Artisan Bread

This is a healthy, 4 ingredient, bread recipe. It is a freeform bread (baked on a cookie sheet instead of in a bread pan) with a crisp crust and a moist, almost spongy, inside. They say it makes a wonderful pizza crust as well. The recipe says to use an ice cream bucket, but you can use any container of roughly the same size as long as you remember to cover it loosely. 

Makes 4- 1 lb loaves

3 Cups warm water

1  1/2 T yeast

1  1/2 T salt

6  1/2 C flour

Mixing:

Wisk dry ingredients together in ice cream bucket. Add water and mix with wooden spoon. Makes a very wet loose dough. ( It will be a little dry while mixing and then after it rises it will be very sticky.)

Rising:

Put on lid loosely. Do NOT snap lid on tight, the gases need a way to escape. Allow to rise at room temp for 2 hrs, then store in the fridge. You can use dough any time after this period. Refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and easier to work. ( Can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. After the first week it will start to taste more like sourdough and the taste will get stronger the longer it sits. Discard any unused dough after 2 weeks.)

Baking:

Cut off a grapefruit size piece. Gently fold edges under with floured hands. Let rest on greased cookie sheet on counter for 20 min. Then preheat oven to 450 with empty pan (NOT GLASS) on bottom shelf. Let bread rest on counter until oven in preheated and then slash 1/4 inch deep right before putting in oven.

1. Place cookie sheet with bread on the middle rack. ( or if using a pizza stone slide bread onto preheated stone) 

2. Pour 1 C of hot water in the empty pan and quickly close the door. Be careful to not be burned by the steam that will come up.

3. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

Variations:

Apple Cinnamon

reduce salt to 1  1/4 T

reduce yeast to 1  1/4 T

add:

4 apples, peeled and chopped

4 T sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Bake as you normally would but just after you slash the dough and right before you put it in the oven, sprinkle the loaf with the streusel topping.

Streusel Topping:

 4 T sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp flour

2 T soft butter

Mix all ingredients with fork in small bowl until crumbly.

Herb and Cheese:

add:

 3/4 tsp dried basil

3/4 tsp oregano

2 C grated sharp cheese

Bake as you normally would except mix the cheese with the flour before you add it to the remaining ingredients. This will help to distribute the cheese more evenly.

Scones

Make one batch of French Bread dough. Divide dough into fourths. Roll each into an 8x8 square. With pizza cutter, cut each square into fourths. Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown. Serve with Honey butter.

French Bread

1/4 C warm water
1 Tbs yeast
1 C hot water
1 1/2 Tbs sugar
1/2 Tbs salt
1/4 C oil
3 C flour
1 egg white

In small bowl, sprinkle yeast over warm water. Let stand until yeast is dissolved, about 5 min. In mixer bowl, combine hot water, sugar, salt and oil. Let stand to lukewarm. Add dissolved yeast and 1 1/2 C of the flour. Beat until smooth. Add remaining flour to make soft dough that can be stirred down with a spoon. Place in greased bowl and cover with clean kitchen cloth. With spoon, stir down every 15 min for a total of three times. Turn our onto lightly floured board. Knead only enough to lightly coat with flour. Grease 2 cookie sheets. Divide dough in half. Roll each into a rectangle. On long side, roll (jelly roll style) into a loaf, pinching seam with wet fingers to seal. Place each loaf, seam side down, in center of cookie sheet. Beat egg white until foamy. With pastry brush, apply to laves. Slash each loaf three times diagonally with a serrated knife. Do not cover. Let rise 1/2 hour. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake, one loaf at a time, 12 min. or until deep golden brown. Cool completely before slicing.

Makes 2 loaves.
Substituting apple sauce for the oil makes a really good, slightly heavier, bread. Great with honey butter.
( I make this bread when I am out of eggs so I usually don't brush with the egg white.)

Pani Popo ( Coconut Bread)

3 cans coconut milk
1 C sugar
1 C water
5 Tbl cornstarch
1 pkg frozen roll dough

Thaw roll dough. In sauce pan, combine coconut milk, sugar, water and cornstarch. Heat over med-low heat until thick, stirring constantly. Divide into 2 9x13 pans or one large aluminum pan. Place roll dough in milk mixture( enough to fill pan but still let them grow when baking)and cover until dough has risen. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 min or until done. You may cook while covered with tinfoil. When done, spread small amounts of sugar water over each roll to soften the tops.

Home Style Yeast Bread

3 Pkg active dry yeast
2 C warm water
1 C sugar
1/2 C butter, melted
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
7 3/4 - 8 1/4 C flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar, butter, salt, eggs and 4 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough of remaining flour to form a soft dough. Knead until elastic. Let rise 45 min. or until doubled. Punch dough down. Place in 3 greased bread pans. Let rise until doubled. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 min. or until golden brown.

This bread is very sweet. Great for dinner rolls and such. For everyday use bread, I like to leave out some of the sugar just so it's not quite so sweet.

Banana Bread

1/2 C shortening
1 C sugar
2 eggs
4 Tbl milk
1 2/3 C flour
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 C walnuts or pecans (optional)
1/2 tsp salt

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients together and add with the milk. Stir in the bananas and nuts. Divide batter between 2 loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until done.

Cornbread

1 C. flour
1 C. cornmeal
2/3 C. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1 C. milk
1/3 C. oil

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients. Bake in 8”x8” pan @ 400 degrees for 20-25 min.