Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Easy bread making

As winter comes on I am back to using the oven and fresh baked bread is back on the menu . No knead bread is an easy, quick, simple and no hands solution. Yes hands free, as in I never touch the dough with my hands until it comes out of the oven.

The recipe calls for:

3 and a 1/2 cups of flour. (Bread flour is best but all-purpose will work too)
2 cups warm water (if cold it will take much longer)
2 teaspoons salt
1 and a 1/2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
 
In a suitable warm bowl mix the water salt and yeast and then add the flour . Make sure the bowl is warm before you start . If it is cold it will take much longer to get the bread to rise .
Mix ingredients with the straight handle of a plastic spoon until they all come together in a soft mix that will hold the spoon upright. A bout two minutes time mixing. Then cover with plastic saran-wrap and place in a warm draft free location to rise for at least an hour and a half to two hours.
After about an hour and half . . .
It will have doubled in size and look like this.
Beat it back down with the spoon handle for about a minute until it pulls away from the bowl.
Pour the dough in a suitable oiled loaf mold . I sprinkled mine with sesame seeds cause I found some in the cupboard . Then cover with a clean kitchen towel and let it stand for about a half hour in a warm draft free place while you heat up your oven to 400 degrees F. Front burner of the stove is a good spot to let it rise.
After a half hour it will look like this . Pop it in the 400 deg oven for 40 minutes .
and enjoy .

8 comments:

  1. Good looking loaf, I can imagine it coming out, the butter melting as you spread it and maybe a fan of jam or Apple butter and a good cup of hot coffee or tea.

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    1. Never had much of a sweet tooth, always craved salt, so I stick with the butter. But to each his own. The bread is just as good with what ever you put on it. And the best part is that it is dead-nuts easy to make. And if you get it right you can have it done in three hours from start to finish. Today's lunch was some of the bread toasted with butter and a couple slices of Spanish Serrano ham. Think prosciutto ham but even dryer and darker.

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    2. Mmmm! Now that sounds good, I will give it a try. I forgot, HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

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  2. Hope Thanksgiving goes well up there. Given your proclivity for cooking I'm sure the meal will be a good one.

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    1. Hi Harry, Turkey day will be a quiet one around here. Roasted leg of lamb with taters and mixed veggies is on the menu. Hope its a good one for you too.

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  3. Good recipe. How strange, I see we use exactly the same salt!

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    1. I've had that tub of Baleine salt in the cupboard for ages. Its my one concession to french culture. Truth be told I mostly use Morton's Kosher Salt, but for this the finer grain dissolves easier.

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