That Bread....a Baking Challenge!

Let me introduce to you.....the bread that changed my life! I've been positively evangelical about this bread since I've starting making it a couple of weeks ago.

I've always wanted to find a good bread recipe that lasted for a couple of days without becoming inedible, to make sandwiches, toast, etc. My friends....look no further!

I know a few of you have yeast fears. Let's settle those fears, shall we? I'm challenging each and everyone of you to make this bread this week!

You just won't believe how easy it is. The recipe will follow the photos. I make a loaf of this EVERY DAY now. It's what we use for sandwiches. A panini on this is fantastic. I love the frugality of making my own bread. You'd pay about $4 for a loaf of artisan bread like this, and you can make it for about 25 cents. It does require a 'dutch oven'. I use an old cast iron one, but I'm thinking that any covered pan that can withstand a temperature of 500 degrees should work. If you don't have anything like that, still try this. You might not get the chewy texture on the crust, but a more crunchy texture.

Here is the beautiful dough ball about getting ready to be put in the oven:

Here is the finished product. It's a recipe that I adapted from the Mother Earth News magazine for No Knead Bread. I don't follow it exactly as they do, and my results are fantastic. I now have about six ziploc bags made up with the 'bread mix' and all I have to do is add water and I'm done.

I TRULY hope this will put some of your bread making fears to rest. Please let me know if you try it!

Could you please let me know if you like step by step photo tutorials? I didn't want to be redundant about things. I know a lot of blogs use them. Do you like them?

The recipe:

3 cups of flour

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

1/4 teaspoon of yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

Mix the yeast and water in a large bowl and set aside. Mix the flour and salt together. Add to the water. Stir it around until it forms a shaggy ball. Cover it with plastic wrap tightly. (I used a towel the first time, it needs the plastic wrap). Let it sit for 10, preferably 18 hours, at room temperature.

Now comes the fun part....punch the dough down (it will be VERY wet) and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Take a few more handfuls of flour and mix it into the dough, making it just where you can get ahold of it and it feels sorta like a water balloon. It will be a very soft, loose dough. I like to rub flour all over it at this point and slash it a couple of times on the top. Cover it loosely with plastic wrap and let it sit for an hour or so.

Heat your oven to 500. Put your dutch oven in the oven while it's preheating.

Don't let the following step freak you out. After the oven is preheated, you have to lift that bread with the parchment paper and put it in the pot. I've never successfully done it without the bread deflating. It doesn't seem to matter!

Lower the oven temp to 425.

Cover the pot, and bake for 30 minutes.

Uncover, and bake about another 20 minutes, or until your bread looks brown and sounds hollow when tapped.

Try to let it cool for an hour before you cut it. Try hard.