Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Plain Old White Bread

The other day Bryce put out his first crab pot. One of his favorite ways to eat fresh crab is in a sandwich on fresh white bread. We didn’t have any bread, so in preparation of him bringing home lobster for his and Tim’s dinner, I decided to quickly whip some up. I love crusty, crunchy, full of grains bread. The no-knead bread recipe is one of my favorites but that takes forever and wasn’t going to help with dinner in a few hours! What I came up with is bare minimum plain old white bread.

You can let it rise for longer and may have a thicker loaf but in this instance these loaves did just the trick. It is probably worth adding that Bryce came home empty-handed but the bread still went really well dipped in olive oil! If anyone has any quick, simple bread recipe that is their go-to, I would love to hear it!
White Bread


5 1/4 c plain flour
1 package active yeast
2 1/4 c water, room temperature
2 tsp sweetener (brown rice syrup/Agave/Honey/Sugar)
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tsp salt

1. Mix 2 1/2 c flour (Reserve 2 3/4 c flour) and all remaining ingredients together with a wooden spoon in a large bowl until no lumps remaining (~ 3-5 min).
2. While continuing to stir, slowly add the remaining 2 3/4 c flour.
3. Turn out onto counter and knead about 5-8 min until no longer sticky but stiff, smooth & elastic.
4. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl. Cover and place int a warm place for 45 min.
5. After 45 min, punch down dough, put on counter, separate dough into two pieces, cover and let sit for 10 min.
6. Lightly oil two bread pans. Shape the dough into loaves by pressing and pulling into shape. Place dough in pans. Cover and let rise 30 min.
7. Bake in preheated oven for ~ 30 min at 325-350 F. Bread is finished with it looks and smells done, sounds hollow when tapping and inserted knife comes out clean. Enjoy!

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