Bread. Thats it. Thats all it is. Bread.
After spending a few infuriating hours on the internet looking for "BREAD", all it was coming up with nothing but bread machine recipes. That drives me nuts - What happened to baking bread in your ovens? Come ON people. Finally, I did the sensible thing (for it is usually at the end of our ropes that we do the sensible thing.) and went and consulted Betty. She had this to say -
BEFORE YOU DO SOMETHING STUPID :
Baking bread by hand is a serious commitment - at least 3 or 4 hours of your time. Your feet will be covered in flour. Your arms will hurt. It will get under your nails. But you know what?
It''ll be so, so tasty.
White Bread
- 2 packages active dry yeast (and ANOTHER thing - whats with this package buisiness? As an FYI to break your package-dependance, one pkg. is the equivilant of 2 and a quarter tablespoon of yeast.)
- 3/4 c. warm water
BEFORE YOU DO SOMETHING STUPID :
Baking bread by hand is a serious commitment - at least 3 or 4 hours of your time. Your feet will be covered in flour. Your arms will hurt. It will get under your nails. But you know what?
It''ll be so, so tasty.
White Bread
- 2 packages active dry yeast (and ANOTHER thing - whats with this package buisiness? As an FYI to break your package-dependance, one pkg. is the equivilant of 2 and a quarter tablespoon of yeast.)
- 3/4 c. warm water
- 2 c. milk, scalded. (Pfffffffff....Betty, please.)
- 3 tbsp. sugar
- 3 tbsp. shortening (I ignored this and used butter, as usual.)
- 3 tbsp. sugar
- 3 tbsp. shortening (I ignored this and used butter, as usual.)
- 1 tbsp. salt
- 7 - 8 c. flour
- 7 - 8 c. flour
----------
I. Disolve yest in warm water in a large bowl. Stir in the milk, sugar, shortening/butter/fat/whatever, salt and 4 cups of flour. Mix untill smooth. This will take a good five minutes or so by hand - Don't whine. You knew what you were getting into.
II. Mix in the remaining dough untill it clings together and is easy to handle.
III. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead untill smooth and elastic - about 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turn greased side up and let it alone for about an hour. *You'll know its ready when an identation remains when poked.*
IV. Punch down the dough and divide in two. Place loaves in 2 greased loaf pans and brush with melted butter - cover and let rise again for another hour.
V. About five minutes before the loaves are ready, heat oven to 425. OR DIE TRYING.
VI. Place loaves on a low rack so that the tops are in the centre of the oven. Pans should not touch. Bake untill golden brown and hollow when tapped - 25 to 30 minutes (an episode of The Simpsons) Remove from pans and let cool on wire racks. I
VI. Devour with white fury.
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afterparty
-----------------
Two loaves of bread. Thats it. Thats all it is. Bread.
-----------------
I. Disolve yest in warm water in a large bowl. Stir in the milk, sugar, shortening/butter/fat/whatever, salt and 4 cups of flour. Mix untill smooth. This will take a good five minutes or so by hand - Don't whine. You knew what you were getting into.
II. Mix in the remaining dough untill it clings together and is easy to handle.
III. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead untill smooth and elastic - about 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turn greased side up and let it alone for about an hour. *You'll know its ready when an identation remains when poked.*
IV. Punch down the dough and divide in two. Place loaves in 2 greased loaf pans and brush with melted butter - cover and let rise again for another hour.
V. About five minutes before the loaves are ready, heat oven to 425. OR DIE TRYING.
VI. Place loaves on a low rack so that the tops are in the centre of the oven. Pans should not touch. Bake untill golden brown and hollow when tapped - 25 to 30 minutes (an episode of The Simpsons) Remove from pans and let cool on wire racks. I
VI. Devour with white fury.
-----------------
afterparty
-----------------
Two loaves of bread. Thats it. Thats all it is. Bread.
-----------------
posted by ИНА_AK-47 at
6:17 PM
2 Comments:
I think I ate a half a loaf (well, close to that anyway). It was some seriously Betty bread.
Come to think of it, I really /should/ have warmed up the milk because after I dumped it in, it pretty much just stopped rising. Cold kills yeast, doofus! The free-form cookiesheet loaf wasn't so bad, but the breadpan loaf was like a freaking BRICK. A delicious, delicious brick...
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