Thursday, June 11, 2009

Bread (it's cheap)

I was wandering around online recently and decided to try to make my own bread. I don't know about everyone else, but I usually end up throwing away like half of every baguette I buy because I don't eat it fast enough and it gets hard. So in an effort to be budget concious and just because cooking is cool I decided to make my own. Super cheap (biggest expense is the yeast, but that's still less than a dollar a packet and you can make 2 baguettes or one big sandwich loaf with one) and I like being able to brag that I make my own bread.

It is really easy. You don't need a bread maker. You don't need a bunch of ingredients. It's literally just flour, water, yeast and if you want to add a little salt or a little honey or sugar you can but you don't need to. You basically put a packet of yeast into about 3/4 of a cup of warm water and squirt some honey in (optional). Then after 10 minutes it should be all foamy and you slowly add whatever type of flour you want, and maybe a little salt. Punch it, knead it, beat it up, and do that for like 10 minutes until it puffs back up when you poke it. Let it sit an hour in a bowl with something covering it (like a dish clothe), then gently punch it back down and put it in the shape/container you will cook it in. Let it sit 1/2 hour then stick it in the prewarmed oven at about 400 degrees until it looks ready (golden brown). Maybe half hour? I don't keep track that well, but about that. Tada! Bread. If you want to get fancy there's a bunch of sites all over the place that have great ingredients, but that is the basic recipe and it is so easy.

EDITED TO ADD : Oh, yeah, and you might want to put a bit of olive oil on/around the dough when it is rising so it doesn't stick to the bowl, and some more in whatever pan you cook it in.

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