Making and Baking a Simple Bread - Life at Bella Terra

I’ve always wanted to be that person who bakes fresh bread daily. The anticipation of slathering butter on a warm slice right after it comes out of the oven makes my mouth water. Now that it is getting cooler in Phoenix, turning on the oven isn’t so painful. I actually found this recipe on Pinterest (what did we do before Pinterest?) and it’s fail-proof. Unlike making sourdough bread from starter which takes me 24 hours, this bread is simple and quick with good results.

It only requires 4 ingredients – flour, yeast, salt and water. I happen to love this Celtic Sea Salt and use it most of the time for all cooking, baking and seasoning. Though I tend to use King Arthur Flour, any non-bleached all purpose flour will do. I’m not a proficient baker so I don’t know if one type of yeast is better than the next, but I did use Red Star Active dry yeast for this recipe. No kneading-just throw the ingredients in a bowl, loosely mix, and let it sit for 12-18 hours. Here’s what it looks like after 13 hours of sitting in a covered bowl.

This recipe is perfect to throw together before bed time so it can sit overnight. Simple, affordable ingredients and you can make your kitchen smell great and provide comfort food for those you love. I did get a little fancy on the bread I made this a.m. Adding lemon zest, gruyere cheese and rosemary is a flavorful spin on the basic recipe.

Doubling the recipe, I divide the dough and let is rest, covered, while I put my Le Creuset pot in the oven at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. Yes, heat the empty pot with the lid in the oven. You can use a dutch oven or cast iron pot too.

Be very careful taking out the extremely hot pot and lid. Put one dough ball into the pot, cover and place back in oven for 30 minutes.After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes.

Remove the pot from the oven and put the bread on a rack to cool.

Isn’t it beautiful??? I am glad I made 2 loaves as the first one disappeared very quickly!

Below is the basic bread recipe, but here is the Pinterest link for more information about this recipe.

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Quick Crusty Bread

This simple and easy recipe produces wonderful freshly made bread

3 cups Unbleached all purpose flour
1 3/4 Tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Instant or Rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 cups water

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and yeast. Add water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms. Cover blow with plastic wrap and set aside for 12-18 hours. Overnight works great.
Heat oven to 450 degrees
When the oven has reached 450 degrees, place a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven and heat the pot for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, pour dough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let set while the pot is heating. Remove hot pot from the oven and drop in the dough. BE VERY CAREFUL HANDLING THE HOT POT. Cover and return to the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack to cool. Makes one loaf.

See recipe in Pinterest for other flavor suggestions. I added lemon zest, gruyere cheese and rosemary to my loaf and it is delicious!

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