Is there anything more liberating than baking your own bread? The moment you’re aware of the fact that you can bake your bread, you stop going to the supermarket to buy any.
We were facing a couple of problems with bread since as I have earlier mentioned that I’m living in a small town in China with limited options and availability, the breads available here though abundant aren’t the ones we’re specifically looking for. Mostly sweet or stuffed with meat, which puts me in a spot because hubby is a strictest of the strict vegetarian… sigh..
To resolve this situation and get custom made bread tailored to our needs (garlic/basil/cheese/oregano etc etc) I decided to cut to the chase and just bake one and finally omit the everyday early morning breakfast pop quiz.
Since it’s just the two of us I didn’t make a whole lotta bread, but the tiny loaf that I did make will last a almost 4-5 days by the end of which I’d be blogging about some other bread.
anywho’s.. the beautiful crusty bread.
Ingredients
1.5 cups white flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp active dry yeast
90 ml lukewarm water
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
Incredulously easy bread making..
in a small bowl mix in the water with the yeast and sugar and stir all to dissolve. let it stand for 10-15 minutes until the water starts bubbling.
In your mixing bowl add the salt to the flour and mix it, gradually add in the yeasty water and start mixing either by hand or your mixer. I did it with my hand thinking I’d probably lose a few calories before eating the bread.
It should for a very nice smooth, and stretchable dough. That’s it, you need to now rest and put the dough in some place where it will start rising. oil that utensil with the olive oil and cover with a cling film also oiled well so the dough doesn’t stick to it. I love watching the dough rise in every half hour interval.. these little yeasts do a good job, don’t they?
well let it rise for 2 hours..I was impatient so let mine rise for 1.5 hours. Take it out of its bowl and form it into some ovalish shape you’d want your bread to be. I flattened mine a bit from the top and again let it rise COVERED for another 25 minutes.
That done.. just bung it into the oven at 200℃ for 20-25 minutes depending upon the oven and how hardcore you want its crust to be.
Once done, pull it out, resist the urge to munch through it, or run a knife through it or embrace it. You’d know your bread is done when you knock on it bottom side to hear a hollow sound. Let it rest and VOILA !!! ze bread of ze dreamz..
Enjoy..
Driedredchillies 