Can breakfast do without bread? Most people buy their bread from the shop, but there is certainly a difference between shop bread and homemade bread.

If you like, you can make soft, fluffy bread at home in a healthy way, using ingredients you have to hand and cooking it on the stove. Here is the recipe.

• Flour, 2 cups
• Yeast, 2 teaspoons
• Sugar, 2 tablespoons
• Salt, half a teaspoon
• Milk powder, 1 tablespoon
• Oil, 4 tablespoons
• Lukewarm water, half a cup plus 1 tablespoon
• Egg yolk, 1

Mix all the ingredients except the water and rub them together well by hand. Then add the water and knead well for 10 to 15 minutes into a soft, fluffy dough. Put the dough in an airtight container and leave it in a warm place for about an hour.

After an hour the dough will have risen. Take it out and knead it well again to knock out the air. Roll it out like a flatbread with a rolling pin, then roll it up and even out the sides.

Grease a bread mould lightly with oil and put the roll in it. Leave it in a warm place for another 15 minutes. If you like, you can set the mould on the lid of a pot of hot water.

After 15 minutes the dough will have risen to fill the mould. Brush the top with egg yolk. Put a large pot on the stove and add sand about 1 inch deep. Place a steel stand inside and cover the pot.

Heat the pot on high for 1 minute. Set the mould on the steel stand, cover the pot and weigh the lid down with something heavy for at least 15 minutes, with the heat on medium.

Then turn the heat right down, leave it for another 5 minutes and open the lid. If the top of the bread has turned brown, take it off the heat. After 10 to 15 minutes, turn the mould over on a plate to release the loaf.

Cover the bread with a damp towel or cloth folded thick, which will make it softer. When it has cooled, slice and serve. That is how to make soft, fluffy bread at home.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.