Very Basic Bread

Now this bread is about as basic as it gets. I found it in a recipe book that I unfortunately can't remember the name of right now.

2 cups warm water
1 package instant yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
wheat flour
white flour

As I've said before, I have a bread machine. I only ever use the dough setting on it though. I've had some pretty awful breads come out of it when I tried to bake it in the machine. So this recipe is done using the dough setting on a bread machine.

First add the 2 cups of warm water. Then add yeast, salt and sugar. Now comes the flour.

You can do whatever combination of wheat and white flour you want. My husband has an intolerance to wheat and I know the right combination for him to where it won't hurt his stomach. I add 2 cups of wheat flour and 1 cup of white flour. Now hit start.

It should begin stirring. I always leave it open. I sit there with a rubber spatula and scrape the flour away from the edges, when it is mostly stirred I add more flour.

I have never actually measured the flour with this recipe. My grandma has always made all of their bread from scratch. So a lot of the things I know about bread are from her. Well she taught me to just add flour until its not sticky anymore. You don't want it to be dry though. I guess a way to explain it is that it shouldn't stay on your finger when you touch it. So add the rest of your flour a little bit at a time until its perfect.

And then let it finish the dough cycle on the bread machine. Once its done grease two loaf pans. I use best life butter (its dairy free).

When I first started making bread I would pull it out separate it into two halves, roll it out and fold it like an envelope, then one day I got lazy and decided to just shape the loaves with my hands and they look just as good! So shape the loaves with whatever method you want.

Sprinkle with water, cut a slit on the top of it, cover pans with a cloth and let rise for about 1.5 hours.

Once it has risen set it in the oven at 400 degrees, no need to preheat the oven for this recipe.

About every 10 minutes sprinkle with water. My bread usually only takes about 30 minutes to bake but the recipe originally said 45 minutes so I'm sure it just varies with your oven. When the bread is brown on top its time to take it out.

 I personally like my bread to by shiny on top so I use a pastry brush to spread a little butter on top.

Now let it cool for as long as you can possibly stand it and then cut it open and eat a slice. We usually last about 20 minutes before cutting it. I don't care if I'm not hungry, I can't pass on freshly made bread.

I love this bread so much I haven't even tried to make any other type of bread for sandwiches.

MMmmm... Pizza!

It's what's for dinner. 

Let me start this off by saying I have a terrible fear of bees, wasps, and I guess just all bugs in general. Well, have you ever tried making a pizza with a WASP in the kitchen!!! Its a lot harder than one would think. Well, not that hard. Woman runs out of kitchen, grabs man, tells him situation. Mans walks into kitchen, grabs fly swatter, hits wasp, runs him through garbage disposal. Woman jumps for joy, and continues to bake.


If you read my last post, and I hope you did! You would see that I haven't been able to have milk since Anika was 1 month old. Which meant that I couldn't have pizza. Well a few weeks ago I finally got the courage to try cheese alternative. Its not as scary as I thought it would be, and it tastes very similar to cheese. But, I also haven't had cheese in a while so I could be wrong. It does cost more but very worth it to have on a pizza!

 

Pizza

The dough recipe is from here.

Dough

1 cup flour + ¾ cup flour, divided 

 ¾ tsp salt

1.5 tsp white sugar

 2 tsp pizza herbs (mixture of dried oregano, basil)

 2 & ¼ tsp instant yeast

 3 tbsp oil

 2/3 cup very warm water (not lukewarm)

Sauce

1- 15 oz can tomato sauce

3-4 garlic cloves

1/4 onion 

2 tbsp. Italian seasoning

2 tbsp. olive oil

Since my kitchen aid is in storage, I use a bread machine to make my dough, I guess its kind of the same thing though. 

Combine 1 cup flour, salt, sugar, pizza herbs (if using, I sometimes leave them out) and yeast. Add the water and oil. Once I put flour into a dough I usually just guess for the rest of the dough. The recipe calls for 3/4 cup more, but honestly I have no idea how much more I use. I just add more until its not sticky. Then I let it run through the dough cycle on the bread machine. While it is running, make the sauce.

Mince garlic and onion. Put in sauce pan with olive oil and Italian seasoning to saute. Saute until onion is transparent. Add tomato sauce, simmer for 30 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

When dough is done place on floured surface. Roll out. 

 

Place dough top of a baking sheet that is sprinkled with corn meal.

Bake in the oven without sauce for about 6 minutes. 

Remove from oven add sauce. I only use about half of the sauce recipe and save the rest for more pizza later in the week. 

Add cheese!

Bake for 7-8 more minutes, or until crust is slightly browned. 

And, ENJOY!

What's your favorite pizza topping? Have you ever made a homemade pizza?