Simple Bread

We’re huge fans of fresh bread and ever sine our bread machine committed suicide, we haven’t had any in the house.  Jesse recently got a craving for it and found this Easy Bread recipe by Marcia Passos Duffy via the The Heart of New England.

I was kind of skeptical at first, but it really is a simple recipe to make.  I can handle 8 minutes of kneading and other than mixing the ingredients, there really isn’t that much more to it.  The taste was really good to.  I do think I made a mistake when I was forming the loaves, but that’s only because of the “cut” they want you to do to the top.  Other than that, it was really good. We already have plans of using it as a base recipe for a few different types of breads we want to try.

Ingredients
5-6 cups all-purpose flour (you can substitute whole wheat flour for 1 or 2
cups).
2 tbsp of dry yeast
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp salt
2 cups hot water (120-130 degrees F.)
A cake pan of hot water (used for humidity)

Directions:

  1. Mix 3 cups of the flour with the yeast, sugar and salt.  Pour in the hot water and beat 100 strokes (or 3 minutes with a mixer).
  2. Stir in the remaining flour until the dough loses its stickiness.  Turn onto a floured surface. Knead for 8 minutes.
  3. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a warm damp cloth.  Let rise for 15 minutes in a warm spot (away from drafts).
  4. Punch down and divide the dough into two pieces.  Shape into round loaves and place on a greased baking sheet.  Cut an “X” one-half inch deep in each of the loaves with a wet sharp knife.
  5. Place baking sheet with loaves in the middle of a COLD oven. Place a pan of hot water on the lowest shelf.  Heat the oven to 400 degrees and bake 40-50 minutes until golden brown.

November 24, 2009 · morgajel · No Comments
Posted in: Bread

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