How-To Bake Bread (guest post recipe!)

  I grew up with fresh baked bread in the house at all times. My father taught himself how to make it starting in my early childhood, and after a few decades of practice had refined the process for a wide variety of artisan loaves that he'd deliver to friends and send via priority post to family.
  He passed down his KitchenAid stand mixer, which I have used primarily for making cake frosting. Now, Maia has taken up the role of resident bread baker in the family, teaching herself (like her grandfather whom she never got to meet did) and providing us with delicious fresh-baked bread while school is on hiatus during the spread of covid-19.
  Here is her tutorial!

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Basic Wheat Bread
(makes 2 loaves)

Ingredients:
2 cups warm water
1 T. active dry yeast (or one packet)
1 T. salt
1 T. sugar (choose organic sugar, then you know it's vegan!)
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups whole wheat flour
cornmeal or extra flour for dusting

1. Mix together the water, yeast, salt, & sugar in a large bowl. Let stand until the yeast is dissolved.                                                                                               

2. Gradually add both flours 1 cup at a time to the liquid and mix thoroughly (use a fork & hands).

3. Knead it. (I usually use a dough hook attachment on a stand mixer, but you can do it by hand too.) Knead for about 5 minutes or until the dough has a smooth surface and feels tough.

4. Take the dough out of the bowl. Clean the bowl and grease it (use a little olive oil, margarine/butter, or a non-stick baking spray). Return the dough to the greased bowl. Cover with a clean dish towel. Leave to rest 1-2 hours or until the dough doubles in size. The picture below is what it should look like after resting. It should feel soft and airy.

5. Knead it a little bit with your hands to knock out air bubbles. Split the dough ball in half. Shape into 2 loaves. Put parchment paper on a baking sheet and sprinkle with corn meal or a little flour. Place the loaves on the sheet and sprinkle a little more cornmeal or flour on top. Brush with a little water. Cut a few slits (at least 3) along the loaves, preferably with a serrated knife. Leave to rest for another 5 minutes.

6. Do not preheat oven. Fill an oven-safe container (I use a glass baking dish) with about 1 inch of hot water and place it on the bottom rack of the oven. Put your loaves into the oven and set your oven to 400F degrees. Bake 35-40 minutes.

7. Allow bread to cool a little before slicing (but it's delicious still warm from the oven, so try some before it cools completely!). Cool completely before sealing in an air-tight container to keep your bread fresh longer.

8. Makes great toast or sliced sandwich bread!

Throwback Thursday: How-To Make Bread for Beginners

  When I was little--like low single digits--my father decided he wanted to learn how to bake his own bread. I wish I could have found a photo to share of one of his first attempts, but between selling a house recently and helping my mother move most of her belongings into storage for a move to Rhode Island, I can't seem to put my finger on it.
  Let's just say it didn't go too well. I recall my mother climbing onto a stool to scrape a few bits of dough off the ceiling. Everything was sticky with what was essentially an explosion of paper mache goop.
  But he kept at it. And before too long, every sandwich I took to elementary school was made on homemade oatmeal or whole wheat or molasses bread. He bought a Kitchen-Aid stand mixer, because it's much easier to use a dough hook for kneading than to do it by hand.
  Eventually, he discovered other tricks, like making pizza dough in a Cuisinart food processor, or using a bread machine for the initial mixing and rising. He brought a loaf of bread as a gift to almost any social call. He sent his special white bread to my niece with autism who was a very picky eater due to textural dislikes--it was the only bread she'd eat.
  Literally on his death bed from cancer, he'd instruct my mother (who doesn't cook) step by step how to make the bread. I had a toddler and a newborn at the time he died, and I regret that they never got to sample his homemade bread. I tried in vain to reproduce his method with the bread machine, but it turned into a crumbled mess. My mother still has his cookbook with handwritten notes and recipes. Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, I now know who has the talent and patience to decipher his notes to create the next generation of his artisan bread!

  Maia made her first loaf of bread using a recipe she found online. The Easy Perfect Yeast Bread at Gather for Bread was delicious! This is the same Kitchen-Aid mixer that my father used decades ago that was handed down to me. Built to last for sure!!

I made a couple loaves from the
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes
a Day cookbook. Maia's definitely
turned out the best! She made
another a few days later, but in an
effort to conserve baking yeast, I
have limited her to two loaves per
week for now. I suppose I'll have
to learn how to make my own
starter before the shortage is over!


I am a huge fan of sandwiches, so
it's hard to give them up entirely.
We also love bread for dipping in
soup, for breakfast toast topped
with avocado, nutritional yeast, or
hummus.

Another favorite sandwich of
ours is Tofu Salad. It's a perfect
use of shelf stable tofu during
times like these. If you are out
of celery & scallion, just use a
little diced onion for crunch.


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Tofu Salad

1 firm asceptic pack tofu (12.3 oz.)
1 T. nutritional yeast (optional)
1 tsp. turmeric
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soy sauce
1-2 ribs celery, chopped
1-2 scallions, chopped

Mash tofu and next 4 ingredients with fork. 
Add celery & scallions. Mix with fork. Chill. Serve!


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  I am looking forward to
learning more about bread
baking and watching my
daughter use her new skill.
Her older brother, AJ, used
to say he wanted to be a
baker when he grew up.
But I think it's my oldest,
Ryan, who looks the most
like his grandfather.
What do you think?

What's your favorite simple
bread recipe? What method
do you use to make starter?
Do you have a yeast-free
bread that you like to make?
What are your kids baking
while spending extra time
at home?