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I bake my own bread. My goal for 2011 is to not buy any bread but
rather only eat the bread I bake myself. I am going to list some of the receipts
I like here so people can try them out.
Basic ciabatta bread, round loaf, or bread pan Loaf
If you want to learn to
make a great simple loaf of bread at home you have got to check out this great
video at foodwishes.com. The bread is easy to make and taste great!
Check out the link to the
Basic Ciabatta Bread: Link:
http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2009/01/no-knead-ciabatta-bread-you-can-believe.html
You can bake your own
bread!
I modified the basic
recipe and have come up with some of my own.
Here are my modified
recipes.
This recipe
makes one average size loaf of bread (normal single bread pan 5'' x 9'').
Ingredients:
3 cups bread flour (makes 1 single 5"x9" bread pan loaf)
*Note: you can use All-purpose flour if you want
3 teaspoons dry active yeast
2 tablespoons of honey or: sugar, Agave
nectar, or molasses
1 1/3 cups water
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup of olive oil (you can use Crisco if
you prefer the taste)
The process:
- Heat
the water to 110 - 115 degrees.
- Dissolve the honey (or whatever sweetener you are
using).
- Add the yeast to the water and honey and proof for 10
- 15 minutes (it should foam up).
- Mix flour, salt, and olive oil together in a mixing
bowl.
- Add the yeast and water slowly! Your dough
should come away from the bowl and not be wet.
- When the dough is mixed turn the dough out on a
clean flat floured work surface and need until dough is smooth.
- Cover the dough with a kitchen towel.
- Clean the mixing bowl with hot water and dry with a
towel.
- Oil the mixing bowl.
- Put the dough in the oiled mixing bowl turning once in
the bowl to coat both sides of the dough.
- Cover the mixing bowel with a plate for 45 minutes to
rise.
- Dough should double in size.
- Punch the dough down and knead for a few minutes.
- Put the dough in a bread pan or on a pizza stone cover
with a plastic grocery bag.
- Let rise again for 45 minutes. (Preheat the oven
during the last 10 minutes of the rise)
- Bake until brown (about 40 - 45 minutes at 375
depending on your oven)
- Bread is done if the center temperature is 190
degrees.
Notes:
- I
used a pizza stone instead of a cooking sheet on the lower rack of my oven
and dust the stone with corn meal before I put the dough on the stone to
rise the second time.
- I
preheated my oven to 500 degrees and put a shallow pan on the bottom rack of
the oven during the preheating step.
-
Bake the bread at 350 - 375 for about 45 minutes. Your oven
temperature and times will vary.
- I make both round
loafs on my pizza stone and also use a bread pan using this same recipe.
They both work great.
- After the bread had risen on my pizza stone I put the pizza stone with the
bread on the middle rack and dashed about a ¼ cup of water in the shallow
hot pan under the pizza stone. This gives the oven some humidity during the
first 10 minutes of baking which helps create a really nice hard crumb on
the outside but keeps it soft on the inside.
This is a basic recipe that
can be modified to make whole wheat bread, and herb and cheese breads.
I suggest that you master the basic white bread recipe first. Then you can bake many different types of
delicious breads with just a few minor changes to this recipe.
Dave's White Buttermilk and Honey Loaf
Follow the same process as above using the same ingredients. Just
add 3 heaping tablespoons of powered buttermilk and use about 2 tablespoons of
honey when you mix the water, sweetener, and yeast together. I really like
the taste of this loaf. You can taste the sweetness of the honey and the
tartness of the buttermilk. It is a great combination.
My finished white buttermilk and honey loaf looks like this.
Dave's Whole Wheat Buttermilk and Honey Loaf
To make delicious whole wheat loaf just substitute I/2 cup of whole wheat flour
for 1/2 cup of white bread flour. You are still using a total of 3 cups of
flour. 2 1/2 cups of white bread flour and 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour.
Everything else in the recipe stays the same.
Try these
recipes out and let me know how your bread turns out. I found it to be very easy
after a little practice. The loafs I made look and taste great! I have not purchased a loaf
of bread at the store since December 2011.
Good
luck and happy baking.
Dave
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