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  • Weekend Company {Guest Blogger Carol}

    2 votes

    Ingredients

    • 2.5-3 cups
    • all-purpose flour (you can substitute whole wheat flour for .5 or 1
    • cups)
    • 1 tablespoons dry
    • yeast (regular, NOT rapid rise, yeast)
    • 1 tablespoon
    • sugar
    • 1/2 tablespoon
    • salt
    • 1 cups hot water
    • (120° to 130°) Note: water temperature is critical to proper yeast activation
    • cups of the flour, the yeast, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add
    • dough in Round Covered Baker. Cut 2-3 slits about 1/2 inch

    Directions

    Welcome to the weekend everyone! I hope your week went by smoothly and you are ready for some fun, relaxation and another yummy recipe from an EMM foodie friend! Grab a mimosa (it is the weekend after all) and please join me in welcoming Carol~

    Is there a particular food smell that magically transports you

    across time and space? For me it’s the smell of homemade bread baking. It smells like home, like the kitchens where

    I spend so many hours learning how to cook and bake with my mother and

    grandmother. It’s the smell of a treat

    soon to be enjoyed – the warm crusty heel of the bread, fresh from the oven,

    slathered with sweet butter and my grandmothers homemade strawberry preserves.

    Bread was always so much more than just flour, yeast, sugar and

    salt. It was comfort, it was sustenance

    on a level beyond filling physical hunger; it was ritual, tradition, love.

    With a full time job and a million day to day responsibilities I stopped

    making homemade bread decades ago. I

    didn’t do it on purpose, it just happened.

    And then I got a Deep Covered Baker – a stoneware Dutch oven of

    sorts – a simple, magical piece of cookware that transported me 3000 miles and

    40 years back to my grandmother’s kitchen. I dug out my grandmother’s recipe

    binder and there in her faded precise cursive was her Cuban bread recipe.

    It didn’t take long to modify the recipe for the Deep Covered

    Baker and when the Round Covered Baker was introduced this spring I modified in

    once again to create the Easy Artisan Bread recipe I’m thrilled to share with

    you today. If you don’t have a covered

    stoneware baker a similar heavy covered roaster or baker will do.

    Easy Artisan Bread:

    The quickest

    yeast bread you'll ever make. Warm, fresh, crusty on the outside and soft on

    the inside, delicious home made bread in just over an hour and for under a

    $1. This recipe makes a 6.5-6.75 inch diameter loaf that's perfect

    for sandwiches and bread bowls!

    Ingredients:

    Directions:

    1. Grease

    the Round Covered Baker and the bowl that you'll let the bread rise in.

    Set aside.

    2. Combine 2

    cups of the flour, the yeast, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add

    the hot water and beat three minutes with a mixer (or 70 stokes by

    hand). Add the remaining flour (I've never needed to add more

    than 1/2 cup) until the dough is no longer sticky. Knead* the

    dough for 3-4 minutes on a floured surface, adding flour as needed to

    prevent sticking.

    3. Place the dough

    in the greased bowl and cover with a damp towel. Let rise 15

    minutes. Remove dough to floured surface, punch or fold down** (3

    minutes should do it) and shape into a loaf.

    4. Place the

    dough in Round Covered Baker. Cut 2-3 slits about 1/2 inch

    deep along the top of the loaf and 2-3 slits at a 90% angle to the first

    slits. It will look a bit like a number sign (#) when you're done.

    5. Put the lid on the

    baker and place in a COLD oven. Turn oven to 400° and bake for 47 minutes.

    Remove from oven, uncover, gasp in amazement, remove loaf from baker to cool on

    a rack.

    Cook's Tip: to slice

    bread rest it on it's side and cut with a serrated bread knife. By

    cutting from the side you avoid crushing the flaky top crust.

    Double this recipe for

    the Deep Covered Baker and increase your mixing time to 100 strokes if mixing

    by hand and increase kneading time to 5 minutes, and cooking time to 50

    minutes.

    Need a little help?

    These videos help illustrate kneading and punching down the bread. Note that

    videos are referenced to illustrate techniques only, they are NOT part of the

    recipe.

    ** Punching down

    bread: punching or folding down bread is an important technique for I prefer

    the gentler folding and rolling down process, but either will do.

    http://youtu.be/tsCqZMCLqnU

    About me:

    A New Englander by birth and upbringing, I fled

    the cold weather and moved to Southern California

    20+ years ago. I have a crazy high

    stress full time day job and am a Pampered Chef Consultant in my spare time.

    It’s fun, good for my sanity and allows me to generate some additional income

    every month that I can contribute in support of various charities that are near

    and dear to my heart. I love helping

    others near and far!

    time and money saving tips and tricks, and new ideas every month www.tinyurl.com/pccbnewsletter

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