#445 Bake homemade bread

When I wrote my bucket list this was meant to be done without the help of bread machine and that is how it was accomplished. This one kind of got accomplished by accident. We were planning on having homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner and didn't pick up bread. I wanted to try a loaf in the crockpot but I didn't have any parchment paper. I went in search for a recipe that could easily be done before dinner. Since I didn't have any wheat flour, unbleached flour, or other types of flour in the apartment besides regular (bleached) all purpose flour, I had to find a recipe that use that. And I succeeded.

This recipe from Lil' Luna has become my go to bread recipe. We even use it for cheesy garlic bread. The downside is that it makes 3 loaves. I was able to convert the measurements to make 1 loaf with a little bit of math and my pamper chef measuring cups.

French Bread from Lil' Luna

 

Ingredients

• 2 TB dry yeast
• ½ cup warm water
• 2 cups hot water
• 3 TB sugar
• 1 TB salt
• 5 TB vegetable oil
• 6 cups flour, divided
• 1 egg, beaten- for glazing bread

Instructions

1. Dissolve your yeast in ½ cup warm water.
2. In a separate bowl combine hot water, sugar, salt, oil and 3 cups of the flour. and stir.
3. With the paddle attachment mix the yeast mixture and the hot water-flour mixture together.
4. Add the remaining 3 cups of flour, one cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Once all of the flour is added, let sit for 10 minutes.
5. Separate your dough into 3 pieces. On a floured surface roll each piece into a 9x12 rectangle. Roll it up like a jelly roll (long way).
6. Place the dough on a greased baking pan, seam side down. Score the bread across the top 3 or 4 times, and brush with your beaten egg. Let dough rise uncovered for 30 minutes in a warm place.
7. Bake on the middle rack for 20 minutes at 375 or until golden brown

We used this particular loaf for cheesy garlic bread on New Year's Day. 

It is not as light and airy as I think bread to be but it is not doughy. It is a little more on the dense side with a soft crust. 

This is one bucket list adventure that I was hesitant to try because I was worried how it would turn out. I had nothing to worry about. The bread is fantastic.