make your own bread without any yeast at all.
Pioneers ran into this problem all the time. Yeast wasn't something you could just grab off a shelf, and keeping a sourdough starter alive took daily attention that wasn't always practical on the trail or during a hard winter.
So they leaned on chemical leaveners like baking powder and baking soda, which give you a quick rise without any of the waiting or fussing that yeast requires. That's exactly what makes this recipe so handy, and it's why it still works great as a backup when you're out of yeast or just short on time.
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In this video, Townsends shows how to make bread with no yeast in just thirty to forty minutes, include prep time. Here's the recipe…
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- ½ teaspoon of sugar
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- ¾ cups of water, around eighty degrees Fahrenheit
- Cookie sheet and parchment paper
- Large bowl
A quick note on that baking powder: Make sure yours is still fresh because it loses its punch over time and stale baking powder is the number one reason a quick bread comes out flat and dense. If you're not sure, drop a spoonful into a bit of hot water. If it fizzes right away, you're good to go.
Instructions:
1. Pre-heat your oven to 425F.
2. Line your cookie sheet with the parchment paper.
3. In your bowl, whisk together the sugar, salt, baking powder, and flour.
4. Add in water and mix everything together with your fork and your spatula.
5. Sprinkle flour over a flat surface.
6. Place the dough over the flour-covered flat surface and knead it together for around two minutes.
7. The dough should now be very smooth. Try not to overdo the kneading here. Unlike yeast bread, which you knead hard to build up gluten, a quick bread like this one only needs enough working to bring it together and smooth it out.
8. Flatten out the dough into a rectangle shape with the palm of your hand.
9. Fold the dough as if it were an envelope.
10. Sprinkle a little bit more flour over the dough.
11. Form the dough into your preferred loaf shape.
12. Place the dough over your prepared cookie sheet.
13. Bake for 15 minutes at 425F.
14. Lower the temperature to 350F and bake for another 10 minutes. If you're not sure whether it's done, give the loaf a tap on the bottom. It should sound hollow, which tells you the inside is cooked through. You can also poke a toothpick into the center, and if it comes out clean with no wet dough clinging to it, you're all set.
15. Cool the bread over a wire rack. It's worth letting the loaf cool for at least ten to fifteen minutes before you slice into it, as tempting as that fresh-baked smell makes it. The bread is still finishing up on the inside as it cools, and cutting too soon can leave the center gummy.
And that’s it! As you can see, it’s an incredibly simple and straightforward process to prepare bread without any yeast involved whatsoever.
This bread is best eaten the same day it's made, since yeast-free loaves tend to dry out faster than their risen cousins. If you've got leftovers, wrap them up tight once fully cooled, and day-old slices are wonderful toasted or used for grilled sandwiches.
To see how it's done or to follow along, watch the video by Townsends below.
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