This is a tried-and-true recipe - it's not my own, however. A friend shared the recipe, and I shared it too - on my old blog. It's originally from here.
Nothing smells better than fresh bread - am I right?
So basically, if you're having a tough time selling your house, just pop a loaf of bread in the oven right before the viewers come to do a walk-though. They'll buy it in an instant. (No guarantees for a house that is exorbitantly overpriced, falling apart, full of mildew, conveniently located right next to the home of a convicted murderer, or still has an outhouse in the back yard as the only bathroom. Etcetera.)
Now, I'd like to take you through making this bread - my way.
Oh, and I'm eating a slice of the loaf I made two days ago while the two new loaves from today are singing on the counter. Just so you know.
What you need to know beforehand:
- This bread will cost you about 40 cents a loaf.
- It requires no kneading.
- It requires a grand total of about 5-10 minutes of "you" time.
- You need space in your fridge.
- Fresh bread in an hour a day! An hour where you are doing other things - like showering, or doing laundry, or reading a book.
Yield: 4 1 lb loaves.
Ingredients:
- 3 cups luke-warm water
- 1.5 tablespoons instant yeast
- 1.5 tablespoons coarse salt
- 6.5 cups unbleached flour.
Tools:
- a tablespoon
- a measuring cup (liquid)
- a wooden spoon
- a LARGE bucket with lid
- a baking sheet
- parchment paper
- baking stone
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| Ingredients & tools to mix |
Step 1: Mixing it up
- Pour 3 cups of lukewarm water into your large bucket
- Add the yeast lightly over the top of the water.
- Add the salt.
- Stir.
- Add flour.
- Stir until just mixed (all flour should be incorporated. It will be a wet dough.)
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| first tbsp of yeast |
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| mixing water, yeast, salt |
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| adding flour |
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| mixed |
Step 2: Rising
- Let is rise on the counter for 2 hours
- Store in fridge. Allow to rise there a minimum of 3 hours so the dough will be less sticky.
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| 2 hr rise |
Step 3: Baking
- Pull/cut off a 1 lb (grapefruit size) chunk of dough with well-floured hands.
- Pull top of dough around the underneath to create a "gluten cloak" on top.
- Place on parchment paper on the back of a baking sheet.
- Let rise 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, let baking stone heat in 400 degree F oven.
- After dough has risen 30 min, slash the top with a sharp knife ( to allow for air release.)
- Slide off of the baking sheet onto the baking stone in the oven.
- Bake at 400 F for 30 min, until golden brown.
- Remove from oven & let cool.
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| before rising |
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| after rising & slashing - in oven |
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| baked! |
Step 4: Eating
- Let cool before cutting, for best texture.
- Slice & serve!
- My favourite toppings: honey, miracle whip & cheddar cheese, salt & peppered tomato, home-made jam, butter
If you run into any troubles (I did the first couple of times) - check back to the original link (at the top of this post) where they give hints & tips that might help!
Enjoy!
looks good Em! Are you still making bread? I'm still at it... determined to finetune it!
ReplyDeleteI still am :) I just made a bucket with part whole wheat, part unbleached. We'll see how it turns out - I'm still trying to get it right too!
ReplyDeleteso, did the whole wheat mix work?
ReplyDeleteIt's a little dense, but it's not at all soggy & it tastes good!
ReplyDeleteHi Em!
ReplyDeleteIts Sharlene. :) quick question:
for the step 2, you let it rise on the counter for 2 hours, and then you put it in the fridge, where it rises in the fridge for 3 hours?
then after 3 hrs in the fridge you move on to step 3?
Also, how long do you let your baking stone heat in the oven for?
Also, when you "perfect" this recipe for half white, half whole wheat, can you give me the recipe for that again? :)
like, you said its a bit dense, but how is it now, like, what do you do for it?
Thx! great blog!
You can leave it in the fridge for up to two weeks, and move on to step three any time you want a loaf of bread :)(It makes about 4-5 1 lb loaves.)
ReplyDeleteI let my baking stone heat for 20ish minutes, could probably do 10 if the oven's preheated.
And I'll for sure send you a message when I figure out the whole wheat/white recipe. I find that now, I just throw a slice in the toaster and it's lighter already. It IS a heavier recipe already...but ya. I'll update ya.