Artisan Bread

I love bread when it comes out of the oven- who doesn't?

Carol walked me through making pizza crust which Gabe loves.

My next bread challenge was making a loaf and I decided to make Amish White Bread. I was shocked to see this pin take off on Knead it Punch it Bake it.

 We are leaving soon to return to Florida and I wanted make something with the bread flour I have left in the house. Gabe was sitting next to me on the couch and saw the recipe from
Real Life Dinner and Maria has step by step instructions! 

The first cut of bread with butter and we were in carb heaven. I know this loaf isn't going to last long..........

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water
2 teaspoons yeast
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon olive oil
4-5 cups flour
2 tablespoons cornmeal

Directions:

If your are going to use a kitchen aid mixer- I saw somewhere to warm up the metal bowl first before you add the water and yeast. Not being an experience bread maker I did this. Not sure if it helped but wanted to add the tip.

Add 2 cups of warm water to a large bowl.

Sprinkle the 2 teaspoons of yeast over the water and let it sit for five minutes.

Add the 2 teaspoons of sugar and the 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt  and the 1 teaspoon olive oil to the yeast & water.

Measure the flour and add 4 cups to the mixture.

I used my kitchen aid and I had the water and yeast in the metal bowl which I added the sugar, salt and olive oil. Started to add one cup of flour at a time and mixed with the dough hook until all four cups were combined. At this point the dough should not stick to the bowl. Added the additional cup of flour and once that additional cup is combined and doesn't stick to the bowl knead for 3-5 minutes.

Take the dough out of the bowl with floured hands and roll it in a nice round ball.

Cut the dough in half ( you will have 2 balls of dough), Roll each ball with your hands still floured into equal size.

Sprinkle a large cookie sheet with the cornmeal and place each ball of dough on the cookie sheet about 5 inches apart. Make sure each ball is dusted with flour and cuts are made in the top of the dough-

Use a serrated knife to cut the bread into a tic tac toe pattern into the top of the dough, you don't want to cut to deep.

Cover with plastic wrap and let it double in size. I'm not going to give you a time for this to happen. It depends on how warm your kitchen is  and if you used rapid yeast. Keep an eye on it and it and you will tell when it doubles.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Take off the plastic and place the dough in the preheat oven on a shelf in the middle of the oven.

Maria gave the tip to place 3 cubes of ice on the bottom of the oven. I placed the cubes in a small metal pan not directly on the bottom of the oven. She said this makes the crust amazing.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Take out of the oven and place on cooling racks.

If you are like me it doesn't cool long- we cut into it and the butter melted - really good!

Note: The boys came over for cookies. I didn't have any but the bread just came out of the oven and was still warm. I asked if they liked bread and they said yes! I cut them each a slice and put plenty of butter on it. They went away with happy tummy's.