CONQUERING FEARS IN THE FORM OF BAKING BREAD
I'm not lying when I say that I've been terrified.. I mean TERRIFIED to bake bread.
And honestly I have no real excuse except that some aspect of the kneading, measuring,
following a recipe had me frozen in my tracks never wanting to attempt to bake bread.
But I LOVE bread
And everyone knows that fresh out of oven bread has to be one of the most heavenly things.
Like angels singing and other heavenly noises.
For the past (no exaggeration) 4 years I have been saving/pinning bread recipes waiting for the day
that I get over this fear and just bake some dang bread. Because really whats going to happen if I fail,
are there baking police going to come get me? geeze kendra get over it.
So something came over me today, maybe it was the spring rains that
brought me back to my roots and grounded me enough to push through this fear.
Ok I'll be honest it had a whole lot to do with this recipe's title
4 Simple Ingredients:
makes 2 large loafs
3 cups of lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 Tablespoons coarse salt
6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Directions:
1. Place water & yeast into a bowl, let sit until a foam forms on the surface.
Next add the salt and flour in a bowl.
Mix with a wooden spoon until all the ingredients are nice and moist.
2. Cover the bowl loosely (I laid a clean towel over the bowl) and allow the dough to rise.
Once risen deflate a little. Now the dough is ready to bake or store in the refrigerator.
3. To bake the bread: (if coming from the fridge allow to come to room temp).
Wet hands with water and then form into your loaf. I attempted to form a boule, a round shaped loaf.
To form into a boule simply pull the sides of the dough towards the underside of the dough ball
and rotating the dough until you get a roundish shape with a smooth surface.
4. Transfer dough to parchment paper or a lightly dusted surface with corn meal.
Allow to rest for 40 mins.
5. About 20 mins before baking preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and place a cast iron skillet
or pizza stone in the oven. Also place a roasting pan ( I used a 9x13 pan) in the oven while it is preheating.
6. After the dough has rested and risen fro 40 mins dust lightly with flour and
cut 1/4 inch deep slits across the surface of the dough.
7. Place the dough in the skillet or pizza stone, quickly pour 1 cup water into the pan
and shut the oven. The steam will help to create a perfect crust for your bread.
Bake for 30-40 mins or until the crust is golden brown.
Allow to cool if you can manage to wait that long, then enjoy!
So I did it, I made a loaf of bread. I only had a few scary moments, like when my bread
wasn't rising only to realize I put teaspoons instead of tablespoons of yeast. Whoops :)
but I still pushed through and make one very tasty loaf of bread, even though it was
a
tad denser then desired. haha
If you have some favorite bread recipes send them my way!
Im over this hurdle and I dont plan to stop now :)
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