My Bread making mission
For the last few months I have been making bread on a regular basis. Well in the last week I have made a new mission for myself (and by no means is it mission impossible). I aim to not buy any bread for the next month. Now I have 2 loafs in the freezer 'just in case' but will try not to use that either. So far I have made 2 weeks without using any brought bread. That is saying something as I go through the bread. We have it for breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner.
I am making bread from scratch, no bread maker or anything. I feel like such a domestic goddess. OK not so much of a goddess but very domestic. I have to say, I am loving it, it is so easy and not at all time consuming. I simply spend 5 mins getting the bread started in the morning, then let it rise, 5 more minutes spent with my bread at lunch time, then I leave it again till late afternoon to cook. OK I have some mishaps, yesterday it was a bit bigger than normal so I undercooked it a bit. But all in all it is brilliant, even the kids love eating it. I know exactly what I am feeding my family and we can chop and change to get different flavours.
The recipe I use is just the Edmonds cook book 'white bread'. Although I just realised that for the last 20 times I have mis-read the recipe (DOH) instead of the 2 tablespoons of yeast they say to use, I have been using 2 teaspoons. To be honest it seems to be one of those mistakes which works, not only do I like the non yeasty smelling bread, it's cheaper whoop whoop. At the moment this recipe makes two little loaf tins of bread and lasts us two days.
White Bread (My version)
In a bowl mix
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Surebake yeast (if you like yeasty bread 2 tablespoons)
2 cups flour
add 3/4 cup cold tap water
immediately followed by 3/4 cup boiling water (I mix the two into a jug and add at once)
2 tablespoons of oil (you don't have to add but I like it)
Mix together into a paste, leave for 2-3mins while you put the washing out.
To the mix add 2 more cups of flour (have another cup of flour sitting on the side to use when kneading if needed.
Mix into a dough turn out onto the bench and knead until it springs back to the touch (about 4mins).
Clean the bowl you had the mix in, put a bit of oil in the bottom and wipe it around to cover sides (this lets the bread rise easily), pop your dough in and make sure you roll it around a bit so it is covered in oil as well.
Cover with a clean tea towel and put in a warm spot (no need to drive to Napier to do that just pop it somewhere warm (aka hot water cupboard if you have one, next to cooking crock pot, near oven). I pop it in my bedroom sitting precariously on the window sill, where the sun shines through.
Leave it until it doubles in size or until you have another spare moment aka lunch time.
Pull dough out and knead for another 5 minutes, place in oiled tins (aka the ones you are going to cook them in) and then place in a warm place until it has puffed up again (another few hours). I find that small loaf tins are best as it makes 2 loafs of bread and the bread fits in the toaster, unlike my bigger loafs.
Place in the oven at (recipe says 200 degrees) but I like it at 160 as I have a hot oven. Leave it in there for about 30mins then let dry on a cooling rack.
Tip: If you don't want to make 2 loafs, you can make a loaf and buns or use the leftover as a pizza base or even a pizza bread just pop some relish etc on top with a bit of cheese and cook until puffed up.
NEXT.....
My next aim is to make sour dough (aka that fermenting stuff so that I don't need to buy yeast which is rather expensive.
I am making bread from scratch, no bread maker or anything. I feel like such a domestic goddess. OK not so much of a goddess but very domestic. I have to say, I am loving it, it is so easy and not at all time consuming. I simply spend 5 mins getting the bread started in the morning, then let it rise, 5 more minutes spent with my bread at lunch time, then I leave it again till late afternoon to cook. OK I have some mishaps, yesterday it was a bit bigger than normal so I undercooked it a bit. But all in all it is brilliant, even the kids love eating it. I know exactly what I am feeding my family and we can chop and change to get different flavours.
The recipe I use is just the Edmonds cook book 'white bread'. Although I just realised that for the last 20 times I have mis-read the recipe (DOH) instead of the 2 tablespoons of yeast they say to use, I have been using 2 teaspoons. To be honest it seems to be one of those mistakes which works, not only do I like the non yeasty smelling bread, it's cheaper whoop whoop. At the moment this recipe makes two little loaf tins of bread and lasts us two days.
White Bread (My version)
In a bowl mix
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Surebake yeast (if you like yeasty bread 2 tablespoons)
2 cups flour
add 3/4 cup cold tap water
immediately followed by 3/4 cup boiling water (I mix the two into a jug and add at once)
2 tablespoons of oil (you don't have to add but I like it)
Mix together into a paste, leave for 2-3mins while you put the washing out.
To the mix add 2 more cups of flour (have another cup of flour sitting on the side to use when kneading if needed.
Mix into a dough turn out onto the bench and knead until it springs back to the touch (about 4mins).
Clean the bowl you had the mix in, put a bit of oil in the bottom and wipe it around to cover sides (this lets the bread rise easily), pop your dough in and make sure you roll it around a bit so it is covered in oil as well.
Cover with a clean tea towel and put in a warm spot (no need to drive to Napier to do that just pop it somewhere warm (aka hot water cupboard if you have one, next to cooking crock pot, near oven). I pop it in my bedroom sitting precariously on the window sill, where the sun shines through.
Leave it until it doubles in size or until you have another spare moment aka lunch time.
Pull dough out and knead for another 5 minutes, place in oiled tins (aka the ones you are going to cook them in) and then place in a warm place until it has puffed up again (another few hours). I find that small loaf tins are best as it makes 2 loafs of bread and the bread fits in the toaster, unlike my bigger loafs.
Place in the oven at (recipe says 200 degrees) but I like it at 160 as I have a hot oven. Leave it in there for about 30mins then let dry on a cooling rack.
Tip: If you don't want to make 2 loafs, you can make a loaf and buns or use the leftover as a pizza base or even a pizza bread just pop some relish etc on top with a bit of cheese and cook until puffed up.
NEXT.....
My next aim is to make sour dough (aka that fermenting stuff so that I don't need to buy yeast which is rather expensive.
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