Micki’s photos
My recipe for a loaf of bread.
I have my bread recipe memorized. I use it for bread, hamburger and hotdog buns, rolls (which I then brush with honey butter-after they’re baked-or roll in butter, salt, pepper, parsley and garlic-before they’re baked) and SOMETIMES cinnamon rolls, although I prefer a sweet bread dough for those.
I mix, knead and raise the dough all in one large plastic bowl. Saves on clean up. Plus, this way I can knead with one hand and keep the other free for whatever comes up. I promise that I never knead a batch of dough without stopping once to do something or other, and that clean left hand comes in handy. (Wink)
So, I put two tablespoons of real butter, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 3 tablespoons of sugar in the bowl. I pour 1 1/4 cups of boiling water over that and let it set (while I go do something else) until the butter melts and the sugar and salt dissolve. Now, if I get right back to it, I’ll add 1 cup of cold (refrigerator cold) water to the bowl. If I lose track of time, I’ll add 1 cup of room temperature water to the bowl. Then add to two packs (I use a jar of yeast I keep in the freezer, so I add 4 1/2 to 5 teaspoons) of yeast to the bowl. Again, if I’m busy, it’ll just set like that for awhile, or I mix it right in. Then I start adding the bread flour. Use bread flour, it has more gluten. Makes for a better loaf of bread. I wisk in enough to make the thickest batter I can get through a wisk. Now I have a sponge. If I’m busy, I can let this go to rise for an hour. I usually don’t, though, and continue to add the rest of the flour with a wooden spoon. All in all, you'll add about 4 1/2 to 5 cups of flour. When it’s all set, start kneading. With bread flour, you don’t have to knead as long as with regular flour. This is good, because I get bored kneading. Unless I’m reading a photography book during this… this is where a clean left hand comes in handy. When the kneading is done, the bowl should be really clean on the sides and your dough will be nice and stretchy. I just pour a tablespoon or so of olive oil over the dough ball, roll it around in the bowl until all of it is covered with oil, and set it to rise with a towel over the bowl. Depending on the temperature and humidity of the room, this could take from an hour to two. After that, punch it down and do with it as you’d like. This dough bakes at 425. I’ve done cooler if I’ve had something else in the oven as well at baking time. At 425, a normal sized loaf will be done in 22 to 25 minutes. Rolls, buns, etc. are done in nine minutes if they aren’t touching, a little longer if they are.
All photos and stories by Micki from Virginia.
