No Yeast Bread

This recipe is perfect for those who don’t like the idea of baking with yeast. I know there are people out there who find baking with yeast is really challenging. Well, I won’t try to persuade them here because we all know baking needs experience. Enjoy this super easy yeast-free bread until you get enough experience with yeast.

So how do we make bread rise without yeast? With two staple ingredients in your kitchen: Baking soda and yogurt.

Ingredients

This is a 5-ingredient bread recipe without yeast, but you can reduce it to 4. Please read on to learn how.

The 5 ingredients in this recipe are as follows:

• All-purpose flour: You can use bread flour as well. If you want to use whole wheat flour, combine it with all purpose and then use. Otherwise, your bread will turn out too dense. 
• Baking soda: Make sure the baking soda you use is not out of date and it is still active.
• Salt: Use sea salt or table salt.
• Yogurt: Use plain sourish yogurt. I use Greek yogurt, but you can use homemade yogurt too. Just make sure it’s tangy. Otherwise the baking soda might not react well. If you think it’s not tangy enough, add a tablespoon of lemon juice in yogurt and mix well. 
• Water: I use water because the yogurt I use was really thick. If yours is runny or if  you are using homemade yogurt, skip water and use 1 cup yogurt instead of a combination of ¾ cup yogurt and ¼ cup water.

Substitutes For Yogurt

As we are using baking soda aka bicarbonate of soda in this no yeast bread recipe, we need an acidic ingredient so that the bread dough rises well. Yogurt naturally contains acid and helps the dough to rise when it comes together with baking soda in the dough.

If you don’t have yogurt, use the following ingredients as substitutes:

• kefir
• buttermilk
• milk and vinegar/lemon juice mixture (homemade buttermilk): Add lemon juice or vinegar into lukewarm milk and leave it for a few minutes.

As all the above substitutes are runnier than yogurt, you can skip water and use ¾ cup of these. You will have a 4-ingredient bread recipe this way.

Pro Tip: Make sure everything in the list above is at room temperature.

Alternative Add-Ins:

• If you prefer a slightly sweet bread, you can add 1-2 tablespoons honey. 
• If you want more texture inside your bread, you can add raisins and/or nuts, maybe some cinnamon too. 
• If you are more on the savory side, you can add herbs like rosemary or thyme and cheese in the dough.

How To Make

First, in a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients.

Second, in a medium bowl, whisk together the Greek yogurt and water until smooth.

Third, pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture gradually and combine them using your hand. Make a slightly sticky and wet dough. It won’t be a well combined and smooth dough at this step.

Fourth, transfer it on a slightly floured counter and bring it together in a ball shape. That little flour on the counter should help, but if your dough is still too sticky and/or runny, sprinkle a little extra flour and roll it into a ball. Just don’t overplay with it.

Fifth, transfer the dough on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Gently pat it down and make a cross on it with a knife for an even baking.

Sixth, for an optional topping, wet the top of the dough with your hand and sprinkle oats over it. This will result in a nice texture on the crust.

Finally, bake in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.

Serve it with comforting soups like roasted tomato and garlic soup, tomato carrot soup or old fashioned cabbage soup.

Tips

• It’s important to whisk baking soda with flour before pouring the wet ingredients. This will help even rising.
• Don’t overplay with the dough. You end up with a heavy and dense bread otherwise.

How To Store

This is a bread without yeast and it tastes great on the day it’s made, that’s why we make it in small portion. I would suggest that you do the same. But you can store it at a cool room temperature or in the fridge well-covered for 1-2 days. 

FAQs

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