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The Easiest Bread Recipe

I have to confess that I'm a little behind in my blog for this week.  To tide you over, here's a recipe for super easy, no-knead bread that practically makes itself.

You can make endless variations on this recipe (at least I haven't come to an end) by switching out some of the AP flour for whole wheat (not all of it, that makes for a pretty unpleasant loaf), adding nuts, seeds, grains, spices, herbs, a little sourdough starter, a touch of olive oil, etc.  You can even put in a scoop of canned pumpkin (decrease the water a little bit) and some cinnamon.  Or soak garlic cloves in olive oil, then brush the top of the loaf with the infused oil and sprinkle with sea salt and dried parsley before baking.  Once you get the hang of the basic loaf, the sky's the limit.

If you add just enough extra flour to make the dough a little more stable, you can form a standard loaf, or rolls, or even braid it, if that's your heart's desire.  It probably wouldn't make a bad pizza dough, either, although I have yet to try that.

Equipment needed:  Liquid and solid measuring cups, measuring spoons, large mixing bowl, plastic wrap, parchment paper, 6 quart enameled cast iron stock pot.

Ingredients:

5 cups AP flour
1 tsp yeast
2 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups water

Dump all ingredients in your mixing bowl and stir until combined (I mix by hand - don't knead).  Sprinkle a little flour on top, cover with plastic wrap, leave out on kitchen counter, and go to bed.

When you get up in the morning, punch dough down if necessary (how much the dough rises will depend on how warm and humid your kitchen is).  Put stock pot with lid in oven and pre-heat to 500. Leave pot and lid in oven for 30 minutes.

While oven is heating, dump dough out onto well-floured surface and form into ball.  Place on parchment paper, dust top of dough lightly with flour, and cover again with plastic wrap.

When oven is fully heated, remove pot - don't forget how hot that pot is!  Remove plastic wrap from dough, and put the dough with parchment paper in the pot.  Cover with lid, and return to oven.  Reduce heat to 450, and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove lid and continue baking for 10-15 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.  Allow to cool just enough that it's safe to eat, because man is it delicious warm!  Enjoy!!!


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