I just thought I'd show you guys an easy way to make a cheap loaf of bread at home that's really good.  The best part is, hands on time due to kneading is minimal, almost nonexistant.  Even you non-cooking gomers should probably be able to manage this one.  If not, have your wife, girlfriend, mother, mistress, or other random female do it for you.

Here's what you're gonna need to start out with.  


You need three cups of flour.  Whole wheat, all purpose, half and half, whatever.  I choose to do half and half this batch.
1.5 cups warm water
1.5 teaspoons of salt
0.25 teaspoons of dry active yeast

Pick a fairly large bowl for mixing.  This will rise.  Mix the flour and salt in a bowl.  Add the yeast to the water and let it dissolve for a couple of minutes.  Add the water to the salt and flour mix and stir it all together.  It will be very sticky and shaggy.  That's normal.  It'll look like this:





Cover it with plastic wrap like so:



Once it's mixed together and covered, treat it like a sore dick, meaning don't fuck with it.  Leave it on on the counter at room temp.  Let the yeast work for no less than 8 hours, although 12-18 is prefered.  I just mix it the night before I'm gonna bake it and leave it to sit overnight.  


The next morning, the dough should be a lot bigger and dotted with bubbles.  That's when it's ready.  Clean a part of your counter and lay down a bead of flour.  Use a spatula to dump the dough onto the flour.  



Flour the top of the dough and fold it over on itself a few times.  Return it to the bowl and let it rest covered for 15-20 minutes.  

Lay down a thick layer of flour on a clean towel and place the dough in the center.  Form it into a ball and flour the top of it.  



Cover it with the corners of the towel and place another towel on top of it.  Leave it rest for 1-2 hours.  




About 20 minutes before you're ready to bake it, take your baking container and place it in the oven while you preheat it to 475*.  You can use Corelle, Pyrex, cast iron Dutch oven, etc.  It has to have a cover.  You want it hot when you put the bread in it though.  



Uncover the dough.  It should be quite a bit bigger.



Dump the dough into the hot container and bake for a half hour with the cover on.  After a half hour, uncover it and bake it for 15-20 more minutes until it's golden brown.  

Once it's done baking, dump the bread onto a wire rack and let it cool for an hour or so before you eat it.  






I find it easier to slice it in half and then make crosswise slices from the half.  You can use a vegetable brush to brush some of the excess flour off of it, if desired.  

Not counting water and electricity, I figured the cost per loaf to be about 75-80 cents.  This loaf came out at just under 2 lbs, so it's a much better than the one pound loaves you buy at the store for $1.50.

Enjoy the fruits of your labor.

-2 for filthy burners...

I'll get those two back once you see the finished product.  Besides, it's not like you eat off the bottom on the cooktop anyway.

This is the same recipe I use.  Has been posted in the Food & Garden section many times.

In fact, I'm gonna go mix up a batch now.  BRB...

ETA: ok, did mine with 2 cups white flour and 1 cup of rye flour, which I've never tried.  Had to add a touch more water as the rye flour really soaks it up.

I've been making bread this way for over two years now with a 1/3 - 2/3 ratio of wheat and white flour with added steel cut oats, sunflower seeds (unshelled you boneheads!) and oat bran added with a little extra water. We make two loaves a week, usually put up early Sunday morning and baked Sunday night before bed.

It rocks!

Curious how this turns out; been interested in baking a loaf of bread.

Spot saved for future praise and/or snarky comment.





ETA:  Got enough flour caked on that crust?



 

Get rid of that iodized salt, use kosher.

Where's the gun?  There at least needs to be a tape measure to document how much it rose overnight.

Rye bread turned out very nice with a very mild rye flavor.  I like it better than the whole wheat loaves I've made.  Next time I'll try it with 50/50 white and rye flour.

My 7-year old son Sam makes bread almost everyday for us - usually 3 loaves at a time, and from scratch.  Whole wheat, half whole/have regular, cinnamon raisin, zucchini bread, and regular old normal flour bread (no whole wheat).  Oh yeah, he also knows how to make flat-bread that we make pizza out of which is quite good as well



Jenny has a recipe he follows that is always dead-on.  Just measure out the ingredients correctly, throw 'em in the mixing bowl, churn it up, let it sit for a while for the yeast to work, and then put it in loaf pans after oiling them.  The only part of the process he doesn't do it putting the bread in the loaf pans and putting it in/taking it out of the oven.  The mixing and measuring he does by himself, though.

Did eazy-e die of the aids before he finished baking his bread?

hmmmm, never let my bread rise for that long.  Maybe 2-3 hours at the most.  Tagged for more pics and results

Did you use the same recipe?





Waiting to see the fresh bread OP!




 
 

tag

Just what I was looking for!  

Looking forward to the next chapter!

Posted on 7/23 @ 8pm




Update fail.



Need MOAR Pics!



 

There wasn't much going on in the thread and I finished the bread early the next morning, so I forgot the pics.  I'll probably make another loaf in a couple of days.  I'll finish the tutorial then.  THer'es only about 1/4 of this loaf left anyway.  You don't want to see that.

What do you do after the dough rises? I mixed some up and it's sitting as I type.

tagged for future interest.

I let mine rise for 12-18 hours.  When it's time to bake it...

- Preheat oven to 450 F with the loaf pan in the oven.
- Once loaf pan is hot, remove it from the oven and put it on a potholder on the stove.
- Very carefully, using a rubber scraper and without collapsing the dough too much, scrap the dough into the loaf pan.
- Cover loaf pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes (note - use a tall loaf pan as the bread rises in the oven).
- Remove foil and bake for 15 more minutes.
- Remove from oven and cool bread on a wire rack before slicing.

The recipes I've seen call for temps as high as 500 F with a total bake time of 35 minutes.  This method seems to work best with my oven; you'll have to experiment with yours.

If I use whole grain (wheat or rye) flour, I have to add about 1/4 cup more water to make the dough come out right.

The sore dick comment made me laugh and then wife a little gaggy.

Tag for outcome.

-10 for not using Bread flour. Sorry, that all purpose is crap when making bread, Use real bread flour instead. It'll bake up better.

tag

Thanks, Bubbles!



 

Updating.  Making another batch.  It's gonna go into the oven in a half hour or so.

Tag!

This took forever to load on my 28.8. I wish I had been warned

It's bread!!!!!

K, so since this is the idiots guide, I've got an idiot question:  If you wanted to make a loaf of bread, would you just put that lump of dough in a bread pan?

You could.  Just make sure it's big enough, since the dough will rise and make sure you have a way to cover it, cookie sheet on top, foil, etc.  You need to trap the humidity of it cooking inside for the first 30 minutes.

I use one of these –– got it for a wedding gift.  It works great, comes with a zillion recipes and options, and all you have to do is press "start" and forget it.

 

Can we get a cross section shot? I wanna see the rise. I'm not a huge fan of "dense" breads, but this looks interesting.

Same recipe I use.  Only difference is I add about a pound of gruyere cheese.  

Props to your kid. When I was seven I think I could make a grilled cheese, maybe scrambled eggs.



Now you need to go camping and have some fun with the Dutch oven.



 

tag

I'm making this right now at work.  Thanks!

From Julia Child:  Add a table spoon of wheat gluten to bread flour.  The gluten makes a great dough.

Let us know how it turns out.

Tag... Thanks for the tutorial.....

That bread is pretty gangster.

Glad you like it.

Is it possible to freeze the dough for future use?

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

tag