Making homemade bread is one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen. It’s totally simple and easy. People say the proofing is too time consuming but I disagree. Just throw the dough together and walk away for a few hours. Why is that hard??
Anyhoo! I tackled Smitten Kitchen’s Light Wheat Bread recently and it came out great. It’s dense, slightly sweet, and very moist. I let it proof overnight actually and baked it first thing the next morning for breakfast. See her page for the recipe. It’s a must try!
Tunes and the recipe, my laptop spends a lot of time in the kitchen:
I lightly mixed all of my ingredients together then transferred to my food processor and let the dough setting work its magic.
I pulsed the food pro for a few beats, added my water, and let it rip on the dough setting. It was ready to come out when it became a uniform ball with no loose ingredients left in the bottom of the bowl.
At this point you want to knead your dough for 5 minutes or so. If you don’t have a food pro you can just mix all of your ingredients together and knead for 7-10 minutes instead.
Form your dough into a circle, place your dough in a bowl, cover with a towel, and check on the dough every few hours. As it rises you’ll want to punch the dough down once or twice so it doesn’t overflow your bowl.
When it’s all proofed, shape the dough into a log and bake in a greased bread pan on 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the crust is nice and golden brown. I divided my dough into two small loaves but you could make one big one as well.
Slice and serve with your favorite topping! Below is the breakfast edition: Apricot & Pineapple Preserves for John and a few toasted slices with my favorite Fool Proof Soft Boiled Egg recipe and tea for me.
