Look around a bit for: "Wemos D1 Mini" and for "Platformio"
Some time ago I bought a bunch of ESP8266 boards and got them to work by just plugging in an USB cable.
Can't recall any trouble with them either, they just worked.
Then I discovered I liked playing with hardware such as dedicated motor timers and such more and attention wavered to other projects.
What I liked of the Wemos boards is their ease of use (Just plug in USB), addon boards for sensors and stuff, their small size and breadboard compatibility and their low price. If you damage a few of these boards (for example over voltage), well, each mistake will cost you EUR3. They are a bit more expensive then the bare ESP12 modules but a lot easier to work with. Get some ESP12 modules too, for if you want to build small projects, or put them on another PCB.