… are awesome. My younger brother is, anyway, whether he can bake or not 😀 But, the fact that he has, and has motivated me to, is awesomer yet 🙂 🙂 Truly! So, let’s just go back a bit, now that the appreciation has been recorded, and will be acknowledged soon enough – read, when he sees this 😀
Over the weekend, as I was preparing to visit home, for the Onam vacation, having cancelled, rather sadly, a longer trip to meet the elder son and my DIL, Vinu calls and tells me he’s actually baked a loaf of bread. I was amazed, for though my brother is an exemplary household help, in every which way, and makes the best doshas, and has forayed into other dishes, it is usually his wife, Tripti, who is the one who experiments and bakes the most wonderful dishes! And here he was telling me about this accomplishment! I applauded, asked for the recipe, and wondered when the heck I’d get to doing it. Making bread, for me, is a most complex task, one fraught with dangers and fall-flat-on-your-face kind of results. But, as always, Vinu gave hope 😀
He sent me the recipe via email, and I didn’t even check it till yesterday. It has to be the most entertaining of recipes I’ve read to date; a warm, funny, fuzzy woman had written it, for sure; someone who is so empathetic! You’ll understand why, as you read it – I’ll copy paste it, later.
Next, yesterday afternoon, he send me the picture he took of his creation. Boy O Boy! Was I impressed!!! Mom too. He called this morning to give me some tips that worked for him; this picture is his third attempt; the first one being, well, forgettable, the second better, and the third, as you can see, almost professional! I scrawled the tips all over the printed sheet, and said I’d do it with Atta, instead of Maida. After a tiny silence he gently prompted, well, would you want to see if it works with Maida, and then go on, towards Atta? Lol. It worked. It always does 😀 So I went ahead, got the ingredients out – just 4-5 of them, and NO EGG. Before I proceed, let me add the recipe here, so that you have that laugh, as I did, while kneading. You wouldn’t understand my wanting to giggle as I kneaded it, otherwise 😛
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The Recipe:
Simple Bread Recipe
Ingredients
2 cups warm water, not hot or you will kill your yeasty friends
2 teaspoons yeast—a packet contains 2.25 teaspoons–close enough.
2 teaspoons salt
5-ish cups flour, all-purpose is fine unless you wish to alter it for health reasons
Instructions
Mix the yeast into the water.
Combine the salt with two or three cups of flour.
Add the flour/salt duo to the water, stirring…or enlisting younger arms to stir for you.
Add more flour and continue to stir until the dough holds together and is not wet.
Dump the dough onto a clean, floured surface and knead. (If you don’t know how to knead bread dough, just fake it. This is very forgiving bread.) Add more flour as needed, but don’t overdo it. A little sticky is fine—too dry is not so fine.
Knead until it is as smooth as a baby’s bottom. If you have no baby’s bottom at hand to compare it to, give it the stretch test. Hold the dough up to the light and stretch a portion of it. If you can see light through it before it breaks, congrats! You’re finished. If not, give it a little more tender lovin’ care. We knead this dough about ten minutes. (Sometimes we cheat and knead less. We’ve yet to be ostracized for our occasional laissez-faire kneading attitude.)
Shape the bread into two or three Italian-shaped loaves or several mini-loaves. Do this by pressing the dough flat and folding it into thirds, or by rolling it up.
Put the ugly seamed side down and tuck under the ends.
Place the loaves on a lightly greased pan. Optionally, shape two shorter loaves and place them in greased loaf pans for “bread-shaped bread.” Grease the top (I like butter), and cover with plastic wrap or a flour sack towel. Set in a warm place to rise—the oven is too warm for rising and will kill your yeast, but the top of the refrigerator is just fine.
Let those babies rise until about doubled in size, or until you get tired of waiting, whichever comes first. We wait anywhere from 30 minutes on a hungry, summer’s day to an hour and a half on an oops-did-we-forget-about-the-bread day. Normally, 45 minutes should do it.
Preheat the oven to 232 degrees C. (My girls bake at 232 degrees, and I bake at 218 because I like the little time cushion for when (not if) I get distracted and wander somewhere that I can’t hear the oven timer. I won’t tell you whose bread my husband likes better.) Preheat for 20 minutes if you have baking stones in your oven.
Slash the top of the loaves several times diagonally for that authentic, fresh-from-a-French-bakery look.
