Bread and Butter
Written by joythebaker on February 3, 2010 – 11:13 pm -
Sometimes life feels like layers of complications. Like taxes and traffic and cavities and getting laid off are all piled high into one smelly sandwich that you’re supposed to eat for lunch. Really…? Worst sandwich ever. Do not want.
Complicated. Yea. It happens to you. It happens to me.
Luckily there’s… bread. And thank the holy heavens for butter.
Bread and butter. Yes. A post about bread and butter. Perhaps the most beautiful and uncomplicated thing you can put into your face. Don’t fight me on this one. That would only make things more complicated. Go and eat. Bread and butter.
And yes… I burnt the bottom of my bread a bit. These things happen.
This is a pretty foolproof bread recipe. Don’t worry. If you’re intimidated by yeast and bread baking you might consider freeing yourself of that fear with this recipe. Really… all you need is time… sometimes that’s the hardest ingredient to come by. Take a lazy weekend afternoon and give this bread a try. It’s worth the effort just to make your house smell like fresh baked bread. Trust.
Two Crusty Round Loaves
I followed the recipe I found from Jaden of Steamy Kitchen
4 cups bread flour (the higher gluten content in important)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
Measure out 1/4 cup of bread flour and reserve a the clean counter top. Place the remaining 3 3/4 cup bread flour in the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment. Measure the salt and place on one side of the flour and add the yeast to the opposite side of the flour. Pour the warm water in the middle and mix on low speed (with the paddle attachment) until the dough just comes together.
When the dough forms a mass, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Dough should clear the sides but may stick to the bottom a bit. If you feel like the dough is too sticky or too dry, feel free to add a touch more water or flour by the tablespoonful. After 2 minutes, let the dough rest for five minutes.
After the five minute rest, mix the dough again for 3 minutes. Place the dough on the counter and, using the 1/4 cup of bread flour we reserved in the beginning, hand knead the dough. You may not need to incorporate the entire 1/4 cup. If the dough feels firm and solid enough, just knead for a few minutes and prepare it to rest. You should have a satiny, smooth compact ball.
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and turn the dough over to coat the entire dough lightly in oil. Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and place in a warm spot to rest for 1 1/2 hours. The dough should double in size. Remove from the bowl, punch down and reform into a ball. Return to the bowl, cover and allow to rest for another 30 minutes.
After the second short rest, place the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into 2 pieces. Form each piece into a smooth, round ball, tucking any haggard edges on the underside of the dough. Leave to rest, covered with a damp cloth, on the lightly floured surface for 45 minutes to a hour.
During the last 20 minutes of the resting period, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place a baking rack in the lower third of the oven and leave either a baking stone or an upside down baking sheet in the oven to heat as well.
Just before the boules are set to go in the oven, slash the top of the loaves with 2 to 4 slashes, using a sharp knife. This will allow the bread to expand in the oven. Remove the super hot baking sheet from the oven. Carefully transfer the dough onto the baking sheets and return to the oven.
Here’s some fun! Just after you put the bread in the oven, take 1/4 cup of water, open the oven door, quickly poor the water onto the hot oven floor and immediately close the oven door. We’re creating steam here people… it’s exciting. Wait 2 minutes and repeat the process.
Bake loaves for 20-25 minutes. They’ll be golden and gorgeous. Remove from the oven and insert a thermometer. The temperature should be between 190 to 210 degrees F.
Here’s the hard part: let the bread cool completely before slicing.
You did it! Now where’s the butter!?
Tags: Bread, butter, french bread, recipe, Savory
Posted in Bread, In the Kitchen, Recipes, Savory, Snacks | 89 Comments »
any chance of a recipe for those of us living in student poverty, sans kitchenaid mixer? please?!
I agree! Is this bread do–able without the mixer?
i have but-ta here for you! homemade, just for you!
I really love homemade bread with a little butter on it as well! I think I might go start some myself soon. There’s something so calming and home-y about it.
This post just made my bad day 20times better !
