Diane, I made your plain old everyday bread this morning and oh my *God* it is by far the best loaf of bread I’ve ever made. My husband had a piece and asked if I still had the recipe because I’m going to need to make another loaf.
I'm so glad it worked out well for you!
(sags in cheerful relief) Because even though I know the recipe's rock solid, people's flour does vary... and even within a given timespan the same flour won't necessarily always absorb water on one day in the same way it will on another.
For those interested in the recipe: it's over here.
ETA for @iamthespineofmybook: Any oil that's not hysterically strongly-flavored will do; but since the bread's based on a Tessinerbrot (from Switzerland's Italian-speaking canton Ticino/Tessin), its "home oil" is olive oil, and that's what I normally use... whatever plain old olive oil is handy. Regular vegetable oil will work fine too.
"This is my absolute favorite bread recipe. The bread doesn't have to proof, it only consists of a few simple ingredients and the carrots make the bread particularly juicy! The longer the dough is kneaded, the fluffier it becomes."
2-4 tbsp melted butter or olive oil (can substitute garlic confit, otherwise add lots of garlic powder)
1 tsp salt (I use garlic salt and chicken seasoning)
1 can of 12 oz beer, lager is good, or pale ale
1 tsp thyme
1-2 tsp rosemary
Make sure to spoon the flour into the cup and level it off, don’t scoop the flour from the bag. Mix dry ingredients, then add beer and oil and stir until just combined. Put it in an oiled loaf pan, then cook at 350 degrees for 1 hour, maybe a bit less.
Crust should be firm but flakey, lightly browned on top. Inside is very moist and spongey, like a savory banana bread. Crumbles easily, doesn’t slice very thin, so not good for sandwiches or toast. But it’s the perfect bread for soup, and if you start it first it’s done when the soup is.
Used a fresh cube of yeast instead the usual dry one and learned that next time I'm pulling out the king form for it.
Easiest recipe ever, no proofing needed. Just mix and put into the cold oven for an hour.
Recipe 👇🏻
500g spelt flour (I assume any other bread flour will do also)
500ml handwarm water
150g Sunflower seeds (or other)
2 teaspoons salt
1 cube of fresh yeast or 1 package dry
2 Tablespoons fruit vinegar (apple, etc)
Mix flour, seeds and salt
If dry yeast: add it now
if fresh yeast: dissolve in the warm water before adding it to the dry mixture.
Roughly mix.
Add vinegar and finish mixing so that everything is incorporated.
Pour into a pan and put into the cold oven.
Turn oven to 200° top/bottom heat.
Bake for roughly one hour, depending on your oven.
Improvised rosemary bread I made in my bread experiments
I didn’t use measurements for any of this because it was improvised I just wanted bread as soon as possible
Materials:
Large mixing bowl
Spatulas
Spoons
Liquid measuring cup
Parchment paper
Large metal baking tray
Silicone food brush or napkin or spoon or something that spreads glaze on stuff
Small bowl
Damp towel
Butter knife
Ingredients:
Flour
Packet of yeast
Can of carbonated water
Crushed rosemary
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Sugar
Grated Parmesan cheese if you wanna
Steps:
Preheat oven to 425 f
Put a small handful of sugar in the liquid measuring cup
Put yeast in the liquid measuring cup
Pour the whole can of carbonated water in the liquid measuring cup.
Let the liquid measuring cup rest somewhere that’s room temp or warm for about 15 minutes. It was warm outside on the day I made this bread so I let it sit outside in the sun while the yeast did it’s thing
While the yeast is doing whatever it does put some flour in the mixing bowl
Once the liquid measuring cup contents are ready, pour it into the mixing bowl
Pour some olive oil into the mixing bowl, not a lot of it but a decent amount
Add more flour if you need to
Add the crushed rosemary into the mixing bowl, measure with your heart
Stir this stuff with the spatula until it is mixed into like a ball of dough
Knead that ball of dough inside the mixing bowl a little bit to get it fully mixed
Make a towel that’s big enough to cover the mixing bowl opening damp but not dripping
Put the towel over the mixing bowl
Put the now covered mixing bowl in the same spot you put the liquid measuring cup and leave it there for 40 minutes. Once again, it was a warm day when I made this stuff so I left my mixing bowl outside in the sun and took a nap outside in the sun next to it for 40ish minutes
Cut off a good sized sheet of parchment paper and lay it on your table
Put a handful or so of flour onto the parchment paper
Once the 40 minute timer is up, put the dough on the parchment paper and knead it until it’s not sticky
Portion the dough into 4 pieces and shape them however you want, i shaped mine into thick disks
Cover the dough with the same damp towel you used earlier and let it rest for like 20 - 30ish minutes
Cover a large metal baking tray with a sheet of parchment paper
Mix olive oil and salt in a small bowl
Once you’ve let the dough rest for like 20 - 30ish minutes, uncover it and put the 4 servings on the parchment paper that’s on the large metal baking tray
Brush the servings with the olive oil salt thing you made in the small bowl
Put a bit of pepper on top of each of them
Bake them for 15 minutes or until if you stab the centers with a butter knife it comes out clean
Once baked, let them rest for a bit
Turn off the oven
If you wanna, you can put a little bit of grated Parmesan cheese on the tops of the breads and stick them in the oven while it’s still warm to let the cheese melt on. Only if you want to ofc, it’s optional.
hi heres a bread recipe its really fucking good and really fucking easy also measure the garlic and rosemary with ur heart not a spoon and put garlic in the bread dough with the rosemary okay thank u byeeee
Hiii unrelated question but I seen you made a cake and was very curious if you made homemade bread? I've been wanting to try to make some and was looking for some good recipes if you have one?
Hi! I do make bread - made some the other day as it happens!
My standard recipe is this (sorry for metric measurements!!)
Ingredients:
500g bread flour (the one linked above is half wholemeal and half strong white flour, but any bread flour should work for this)
1 sachet of instant yeast
1 tsp salt
3 table spoons olive oil
about 300ml warm water (depends on how dry/wet mix is)
Method:
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl, keeping the salt and the yeast on separate sides (so you don’t kill the yeast with the salt)
Add olive oil
Slowly pour in the water and mix until it’s all combined smoothly but not sticky. If it doesn’t come together, add a splash more water, if it’s too sticky, add more flour
Knead for at least 5mins on a lightly floured surface until it’s smooth and kind of stretchy (you should knead longer but I’m lazy and this works fine for me)
Leave in a lightly oiled bowl (so it doesn’t stick as it rises), covered with a tea towel or something, in a warm place for about an hour until it’s doubled in size.
After that, gently knock the air out of it (press it back down into the bowl with a fist), knead it a little bit again and shape it into a loaf shape on a sheet of baking paper (so it doesn’t stick to the tray)
Put it on a tray to prove again for another 30mins - 1hr (depending on how warm the environment is) and then heat the oven to 200°C
After it’s risen decently again, put it in the oven for about 30mins (may need more) until it’s golden brown and sounds hollow when you tap the base.
Place on a wire rack to cool off a bit before you tuck in
Hope that makes sense and that I wrote it down right :)!! It’s the way my mum taught me.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the peanut butter and the honey to the hot milk and stir to combine.
Cool milk mix until it reaches 115ºF. Stir milk mix into flour mix. Knead for 15 minutes, adding more flour if necessary to make a smooth, elastic dough
Oil the dough's surface, then cover with plastic or a damp towel. Let it rise in a warm spot until double. Punch down, then shape into 2 rectangle loaves or one large wreath.
Let rise again until doubled. Bake at 375ºF until golden; it should make a hollow sound when tapped.