COVID Bread

Regular yeast is hard to find these days, so I choked down my food snobbery and developed a white bread recipe which uses instant yeast. It’s not as fluffy as I like, but the LSS and The Girl wipe out an entire loaf when it comes out of the oven, so I guess it’s acceptable. 

The only way to learn how to make bread is to make bread: my first few efforts made excellent substitutes for cinder blocks. Eventually, you get a feel for the texture of the dough, and you’ll only have the recipe open in case you forget something. If your bread doesn’t turn out the way you want it, you can use it for breadcrumbs or homemade croutons. 

Ingredients

5 heaping cups with flour
1 tablespoon salt (I like coarse grind)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon instant yeast
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups warm water (just a wee bit warmer than lukewarm)
Olive oil cooking spray

Method

Measure the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer (yes, I’m cheating: I have no strength in my hands, and my fingers are so double-jointed they may as well be boneless), and whisk until combined. Drizzle with olive oil, then pour the water in evenly. 

Fit the stand mixer with the dough hook. Stir until a ragged dough forms, the increase the speed to 2 and knead for 8 minutes.  Keep an eye on the dough, adding more lukewarm water if it seems too dry, or more flour if it seems too wet. This isn’t a precise science. 

Once the dough is kneaded, turn it out onto a floured surface, form it into a ball, cover it with a clean dish towel, and let it rest for 3 minutes. While the dough is resting (it’s had a hard day), spray mixing bowl with the cooking spray. 

Once the dough is rested, put it back in the mixing bowl, turning to cover it with the oil. Cover with the dish towel and let it rise for 60 minutes. Once done, it should be doubled in size. Punch it down, cut it into two equal sized pieces, and let it rest on a floured surface, covered by the dish towel, for five minutes. 

After the second rest, form dough into loaves and pat them into 2 ungreased bread pans (I use non-stick). Cover with your trusty dish towel and let rise for another 30 minutes. While dough is rising, preheat oven to 375F. When the second rise is completed, bake for 35 minutes. 

Once bread is baked, brush tops with margarine and turn out onto a rack to cool. 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Warm Caprese Potato Salad

We love Caprese salad, and we love roasted potatoes, so why not combine them?  There are no measurements; you’ll have to eyeball the ingredients based on serving size (and how hungry you are).  Ingredients  Grape tomatoes  Roasting potatoes  Peanut oil (canola if you’re allergic) Salt Pepper Italian seasoning Bocconcini (I use light so I can lie to myself) Jarred pesto (I use Catelli, or you can make your own) Fresh basil or spinach leaves Preheat oven to 400f. Toss tomatoes with oil, salt, and pepper. Peel potatoes, if desired, and cut to approximately the same size as the tomatoes. Toss with oil, salt, and Italian seasoning.  Line a perforated pan with parchment. Arrange tomatoes and potatoes on the pan in a single layer, and roast 40-50 minutes. Meanwhile, slice bocconcini.  When veg is done, arrange on plate(s).  Place sliced bocconcini on top and drizzle with pesto. Garnish with shaved Parmesan and leaves. Also, we ate it too fast for a pic....
Read more

Baked Zucchini Chips with French Onion Dip

Image
I can’t speak for you guys, but I’m fat, and one of the many reasons why I’m fat is because I love crispy, salty snacks. I also hate vegetables.  In my quest to be healthier, I’ve been working on baked veggie chips which are actually delicious, and I think I’ve found it! BAKED ZUCCHINI CHIPS For the Chips 1 medium zucchini  Olive oil cooking spray  Herbed garlic sea salt (I use Epicure) For the Dip 1/3 cup low fat mayonnaise  1/3 cup fat free Greek yogurt 1 tablespoon Epicure French Onion Dip Mix Method Preheat oven to 225F. Line a crisper pan (pic below) with parchment and generously spray with cooking spray.  Thinly slice zucchini with a mandoline. Lay the slices on a clean dish towel in a single layer.  Lay another clean dish towel on top and press out moisture.  While zucchini is drying out, mix together the Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, and French Onion Dip Mix. Store in the fridge to allow flavours to blend.  Turning back to the zucchini, sprink...
Read more

Not Your Mom’s Mac and Cheese

Image
Macaroni and cheese is the ultimate comfort food, but I always felt it was hard done by, with mushy pasta and bland cheese sauce, so I ramped it up. If you use low fat cheese and 1% milk, you won’t even notice.  Ingredients  2 cups dry, whole wheat penne Couple shakes of salt 1/4 cup unsalted butter 1/4 cup diced onion 1 heaping tsp (and I mean heaping) minced garlic 2-3 shakes Worcester sauce 1/4 cup flour 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground pepper 2-3 pinches ground mustard 2 cups milk 2 cups shredded cheese (I like low fat Tex Mex or Italian blend) Shaved Parmesan, bread crumbs, and/or real bacon bits, optional Method Combine flour, salt, pepper, and ground mustard in a small bowl, set aside. Spray casserole dish with cooking spray, set aside.  Preheat oven to 350F. Bring 2-4 quarts of salted water to boil. When water is boiling, add penne and reduce heat to 7.5. Boil, uncovered, for two minutes less than recommended time for al dente. Strain and put in casserole dish.  W...
Read more