Despite this, I got it in my head this week that I needed to make some homemade bread. Maybe it’s because this is Jason’s birthday week and I am feeling more eager to please than usual (SPOILER ALERT—lots of yummy birthday dinner recipes coming your way the rest of the week!). Or maybe it’s because I am in the middle of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and have become somewhat enamored with the author’s self-sufficient lifestyle and am trying to emulate it in some small way. Whatever the reason, I made bread.
Now this is not my first bread—that honor goes to the it’s-so-good-you-will-never-believe-it’s-this-easy-to-make No-Knead Harvest Bread from King Arthur Flour. But that is a fall/winter bread to me. So I decided to give Serious Eats’ recipe for The Simplest White Bread Ever a try.
It definitely lived up to its name! It requires minimal kneading and no special equipment (unlike the no-knead method which requires a dutch oven). While it did not look as nice as the pictures that went a long with the original recipe, it was not bad for a first try. And the taste---according to Jason it was just plain good (which is definitely a compliment). I had one piece with our big dinner salad tonight. Jason, of course, had two. I guess it could be worse!
Yeast proofed and ready to go
After a quick knead
After a night's rest in the fridge
Slashed and ready to go into the oven
Simplest White Bread Ever
From Serious Eats
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons (1 package) yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
2 1/2 cups (11 1/4 oz) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1. Add the sugar and yeast to the water in your measuring cup and stir to combine. If you're using anything except an instant yeast, let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the mixture is lively and bubbly. If it's instant yeast, you can continue without proofing, or let it proof to ease your mind that the yeast is alive—your choice.
2. Put the flour and salt into a medium bowl, and stir to distribute salt.
3. Add the water/yeast mixture to the bowl with the flour, and stir to combine all the ingredients.
4. Sprinkle some flour on your countertop and dump the dough mixture onto the counter. Knead for a minute or two, adding flour as necessary to keep it from sticking. You don't need to knead until the dough is stretchy and elastic - just knead until it's a nice cohesive mixture and not a lumpy, sticky, blobby mess. Form it into a ball.
5. Drizzle the olive oil into a zip-top bag and plop the dough into the bag. Make sure the dough is completely coated with olive oil, zip the top, and stash it in the refrigerator overnight.
6. The next day, take the bag out of the fridge and massage it a bit, still in the bag, to mash out all the bubbles in the dough. You may need to open the bag to let the air out, but reseal it after.
7. Leave the bag on the countertop until the dough has come to room temperature, about an hour. It will rise and expand a bit during that time.
8. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Sprinkle some cornmeal on the bottom of a loaf pan.
9. Sprinkle some flour on your countertop, and dump the dough onto the counter. You don't need to squeeze every bit of olive oil out of the bag, but don't try to hold it back, either.
10. Knead and fold it a bit to incorporate the olive oil into the dough, then form the dough into a log that will fit into your loaf pan.
11. Put the loaf into the pan, cover the pan with plastic wrap, and let it rise until it has at least doubled in size. I used a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan and let it rise until it was about even with the pan (1 hour or so).
12. Remove the plastic wrap, slash the top with a knife, and bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes, until the bread is golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
13. Let it cool completely on a rack before slicing.
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