~Nothin’ Better than Homemade Crusty Bread~

I LOVE bread in just about any form. I am a carbohydrate junky! But since we switched to a whole food diet, I realized that a lot of breads were not as they appeared. My momma would make bread on occasions growing up, and I could eat an entire loaf by myself! (will have to get her recipe and post it here too)

Now, as a married woman and mother, I decided that I want to make my own bread again. That way I know what is going in it and I can make sure all the nutrients are there and haven’t been bleached out. I was looking at Pinterest for some bread recipes, and stumbled upon an AMAZING recipe that is so simple but so good!

And you want to know what? There are only FOUR ingredients in it! Crazy, I know: yeast, water, salt, flour. That is all! Here is the link to where I got it, but I modified it (a.k.a. halved it and made it into a loaf) to make it work for my family.

Here we go…

List of ingredients: 1 1/2 cups luke-warm water, 3/4 Tbs active dry yeast, 3/4 Tbs salt, 3 1/4 cup unbleached bread flour (or unbleached all-purpose flour).

Mix water, salt, yeast together in a mixing bowl and let set for about 20 minutes.

You can do this by hand, but my lovely sister bought me this KitchenAid mixer, in my favorite color, and so I mix the bread in it =)

After the initial 20 minutes, add the flour.

Mix just until wet (so no dry ingredients visible). I usually have to add just a little bit of water to get it to a dough consistency.

Now cover the bowl in plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours.

This is what it will look like after two hours.

Grease a bread baking dish and set aside.

 Flour your hands and pick up the dough and form into an oval bread shape (Haven’t a clue what else to call it). Don’t kneed it, just form into shape then place into greased pan.

Allow to rise for another hour. 45 minutes into rising, make your slashes in the top.
About 1/4 inch deep.

Also, 45 minutes into the rising, place a metal lipped pan into the oven and preheat oven to 450 degrees.

(Can’t really take a picture of this part) After it has risen for an hour, place into oven. Take a cup of hot water, pour into metal lipped pan in the oven and close the door very quickly. This traps the steam in the oven and allows the bread to have a nice steam bath. Bake for 30 minutes.

Here you go! Delicious bread that is perfect for sandwiches or just plain butter, jam, apple butter, etc. It is AMAZING! My hubby, loves it too and takes at least a slice to work every day no matter if he is having a sandwich or not.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!