KUMBA BREAD RECIPE

I grew up eating this delicious sandwich bread that is popularly called “Kumba Bread” in Cameroon. That’s because most of the bakeries that first made these loaves were located in Kumba, a fiesty town in the South West region of Cameroon. The Nigerian equivalent of this loaf would be Agege Bread.

Sweet memories of having this bread with Ovaltine beverage fill my heart. If we were expecting a guest from another town, we would want them to show up with some Kumba Bread. I remember how my mouthed younger brother embarrassed a visitor because he showed up all the way from Mamfe to Yaounde to see us with no bread. Hah!

Making bread at home is addictive and if this is confession time, I am saying with knees bowed and hands raised that, “I am addicted to making homemade bread.” I love the fact that you can put whatever you want into your bread. You can use whole wheat flour, add dried fruits, you name it. The smell that fills your house in unbeatable and one very important thing is that your bread is free of additives or preservatives.

This is how I make Kumba Bread at home.

KUMBA BREAD RECIPE

Prep: 20 mins

Inactive time: 2 hours

Cook: 20 mins

Yield: 1 loaf

Utensil needed

Loaf baking pan

Ingredients

Flour (All-Purpose or Bread Flour)- 3 cups

Yeast- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons or 1 small sachet

Warm water- 1 cup

Sugar- 2 tablespoons

Salt: 1 teaspoon

Nutmeg: half teaspoon

Dry whole milk: half cup

Vegetable oil: 2 tablespoons

Here is the fun part:

Put warm water in a bowl and add yeast to it in order to activate it.

Throw in your flour, salt, sugar, nutmeg and milk.

Mix until you form a dough that’s not too hard. It should be soft and really stretchy. A hard dough will result in a hard loaf.

Put the dough on a floured surface.

Knead it for 5-10 minutes. You can knead for up to twenty minutes if you have more time. Time is not always my friend so I just knead for a few minutes. The kneading will improve texture and make your dough smoother.

Put your vegetable oil in a bowl.

Spread the oil round the bowl.

Put in your dough and let the oil rub all over it. This prevents it from sticking to the bowl while rising.

Cover with a plastic wrap.

Cover with a kitchen towel.

Keep in a warm place to rise for about one to one and a half hours. I usually put my oven on for about a minute then turn it off and let the dough rise inside. After it must have more than doubled in size. Open it up. Yes, yes, yes! Good things are happening!

Punch it down to deflate and form into a rectangle to fit your loaf pan. Grease your loaf pan and place bread inside.

Let it rise in a warm place again for about 30 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 Degrees Fahrenheit for about 15-20 minutes or until bread gets a pale brown colour.

Notes

If you would like your bread to have a glossy/shiny look, beat and egg and brush the top of the dough just before baking.

CHECK OUT MY OTHER BREAD RECIPES:

Milk Bread– The bread that needs no filling.
Dinner Rolls– The rolls that make your ride on waves of ecstasy (what does that even mean?)
Chocolate bread– The love of my life… and Mr N’s life… and the girls’ lives.
Coconut Bread– The coconut lover’s dream bread.

Love,

Comments

Angele marie says
March 29, 2016 at 12:31 am

Precious how on earth do u stay so fit when u make these delicacies on a daily basis. Mami u are a different classs. I bow for u ya. Great recipe, thanks for sharing dear. I wish I could steal some time to do this to impress my friends coming over in about 6days time. I have to do something from this blog. U are blessed dear. Keep up the great work

Precious Nkeih says
March 29, 2016 at 3:23 am

To tell you the truth I don't really do much to stay fit. We eat lots of fruits and vegetables in my house so maybe that helps. I'm starting a fitness challenge in the month of April so watch this space. All the best with entertaining your guests dear. You could choose another recipe that is not time consuming or make them some killer soya!
Thank you so much for always dropping really thoughtful comments. Ehugs

Angele marie says
March 30, 2016 at 11:53 pm

Thanks a mill dear, you are the best. I go spoil them finish with this soya and coconut rice with a precious touch. Wink.

Precious Nkeih says
March 30, 2016 at 11:56 pm

Awww please make sure you gist me when you are done spoiling them. Lol Soya is surprisingly easy to make and a crowd pleaser. Don't forget the precious touch. Ha!

Fassouma says
February 19, 2018 at 2:58 am

Dear Precious,
I want to try this recipe but I have problems with the units of measurement. Please can you give me the quantities in grams (g) for all solid ingredients and in liter (l) for all liquid ingredients?

Thanks in advance.

- Precious says
  February 23, 2018 at 11:24 pm
  
  Hi Fassouma,
  You need 375 grams of flour, 240ml of water and 65 grams of dried milk. If you want to convert more ingredients, you could use this conversion tool here: https://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking/
  Hope this helps!
  
Natacha says
March 25, 2018 at 4:47 am

Hi precious can i store the kumba bread in the freezer and then just reheat it in the oven when we want to have it for breakfast? How many days can the bread stay out? Thanks

- Precious says
  March 28, 2018 at 6:19 am
  
  Hi dear, yes you can do that. The bread can stay out for 2-3 days – be sure to keep it airtight. You can also store it in the fridge. Hope this helps.