Baking Bread while we can’t be Breaking Bread
“Breaking Bread”, is probably what I miss most about the stay at home order during this pandemic, going out to dinner with friends, sharing a meal and enjoying each other’s company, cocktails and laughs. Since I miss this time out with friends, baking and sharing bread is a small way to share my appreciation for them while we can’t see each other. For now, until we can share a meal together again, I’ve been dropping off bread on friend’s doorsteps.
Yield:
2 loaves
Prep Time:
24-36 hours
Baking Time:
30-35 minutes
Sourdough Bread
About this Recipe
By: Rebecca
There’s just something about baking, and lately, due to the lockdown situation, and the cold rainy (and sometimes sleet/snow!) late spring we’re having, I’ve been baking a lot of bread…and although I don’t eat bread, there is still something therapeutic about baking it. The smell that fills the kitchen is delightful and comforting. It has been fun giving loaves to friends and my kids have been enjoying it as well.
In the past 6 weeks I’ve probably baked 16 loaves of bread, maybe more?! I even tried my hand at making Ina Garten’s Challah bread which is something I have never done. I was intimidated because of the braiding but her instructions were quite easy. That recipe is here https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/challah
The bread I typically make, my “go-to”, is a type of sourdough bread that doesn’t require yeast (which seems to be hard to come by nowadays!). It is also a bit of a sweeter bread because of the sugar and for traditionalists probably isn’t a true sourdough. I can tell you oftentimes I use less sugar than the recipe calls for and it does fine, tastes fine. This bread is something my mother made while I was growing up in the 70’s and 80’s! It does require a “starter” that needs to be “fed” about every 7-10 days, although I have let it go much longer between feedings and it seems to do just fine. My starter was passed to me by my mother and I’ve kept it alive for YEARS, which my kids think is weird by the way… You can buy or make your own starter by a quick search on the internet, or you may have a friend that can give you some.
Anyway, the recipe…
Ingredients
- 6 cups all purpose flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 cup starter
- 1 ½ cups warm water
- ½ cup oil*
Step by Step Instructions
Combine flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer.** Mix dry ingredients until combined. Add starter, warm water and oil and with mixer, fitted with dough hook, on slow speed mix until thoroughly combined and kneaded for about 3-4 minutes, when dough is smooth.
On a lightly floured surface, quickly knead the dough into a ball and place in a greased glass or ceramic bowl (sourdough doesn’t do well in metal bowls) and let rise for approximately 8-12 hours (this really can depend on room temp, weather etc.) or until about double in size. Then, punch down in the bowl and turn out onto a floured surface and knead for about 30 seconds and then cut the dough in half. Shape into loaves and let rise in greased loaf pans for about 6 hours (again, depends on room temp, weather etc). After this second rise, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place loaf pans on center rack in oven and bake for approximately 30-35 mins. Remove from oven and let cool in the pans, on a cooling rack, for 20 minutes. Then turn out loaves onto the cooling rack and continue to cool. It will be difficult not to cut into the bread as soon as it’s out of the pans, which is fine, but I let mine cool for another 20-30 minutes before cutting into them.
Enjoy!
*I try my hardest not to use vegetable/canola oils, so for this step I melt ¼ cup of butter and ¼ cup lard to make up the ½ cup of oil, but vegetable oil can certainly be used.
**When I was young, my mother did not have an electric mixer, and did all the mixing and kneading by hand. So if you don’t have a mixer, it can still be done but it will be a workout!
Variation: After first rise, when it comes time to separate the dough into two, I will roll dough out into rectangles, brush the surface with melted butter, sprinkle cinnamon sugar and handful of raisins and roll up into loaves and place into pans for second rise. You will then have some wonderful cinnamon raisin bread. Great for breakfast toast or making French Toast! Yum!
Can’t wait to follow what you have to share.
Thank you Gina!! We’ll see where it goes. 🙂