Bread Baking
Once upon a time, I knew a girl and her name was Lisa and she is a fantastic cook. She is one of those Mary Poppins type of chefs (I know Mary was not a chef, but a remarkable nanny/friend, just keep tracking with me), she is the type of cook to snag the leftover vegetables on your counter and make an abundant amount of food, like the best soup you have ever sipped or a spanking good ratatouille. This LIsa is a marvelous maker of breads. She can whip it up with her eyes closed and in a matter of minutes. It is remarkable. At one point, I asked Lisa how she makes these scrumptious loafs, and she told me. I will now tell you… in a moment.
Even though in a sense I think I can be a city girl and I love the life we live near the city, I tend to day dream about living on a large property in the country. I envision opening our home to anyone and everyone, having a gorgeous flower and vegetable garden and having the neighbor kids run around with ours while I make the perfect bread on a regular basis.
This is the thing, if I am going to live in the country and make bread, I might as well start perfecting my homemade bread recipe right here in my tini-tiny city apartment.
I once read a chapter in one of my favorite cookbooks about a man who moved to Paris and wanted to be a chef and he ended up renting this minuscule apartment where he said he had barely any room to cook because of the lack of counter space. He said he learned to cook the best meals on that tiny counter top and I want to do the same on mine. I might never have a large kitchen, but I do have water, flour, salt and yeast. Therefore: I can make bread. Furthermore I can make it really well. Lets do this:
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp Salt
1 Tbsp Yeast
2 Cups *Warm* Water
4 Cups White Flour + more for rolling (Can be substituted with wheat or other flour)
1 Heaping Tsp Raw Honey
Olive Oil
Directions:
In a large bowl, pour in warm water
Mix in honey until it is mostly melted
Add salt and sprinkle yeast over the surface of the water until it becomes foamy and bubbly
Stir everything together and start adding flour, one cup at a time until the dough comes together and is not super sticky. Slightly sticky is fine.
Roll and knead the dough for at least 5 minutes.
Drizzle a bit of olive oil in the bowl that you mixed the bread ingredients in and make sure it coats the bowl. Place the dough back in the bowl and put a cloth over the top of it and let it rise for one hour. It is best to let this happen in a warm space, so pop it by the heater if you need to.
After the hour is up, the dough should have at least doubled in size. Knead the dough for a few more minutes.
Separate the dough in half and roll each part into separates large loaf shapes and place on a pan, Give them both some room to rise and wait for about 10-15 minutes while the oven heats up to 375 degrees.
Cut small lines on top of the dough and on the sides to let it breathe.
Bake the dough for 35-45 minutes depending on your oven
And it is done!
These pictures are from my whole wheat, thyme and honey bread, but the recipe is for a classic white bread, you can change this basic recipe a lot and add in things you like!
Enjoy!
XO
Kait
