Bread Baking Made Easy
Freshly baked bread. The smell wafting through the house. The feel of crunchy crust and soft interior. The taste of home made.
Thing is, most breads take a while to make. Mixing the dough, kneading it, letting it rise, kneading again, and so on. At times, the kneading can be therapeutic, almost a meditative feeling to keep pounding the dough into shape. Gets out some aggression too.
But for those days when you don’t have the time or energy to knead, try this recipe; the dough still needs time to rise, but you can whip it together in 5 minutes and forget about it until you’re ready to bake.
The ingredients are simple, basic, and the flour can be plain white or any mix of grains you have on hand. Add a handful of Herbes de Provence to the dough for a nice treat.
Rustic Bread
(printable recipe below)
- 7.5 dl/3 cups warm water, at body temperature
- 1 T active dry yeast
- 1 kilo flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar (or honey)
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
Add the yeast to the warm water, let sit for about 10 minutes until bubbles form, then stir to combine.
Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, add the yeast water and the olive oil and stir until dough forms.
Just mix it together with a wooden spoon, no need to even get your hands dirty!
The dough is pretty sticky, dust it with a bit of flour before covering with a clean kitchen towel.
Leave for one hour or more in a dry place. Inside an oven works well.
After a couple of hours hidden away, this is what happens!
When dough has risen, divide into three parts and put in buttered loaf pans, or leave as is and simply dump it on a large baking sheet.
Recipe generally makes enough for two loaf pans as well as one smaller free-form loaf. Or one gorgeous large rustic loaf which makes a perfect gift if you’re off to a dinner party. Just put a bow on it!
Leave for another hour (if you have time), then bake at 400F for about half an hour (in pans) to 40 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before cutting as the bread is still very hot.
Serve as is, with a knob of butter, dip it in soup, add a piece of Brie, your fresh homemade jam…or whatever your favourite way to eat freshly baked bread is. Let me know how you enjoy it!
- 7.5 dl/3 cups warm water, at body temperature
- 1 T active dry yeast
- 1 kilo flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar (or honey)
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- Add the yeast to the warm water, let sit for about 10 minutes until bubbles form, then stir to combine.
- Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, add the yeast water and the olive oil and stir until dough forms.
- Cover and leave for one hour or more in a dry place. Inside an oven works well.
- When dough has risen, divide into three parts and put in buttered loaf pans, or leave as is and simply dump it on a large baking sheet.
- Leave for another hour (if you have time), then bake at 400F for about half an hour (in pans) to 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack and enjoy.
- Use any kind of flour you have on hand, mix white with grains, try spelt.
Comments
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Lucy
September 21, 2016
Thanks for the recipe it looks scrummy. Think I shall get my 3 young boys to give me a hand with this as it could be fun. Wish me luck, but at least there’s a reward to eat afterwards!