Patty cake, patty cake

I love the taste of homemade bread; however working takes so much energy that when I get home, baking bread is one of the last things on my mind.  Many readers use and love the Artisian Bread in 5 minutes, a book I do not yet own.  Until ownership occurs, the web search was on for a french bread recipe that was easy to make and bake.  I found it!

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 package yeast  or 2 tsp powedered from the jar yeast
(rapid-rise recommended)
1 cup warm water
salt to taste (I use 3/4 teaspoon)

In a large bowl, combine water with yeast and salt. Let sit for five minutes. Stir in flour until the dough is stiff enough to knead. (Add flour a little at a time. Three cups flour is approximate; exact amount may vary.) Knead dough until smooth and elastic–a few minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl; cover. Let rise until doubled. Form dough into a french-style loaf and place on greased baking sheet. (Dust baking sheet with cornmeal first if desired.) Place immediately in oven (unpreheated!)–bread will rise as oven heats up. Set oven at 375-degrees. Bake for 30-40 minutes.

The best part about this recipe is that it works – for me!  Using recipes passed on by ‘real’ people who fit baking into a busy schedule are usually better than ones that you pick up from a book (or the web).  Usually, not always. 

Now, we cook using a wood cook stove and, if you are one of like mind, there are a few alterations that need to be noted: 

1. Oven was preheated; it takes about 30 minutes to get the fire hot enough to heat the oven (I’ll have to time it next time to confirm).
2. Oven temp can be 250 by an oven thermometer
3. Cooking time is 20 minutes for medium to dark brown loaves

Don’t be afraid to try this.  Perfect loaves in just a few hours.  I have not frozen the dough to use later and will do that sometime soon and post the results. 

Happy baking!

our daily bread

by Stacy of Little Blue Hen

Just pretend this actually got posted on the 21st, OK? OK. I just opened a show on Friday (that sometimes-pesky “work” part of Homemakers Who Work) and have been both away from the internet and severely neglecting my poor home. In two weeks, I saw my husband awake three times. He has been living on mac ‘n’ cheese from a box. We’re on our second loaf of store-bought bread in a row!

During one of my longest periods of unemployment, I started baking to combat boredom. I’m a stress-baker anyway, but I normally stress-bake desserts. What else do you want to eat when you’re stressed? Win-win! But bread is so cheap to make at home. Until recently, we hadn’t purchased bread in months. We prefer wheat bread at our house, and I am interesting in playing more with multi-grain recipes, too.

My mom has made her own honey whole wheat bread weekly since before I was born and eats it every day for breakfast with butter and honey. It’s still a comfort food to me. I haven’t quite perfected the techniques yet, but haven’t had any total failures. Several recipes have worked well for me, though, and I am still narrowing down my “go-to” formula.

The current contenders:

King Arthur Flour Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

Light Wheat Bread from Peter Reinhart’s Bread Baker’s Apprentice

Light Wheat Bread from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day (Ok, I think this is the white loaf that I tried out first. For some reason I can’t find my wheat bread photos. Pretend it’s a shade more brown. Thanks!)

The current leader is the Reinhart recipe, but I think I need to try the KAF loaf again to compare. It would help if any of the four grocery stores I have been to recently had powdered milk in stock! The draw of the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day (ABin5) recipe is its simple no-knead preparation and proportions for four loaves-worth of dough that can be refrigerated until needed.

One of my goals (as I commented the other day) is to get better at meal planning. With that, I think I should start mass-baking a bit more and freezing loaves of bread. I’m sure many of you already do this, and I aspire to be like you!

Do you make bread? Often? What’s your everyday recipe?