Here’s a pretty simple bread recipe that I’ve made a few times!!
3 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp instant/active yeast
1 1/3 cup cold water
Stir together the flour, salt, and yeast. Add the water and mix until you have a sticky dough. I use a mixer but you can mix by hand too. Spray a little pam in a big bowl, put the dough in and cover with plastic wrap or a damp cloth and let it rise over night. it should double in size. after the first rise take the dough out onto a floured surface and shape into a rough loaf shape (doesn’t have to be perfect). Put it in a loaf pan and let it rise again for a few hours til it’s nice and big (big = more air bubbles and fluffier texture). Bake at 400 for 45-60mins.
Another tip I haven’t tried yet: when you put the bread in the oven, on a rack below it put a tray of water (about a half inch deep or so). The steam that’s created should keep the crust from getting to hard before the bread is fully cooked