So I'm looking for a decent bread recipe I can make without a breadmaker.
I can give you the one I use frequently.
Put in a large bowl:
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups flour
(optional, 1/3 cup wheat bran)
2 cups hot water
Mix, then add:
2 Tablespoons active dry yeast
Mix.
Add 1 cup flour, and mix again
Add flour about 1/2 cup at a time until it's too stiff to stir
(By this time, the total flour is usually around 4 cups)
Let rise one hour.
Sprinkle with flour and knead briefly.
Shape into 2 loaves and put in buttered bread pans.
(Or shape into rolls or buns or pizza crust.)
Put in the oven, and turn the oven on to 350 degress Fahrenheit.
Bake until done, usually 15 to 30 minutes after the oven finishes heating (so maybe 30 to 45 minutes from the time you turned it on.)
"Done" is a matter of personal preference-- anything from white and soft to dark brown and crunchy.
Notes:
salt can be increased if desired
sugar = white sugar, the common cheap kind in the USA. Granulated, refined, made from sugar cane.
flour = unbleached all purpose flour from wheat (common in the USA. Bleached is probably fine, and other kinds may work, but I have not tested them.)
wheat bran adds a little fiber, and changes the flavor slightly, but I like the effect. The recipe works fine without it.
"Hot" water is what comes out of my faucet. I can stick my finger in it without danger of getting burned, but it's not comfortable to keep my finger in for long. Probably between 100 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
Yeast: I use active dry yeast from a big package. You can use one packet of yeast. If you use "rapidrise yeast" or "instant yeast," reduce the rising time to 1/2 hour.
"Knead briefly": you can skip the kneading, or knead for a long time, and the bread comes out fine anyway.
Bread pans: I use glass ones, about 5 inches by 10 inches. Or I make rolls or shapes like hamburger buns, and put them on a buttered baking sheet. Or I roll it out for pizza crust. I've even rolled it out and fried in a pan for flatbread. It's a pretty versatile recipe.
If the oven is pre-heated, let the loaves rise for a little while before putting them in (maybe 10 minutes-- until they have visibly puffed a bit.) But unless I am cooking other things, I save time and energy by letting the oven heat with the bread inside, which also serves as the final rising time before baking.
When it's done: it "feels" done when I touch the top. When you're new to the recipe, try for light to medium brown, and when you push on the top it bounces back up. If you're making rolls, you can rip open one of the middle ones to be sure it's not gooey inside. Of course a pizza is "done" when the cheese is melty and the right amount brown.
Rolls are good hot, but loaves tend to squish if you slice them when they are hot. They taste fine, but don't look as pretty. After cooling, the loaves are usually too crumby to make sandwiches, but slice well enough for toast or just buttered bread. For sandwiches, I shape it like hamburger buns, because they hold together better.
This bread reliably works for me, even when I'm baking in someone else's kitchen in another state, using their ingredients and their oven.