High Five Homemade Bread

 

High Five Homemade Bread

There are few things more cozily satisfying than savoring a quiet, cold, gray November afternoon snuggled on the couch with a delicious read, knowing that my kids are napping, my kitchen is clean, and there is fresh bread baking in the oven. My family devours thick slices of slightly dense, chewy fresh bread slathered in butter, homemade blackberry jam, or sopping with my creamy corn chowder. The five of us usually inhale an entire loaf the day I bake it, and then eat a second loaf over the next few days. This bread makes really excellent toast, not too crumby, chewy with a nice crunch. My 9-year-old's favorite breakfast is what she lovingly refers to as a "bread ball," a process in which she takes a wide slab of bread, pulls out the insides, and smushes them until her bread looks like a golf ball. Then she eats it. It drives me insane. I just pray that she never does that on a date! Still, the girl loves homemade bread, which is great for me because I love making it.

So why is this a The Freezer Cooking Club recipe? Sure, you could freeze a loaf. But, I find if I know I've got dinner simmering in the crock pot, I'm much more likely to round the meal off with freshly baked bread because, amazingly, I have some extra time!

This is an easy recipe. It is an adaptation of a recipe my Grandma Litchfield taught me. When I was 12, my great-grandmother, Gram,  lived with us in Utah, while both sets of my grandparents and much of my extended family lived in Arizona. Within a two-month period, my family's world was turned completely upside down. My Gram suddenly passed away in November, followed by Thanksgiving; then my paternal grandfather's cancer became terminal and he was put on hospice in Arizona. My mom's parents actually let him stay at their home, in their room, while they slept on the couch in the family room, until he died in January. My aunt, uncle and cousins slept in the other rooms. They converted the dining room into a makeshift guest room for my parents, while my brothers, sister and I slept in the living room. In the meantime, I had a birthday, Christmas came and went, and we were in Arizona every other week for days at a time so that my dad could take care of his dad. My grandpa was deaf, so my dad would not only help take care of him physically, but he was also my grandpa's advocate and interpreter. My dad was so tired that instead of talking in his sleep, my dad signed in his sleep. Then, because of all the traveling back and forth, my dad ended up losing his job for the first time in his life, and we moved to Arizona to find a new opportunity.

But back to bread.

During the weeks we spent at my Grandma Litchfield's house while my dad took care of my Grandpa Wing, we baked A LOT of bread. I mean, like every day. And while I know that emotional eating is supposed to be bad, there was and is nothing so comforting as the smell and taste of homemade bread while you sit at a kitchen table. Bread was something we could control and it go to the point that it would always turn out well, which, looking back, was exactly what I needed.

So anyway, I love this recipe. It is easy! Just 5 ingredients, about 5 step, which is why I call it a  High Five!

High Five Homemade Bread (yields 2 large loaves)

Ingredients
3 cups warm water
3 1/2 tbs quick action yeast
3 tbs sugar or honey
3 tsp salt
4-8 cups of all purpose flour

Directions
1. In a mixer with a dough hook, (I love my Bosch), pour warm water, yeast and sugar. Let sit until yeast gets foamy (about 5 minutes.) Add about 1 cup of flour. Mix gently and then let rest for 5 minutes.
2. Add salt and 3 more cups of flour. Start the mixer. Continue to add flour until the dough pulls cleanly away from the sides of the mixing bowl and you can touch the dough without getting your fingers all sticky. Let the dough continue to knead in the mixer for about 5 minutes.

3. Cover the bowl with a towel and set in a warm place so that the dough can rise until doubled.
4. Once the dough has risen, knead it again in the bowl. On a floured surface, knead and divide the dough into 2 loaves. Place loaves in a greased bread pan and let raise again for about 10 minutes or until the loaves nearly touch to top of the bread pan.
5. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool slightly before slicing.

TIPS:

• I've been making this bread for years, and it is really easy. I like a denser loaf and I've found that not letting the dough raise above the top of the loaf pan makes a chewier, tastier bread.
• Don't add too much flour, but you don't want it to be too sticky either.
• The longer you let the bread cool before you slice it, the better the crumb. But really, who can wait that long to slice into warm bread?! 
• You can easily substitute whole wheat flour, or a combination of white and whole wheat flour. If you do wheat, I suggest using honey instead of sugar.

Let me know how your bread turns out!

Bonne chance and freeze on!

Cortney and The Freezer Cooking Club