Our adventure for creating this blog has been a work in progress over the last few years. We started off experimenting with recipes we found on Pinterest, kept cooking, slowly changing up any recipe we came across, until we started to come up with ideas of our own. We finally decided to take the jump and start a blog of our own, so on a warm November night so we went for a walk downtown. After a slice of pizza, we stumbled into a local watering hole, and brainstormed ideas in our favorite dimly lit dive bar.
We came back home rather late for a work night and started getting ready for the next day. That’s when Laura realized that her favorite pasta recipe was on the menu for the following evening. She quickly set to work making a quick dough for a loaf of bread so that they could have fresh, warm bread with their dinner the next night. After 5 or so minutes of prep, the happy little bundle of dough was wrapped up on the counter, waiting patiently to be baked the next night.
Here you’ll find our quick’n dirty bread recipe that we frequency like to make with some of our pasta or soup dishes. It takes minimal prep, and you will quickly see that it’s worth the effort over buying bread from the grocery store. There’s nothing like fresh, out of the oven bread with a little butter melting on top. So good.
Ingredients:
3.5 Cups Bread Flour
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Fast Acting Yeast
1.5 Cups warm water
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
A pinch of Salt for the Crust
Fully mix the dry ingredients in a decently sized mixing bowl. Slowly knead the water into the flour until it is equally absorbed,a and the dough becomes a nice and tacky bundle. (You’ll notice there are lots of little spikes coming out of your dough ball, it shouldn’t be a super smooth and wet ball, but it’s not crackly and dry either). Don’t be afraid of really getting your hands in there and going to town on the dough, it really kneads some real working on your part. (*gag pun gack…) Now cover it up with plastic wrap or a wet towel, and let your little ball of joy sit and rise for a minimum of four hours. The dough can sit longer too if you like. Our usual modus operandi is to make the dough one night, and bake it the next in the evening.
Now you’re ready to get baking! (But don’t preheat that oven just yet, trust me). Pull out a sprig of wax paper, and lay a dabble of olive oil down on it. Grab the now very engorged ball of dough out of your bowl, and place it in the middle of the oil. Gently fold the dough over once or twice to get out any air pockets, and develop a thin coat of oil on the dough. Place the dough seam side up in a dutch oven, sprinkle with salt, and place the lid on the dutch oven.
Now you can preheat that oven to 450F. We do this so that you let the dough rest in the dutch oven for 10 minutes or so before putting it in the oven. When the oven is ready, place the dutch oven in the oven, keeping the lid on. Bake for 30 minutes or so (adjusting for bigger or smaller dough balls, you’ll get the feel for it). After your initial 30 minutes of baking, your bread will be mostly cooked, and have a nice pale hue to it. To achieve that delectable golden brown crust, remove the lid from the dutch oven, and bake for 5-10 minutes, depending on prefered crunch factor of your crust. We tend to shy on the less crispy side of things, but maybe we’re just softies… That’s it, you are now the proud owner of a warm and steaming loaf of your very own homemade bread, lather up with your favorite spread and enjoy!
TLDR;
Ingredients
3.5 Cups Bread Flour
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Fast Acting Yeast
1.5 Cups warm water
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
A pinch of Salt for the Crust
Directions
In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix the bread flour, salt, and yeast with a fork.
Slowly add warm water to the dry ingredients, kneading with your hands until you get a tacky bundle. It should be slightly sticky, but not soaking wet or really dry.
Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough sit in a warm area for at least 4 hours to rise.
Pour 2 the olive oil in the center of the wax paper. Pull the dough out of the bowl and place on the olive oil. Fold over one or two times to remove air bubbles. Form into a neat ball.
Place the dough in the dutch oven, seam side up. Sprinkle salt on top of the dough.
Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. During this time, you can begin to preheat your oven to 450F.
Bake the dough for 30 minutes with the lid on.
Remove the lid. Continue to bake for 5-10 minutes, depending on how crunchy you like the crust.
Notes
One can experiment with flavours and seasonings in your bread. Most recently we put dried rosemary in the dough and lemon zest on the crust. A personal favorite is minced garlic mixed placed in the dough. This is a place where you can really go nuts, and have fun experimenting without worrying about ruining too much.