Put the dough in the oven. (If you want to use baking stones, slide the loaves off the pans and onto the stones.) Spritz the interior of the oven with water. (This is optional, but gives the out-of-the-pan loaf a more tender crust. Some people have had trouble with stones and a few oven doors cracking from spritzing a very hot oven with cold water, so you may opt for a heavy duty pan with a couple cups of water set on another rack in the oven. Or skip it. Honestly, I skip it. We’re going for simple here.
Some of my girls spritz the loaf and the sides of the oven.) Set the timer for roughly 12 to 15 minutes, although it may take up to 20 minutes or more, depending on the size of your loaves and whether or not they are in pans.
Because all ovens, pans, doughs, and bakers are different, use this reliable test to see if your bread is done. Traditionally, cooks tap the bread; if it sounds hollow, it’s done. It always sounds hollow to me when I’m hungry and smelling fresh bread. Therefore, I take an instant read thermometer and insert it into the ugliest part of the bread where nobody will notice a hole. If the temp reads 190 to 210, it’s done.
Remove, cool briefly, slice, eat. Personally, I believe bread is a means of transporting butter to the mouth, so I say load on the butter!
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Entertaining, wasn’t it? I’ve deliberately italicized the real fun parts 🙂
I got the water, just right, (** Tips: as he said, dip your finger in it and it should be hot enough, just not to hurt :D) ; did the rest of the things he suggested (which was to halve the ingredients, except the yeast, and then do it, for starters), and then came the kneading! Push out with heel of palm, fold in, push out again… except that it was real sticky, and I was getting mad. Then I kept thinking about the required consistency, the baby’s bottom wala rule 😛 And that got me laughing and giggling and asking mom every now and then if the baby bottom rule had been achieved! It was fun!
The rest of it followed as instructed, and in a very square pan, it went in, like this 😀 And came out quite ok!
Wow! For me! And for Vinu! Ta-da! Please do try it! Ambitiously, mom and I plan to try the same thingy with whole wheat, and throw in a bit of garlic and sesame seeds for good effect. Vinu assures me it will work! This, after a loud guffaw!
Thanks Vinu! It really was fun! Now I’ve got to try the Walnut cake recipe you sent. Soon.
**Tips: In the lukewarm water, sprinkle half teaspoon of sugar; then sprinkle yeast – do not stir
Add flour bit by bit; stop if your dough is becoming dryish; sticky is good, not too sticky of course. (Psst mine was real sticky 😛 )
I did not manage to even shape it, as it was SO sticky. Still, it’s okay 😀
I baked at 210 deg. C. Also, I kept the dough in the oven, slightly preheated, switched off, and left to cool a bit. Helped it to rise better I think. My brother’s tips 🙂
And Pssst… I am not sure where the recipe is from, but will find out and add the website here soon. Do excuse till then.
Disclaimer: The Simple Bread Recipe belongs to the wonderful person who wrote it. I just feel so sad that I don’t have a name to go by, to thank!
19 September, 2013
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This post comes as a response to the Write Tribe’s Free Write theme for this week. I have been infrequent here, and elsewhere owing to a bad back, and reading that motivating post, on Write Tribe, made me want to do my bit. And the prompt was handed on that platter, along with the loaf of bread, by my brother 🙂 16 minutes is what it took, just typing in; till before the date. The copy-paste, proof-reading and pictures, extra time 🙂
September 18, 2013 at 3:30 pm
These are lovely cakes.. tempting even.. I generally like to mix olive oil which gives a wonderful smell.
You can use a knife to make different designs. I once tried one with arcs and it was so pretty.
Since you’re using yeast, you don’t need eggs to aid in fermentation.. I will try this recipe out sometime next month 😀
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September 28, 2013 at 8:33 pm
Hrishikesh, thank you! My brother also wishes me to pass on his thanks 🙂 This one works really well. As the recipe owner has said, this is forgiving bread 😀
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September 18, 2013 at 3:59 pm
It looks so so yummy…. And a yummy recipe as well…. ROFL…..
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September 28, 2013 at 8:34 pm
Charulatha, thank you 😀
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September 18, 2013 at 4:07 pm
My only attempt at baking bread was with a breadmaker which is now with my daughter. Freshly baked bread is so yummy. Glad you had fun baking. Thanks for joining in on my prompt.
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September 28, 2013 at 8:35 pm
Suzy, I must thank you for the motivation, via the prompt on Write Tribe! Thank you too, for the visit, and the warm words. This is my very first attempt. Cakes, I do, but bread has been a challenge, till this one 🙂
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September 18, 2013 at 6:02 pm
Looks quite good.
