Homemade Bread!

Well on my journey to stop paying other people to make things that I can make myself (and yes I understand some people have extremely busy lives and can't) I have gone down the homemade bread road. For the last few months I've been experimenting with some recipes to see which one will fit our family. To say I have fallen in love is an understatement. This bread is moist and is still wonderful after 2 days, I don't know about any longer because it only made it that long because I specifically kept some to see. Although we have found that to make sandwiches that won't be eaten right away it doesn't seem to hold up.

I have to admit that I have been a mindless food purchaser and not really paid attention to labels and from time to time I would get a notion to but it was never a long lived thing, convenience seemed to win over. I recently took a look at the store bought bread we have used for years and saw all sorts of weird named ingredients. Now I know that they need it to preserve the bread so it has a shelf life but when you make fresh bread and see how long it lasts its a little scary how well these preservatives work! 

The trick for me is going to be timing and staying on top of the bread supply. Recently I haven't been too good at getting up early so bread for lunch has been a little late. I have horrible time management skills and really need to work on discipling myself and working to a schedule. Some recent changes around here will really go along way to helping me achieve this goal. I think a few more attempts and I will have my timing down perfect for the lunch time loaf of bread.

The original recipe this is adapted from is the Food Networks Alton Brown from Good Eats, Very Basic Bread Recipe. I love his show, well some of it, not the silly parts. I love the way he goes into the science behind cooking. It really is a science when you break it down. It also helps you to understand why you do the things you do at a specific stage in the cooking process. Anyhow I have changed the method Mr Brown used because it required some prepping the night before and I didn't feel the yeast was activating as much as I would have liked. So I got Julia Child's french bread recipe which is delicious. I took some of the method she used and applied it to Alton's recipe. Anyhow the results was amazing. The bread rose better and had a much better shape but still retained the taste.

My ingredients list is simple and this makes it cheaper than a store bought loaf. I love the fact that it is honey not sugar. Yeast needs sugar or honey to do it's thing but I much prefer the ability to use honey instead of sugar because its much less refined.

The shallow pan with hot water in it at the bottom of the oven will help to get a soft crust and keep the bread moist while it cooks. But I cannot impress on you the importance of being careful when you open the oven door, water and hot oven equals lots and lots of hot burning steam, I KNOW!!!!!! Facial like I've never experienced nor care to again!!!!

I've made the bread at night and it's been perfect for sandwiches the next day. Although it didn't seem to hold up for my husband when he made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the morning and went to eat it at lunchtime.

By the way this is delicious with the Home Made Butter from January. In fact makes a peasant food like bread and butter feel like a luxury! I'll not even mention how delicious the BLT sandwich is either!!!

So give it a go you never know you could get addicted like me!!!!

Home Made Bread

Ingredients:

1 lb/16 oz bread flour, plus extra for shaping

1 tsp instant rapid rise yeast

2 tsp honey

10 oz of lukewarm water

1/2 tsp salt

2 quart hot water

Directions:

1. Combine yeast, lukewarm water and honey. Let stand for five minutes.

2. Stir together flour and salt in the bowl of a mixer. 

3. Using the dough hook attachment, add the yeast mixture to the bowl.
4. Knead the mixture on low for 2 - 3 minutes until the mixture comes together.

5. Cover the dough in the bowl with a tea towel and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

6. After 20 minutes, knead the dough on medium speed for 5 - 10 minutes. The dough will be sticky but shouldn't be too sticky to handle.

7. Add half of the hot water to a shallow pan and place on the bottom rack of your oven. DO NOT TURN THE OVEN ON.

8. Place the dough in the mixer bowl in the oven on the rack directly above the hot water. Cover and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 1 - 2 hours.

9. Once the dough has risen turn it onto a counter top, lightly dust your hands with flour and press the dough out with your knuckles.

10. Grease the loaf pan with butter and sprinkle with flour.

11. Mold the dough into a shape about the size of the loaf pan and set it inside. Cover and allow to rest for about 30 minutes till 1 hour until it has risen.

12. Turn your oven on to 400 degrees F. Add more water to the shallow pan if it has evaporated. REMEMBER BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL OPENING THE OVEN DOOR FROM THIS POINT ON - STEAM!!!!!

13. Place you bread in the oven and allow to cook for 35 - 40 minutes. Once the bread has reached an internal temperature of 205 to 210 degrees F, remove from oven and place on a cooling rack for 30 minutes. (If you are like me at least give it a few minutes so you don't burn yourself!).

Happy Home Cooking!!!