Homemade Bread

It was Bread Day!!

We got an early start because bread is a bit of an all day chore. We wanted to pratice making buns, too, since bread can be done up in pretty much any shape you'd like. The bread recipe I use is one I found online, but I modified it heavily one day without even realizing it till the dough was already rising. Turns out, the bread was better the way I did it anyway!!



What We Used:

• 2 packages yeast ( If you're using it out of a bottle, the measurements are on the back)
• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil (I used grapeseed cause I had the most of it, you can use whatever)
• ~8-10 cups white flour

Start by putting the water in a bowl and sprinkling the yeast and sugar into it. When the yeast turns foamy, add the eggs, oil and salt. Stir everything together and start adding in flour a cup or two at a time, kneading it in well. When the dough no longer sticks to the side of the bowl, place it somewhere warm and cover it with a cloth. Let it rise for two hours, or until it's doubled in size.

Meanwhile, grease a cookie sheet or bread pans, depending on what you're doing. We used cookie sheets since I don't really have a bread pan available in the Kitchen of Despair. Yet. (Hobo kitchen, remember?)

Punch the dough down in the bowl and move it to a counter or other work surface that's been sprinkled liberally with flour. Knead it about 10 times, and then it'll be ready to shape!!

What we did was cut off bits with a bread knife and experimented with bun shapes. Our favorites were braided and simple round buns, as well as a nifty knot that Jess did. I tried... mine weren't nice.

Place the shaped dough on the prepared cookie sheets or in the bread pans, cover and let rise for another hour at least.

We opted to grind up some garlic in the food processor with rosemary, black pepper and olive oil to brush on top of the buns before putting them into the oven. This produced a LOT of smoke, but man, does it taste good! Luckily the weather was nice, so we could open the window.

When it's done rising, put it in the oven at 375 degrees and bake for about 25 minutes. It works best when you only do one pan at a time, otherwise things start baking unevenly. The result should be golden brown buns or bread that sound hollow when you knock on the bottom of them.

We brushed more of the olive oil mixture on top of the buns when they came out of the oven. Not only does it make them look really nice, the taste is awesome!




-Sam