This recipe has got to be the most funnily narrated one!
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September 28, 2013 at 8:41 pm
Thank you Shilpa 🙂 The recipe is rollicking!
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September 18, 2013 at 7:23 pm
The freshly baked bread is so inviting .
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September 28, 2013 at 8:42 pm
Thank you Kalpana! It tasted good too 🙂
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September 18, 2013 at 7:46 pm
Lovely post, Usha teacher. Didn’t try out the recipe, but may I say – Yummy bread!! 😀
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September 28, 2013 at 8:45 pm
You may say, Navmi :D! Thank you!
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September 18, 2013 at 10:38 pm
Lol…I loved the Baby bottom rule…:-D
The bread looks real yumm…must have been quite an experience. 🙂
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September 28, 2013 at 8:46 pm
Rekha, I loved that rule too 😀
And yes, it was a wonderful experience! Thank you!
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September 18, 2013 at 10:50 pm
This is the only fun and funny recipe I have ever read. Was laughing out loud… with such precise instructions which come after profound experience the bread surely had to turn out just great! 🙂
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September 28, 2013 at 8:48 pm
Shilpa, that is why I had to share the recipe! As you say, it seems to have come from profound experience 😀 and so could not fail! Thank you!
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September 19, 2013 at 10:11 am
He he.. the recipe was truly funny!
I am looking for a recipe to bake break in a microwave… An Idiot’s Recipe to Making Bread In The Microwave is more of what I am looking for 😛 DO share the link if you happen to come across something 🙂 🙂
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September 28, 2013 at 8:49 pm
Bhavya, as a newbie bread baker :D, I’m sorry I can’t help, yet…. But will certainly send you a link of any microwave recipe if I do get any! Thank you!
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September 19, 2013 at 10:44 am
The recipe was really entertaining. And so was your write up 🙂
BTW smell of yeast gives me a headache and I do not eat eggs, so any other way of making bread?
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September 28, 2013 at 8:51 pm
Thank you Bhagyashree 🙂
About the no yeast bread, I don’t errrrmmmm really know 😀 The bread here is the only one I can boast of for now :D! Will keep you updated if I do get more info on it!
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September 20, 2013 at 10:12 am
The recipe for the bread looks very simple.I have never baked one at home. I will definitely try it. Missed your absence.
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September 28, 2013 at 8:51 pm
Thank you Usha Ma’am! It really is simple, do try it!
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September 20, 2013 at 6:31 pm
Woohoo! Lucky sister! The breads look like cake:) I enjoyed this awesome post and it’s like a roller-coaster ride. I am so bad in those things and guess wanna make it a challenge:)
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September 28, 2013 at 8:52 pm
Thank you Vishal! Indeed am a lucky sister, in more ways than this 🙂
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September 21, 2013 at 5:59 pm
Thanks for the recipe, I have never baked bread so it’s time I tried my hand at it, right? Enjoyed reading your post.
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September 28, 2013 at 8:57 pm
Thank you for being here, Sulekha! And yes, I’d urge you to try this… if I could, I’m sure anyone can!
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September 22, 2013 at 10:30 pm
Hahahahaha..i was ROFL with that recipe bit 😛 Now now you are tempting me to do some baking. Never done it before but always felt the urge to try once 😉 Never underestimate the Mariners 😛
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September 28, 2013 at 9:00 pm
Sunita, hahaha! Never underestimate them, yeah! Do try it – it was my very first attempt at bread, and it worked fine!
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September 28, 2013 at 9:51 am
I can bake. 🙂 I have baked two cakes till now and they came out pretty decent. You have tempted me to pick it up again.
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September 28, 2013 at 9:02 pm
Woah, Amit, that is really cool! Glad you’re being tempted to try it again… happy baking! Psst… I tried the wheat bread/garlic bread thing, and it worked too :); so if you’re a whole wheat bread person, this works for you!
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September 28, 2013 at 4:54 pm
I’d give whatever it takes
to have a brother who bakes
and for goodness sakes
send some this way of whatever he makes.
🙂
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September 28, 2013 at 9:14 pm
Govind, indeed brothers who bake are the best
They have already passed many a rigorous test
And when they give you, slices of goodness to taste
Heck! We’ll take that cake, and not a crumb waste!
Which is to say, that, right now, your eyes may feast
For nothing remains, on the plate, to say the least 😛
Thank you Govind! Shall exercise control and see if there’s any to send across if, when, the next time 😀
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