Easy Bread!

Do you love fresh bread?  Fresh baked pizza?  But, like me, you are tired at the end of the day, and you feel you don't have the time or the energy to make your own dough. Or maybe you want to eat whole grain, but you've found that things like 100% whole wheat pizza dough is hard to come by. Here is the easiest way I have found to have great bread, to make it cheaply, and to know exactly what is in it because I put it there myself. Yes, I have a bread machine. It is in the closet. Why would I get it out when I can have great crusty, yummy whole wheat bread every day with 5 minutes of work? Here's the recipe. I'll be posting other things to do with it as I can. For now, love the crusty bread!

Master No-Knead Bread Recipe

3 cups lukewarm water

1 1/2 TBL yeast

1 1/2 TBL salt

6 1/2 cups flour – I use whole wheat.*

(You can double this if you want to 13-6-3-3 --which is easy to remember)

Note: I like King Arthur whole wheat best, and I also enjoy their white unbleached whole wheat flour made from white wheat. So far, it is my favorite whole wheat flour. I also like King Arthur because they are employee owned. (They are not paying me to say this.)

dough after it has risen in the fridge-
Note the fancy pie tin top. 

I mix this up in a big plastic container. (I usually have to add more water especially if I use King Arthur.) Stir it with a big wooden spoon until everything is moistened. It will make a very wet dough. Put a loose lid on it. Because it has to be abIe to let gases out, you can't use a tight fitting lid. (I put plastic wrap on and lay a tin pie plate on top because it fits my container perfectly, but for a couple of years I put plastic wrap across it and fastened it with a giant blue rubber band.  When I lost the rubber band and had to find another solution.) Put it in the fridge and leave it for at least 3 hours. It will rise beautifully. When you get ready to use some, just put flour on something (I use the smooth back of a plastic cutting board) and pull or cut some out and knead the flour in a bit until it is smooth and not so sticky. It will last for about 2 weeks.

To make bread, make it into a ball and put it in a skillet or on a pizza stone and let it rise in a warm place at least 30 min. If it hasn't risen any, find some place a little warmer and wait. It will be worth it. Put a little dish of water in the oven while you heat the it to about 425 if it's very thin and maybe 385 if it's thicker. When you put the dough in the hot oven, spray some water on the sides of the oven also.

Sometimes, because I like lots of crunchy crust and not so much middle, I make a thinner bread in a skillet. After I have worked the dough a bit, I put olive oil on the bottom of the skillet , pat the dough out, flip it over and cook it at maybe 450 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. As soon as it comes out of the oven, loosen the bottom and prop it up with a butter knife or something that will hold it off the pan so it doesn't get soggy as it cools. I've found that a medium sized skillet is perfect for 2 people. A big skillet would be great for 4.

If you want, you can knead in black pepper and rosemary and sprinkle coarse salt on top. If I have them, I put raw sesame seeds on top.

You can use this master recipe for any kind of bread.  I most often use it to make pizza - on of my favorite food groups!

For a sourdough type flavor, when your dough gets low, just make the new batch on top of it and stir in the leftovers along with the scrapings from the side. It just adds good yeast!

I got this from Mother Earth News several years ago and it has improved my life! 

By the way, in the fridge the top of the dough will have some oxidation and turn gray. It's still fine.  The dough will be good for at least 2 weeks. 

*If you prefer the lightness of white flour then just swap it. I am using whole wheat because it is better for us.