Hey Anne,
You should be able to follow the directions as listed but instead of using the mixer to do the mixing do this instead:
Put your dry ingredients (minus yeast) in a bowl. Make a well in that hill and pour you luke warm water into it. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and wait a minute or so. Then start to mix in the flour with the water until you get it together into a doughy gloop. Then knead the dough (see Joy’s earlier post I believe she has somewhere if you need tips) until it gets the nice smooth consistency that you see in the pictures and it stops sticking to the bowl as much–you may need to add a smidge of flour to get it to this consistency.
The rest is the same, so have fun with cheap bread! (As a college student who made and still makes her own bread, it is much cheaper to make it at home!)
Good luck Anne! Thanks for the post too!
is the steam absolutely necessary, or just for fun? cuz knowing myself, i might screw the bread up! and oh and how would i do this without a stand mixer??? please email me with answers!
I am an avid fan of your blog, Joy. It lowers my blood pressure. And I can tell when it starts: I sit down at the computer (usually with tea or coffee), check out “Joy The Baker”, and begin to chill, relax, and then proceed to ingest your words and gorgeous photos! So, thanks a million and keep on doing what ya do!
I have this one question though….do you think I could substitute whole grain flour for the regular bread flour and still get pretty much the same crumb and texture?
Thanks again.
I just got a new, wonderful stand mixer and have been itching to make bread! I can’t wait! And your beautiful pictures are just making me want to do it now – right now! Like, stay up all night and bake bread. Clearly, not going to happen, but maybe this weekend. Thanks Joy!
Ha,
I just had bread and butter for dinner. Though the bread was just rolls from Costco, the butter was fresh Hawaiian sea salt butter from the dairy with about 12 cow by my house on Oahu. Nothing beats this butter
Thanks, Castal! I’ll give that a shot this weekend. I could use the exercise anyway!
Alright…… you may have convinced me to try making bread! So much better, so much less expensive than buying it! And it looks fun
Yup.there are bread and butter days…
A trick that I always use now when I make bread is to mix the packet of yeast with warm water in a small (non-metallic) bowl first, cover it and let it sit for 10 minutes or so while I get the rest of my ingredients together. You want enough water to just barely dissolve the yeast. By the time you have all your other things together if the yeast is good it will be all frothy and risen. This way you know that your yeast is good before you mix it into all your ingredients.
I always do this now because I know I hate it when I have bad yeast and I wait my hour and there’s no rise. You know you have that packet of yeast that claims by the expiration date it’s still good but really who knows how old it is, lol. So far in the last 4 or 5 years since I’ve learned that I’ve never had a loaf go flat on me.
Thanks Stan… This is good to know! In fact, I am proofing my yeast right now
).
There’s definitely nothing better than freshly made bread smothered in butter! Simple…soothing…soft… and seriously scrumptious!
funny that you should post about this. i made some fresh bread last night and ate a few pieces already…of course, with butter! but also some of my tripleberry jam…heaven!
Yum! I love making bread! Its soo good staight out of the oven!!
I love this recipe – thanks for reminding me of it!It is so simply delicious!
I am making this lovely bread during the historic Washington D.C. snowstorm. Nothing better than walking back into the house from shoveling to the smell of this bread!
It’s Saturday afternoon and my house smells delicious…..breads in the oven. Just about an 30 + cool time away.
Joy,
My bread is on its first rest. It’s amazing how much you make me want to bake things. Can’t wait for how the house will smell in an hour or two.
I’ve always had trouble with bread (too dense, doesn’t rise, burns, etc.) but this was perfect! and so much simpler than the other recipes i’ve tried!
[...] I just posted a comment on Joy the Baker’s post on how to make bread at home, bemoaning my status as a poor student with no Kitchenaid mixer! AND I got a lot of clicks on my [...]
the funny thing is that is exactly what i just ate for dinner..sometimes nothing beats a little fresh baked bread with butter. okay maybe bread, butter and a little honey.
Hah, student poverty in my case means no stove/oven. I have raw sugar, cereal, a knife and forks… anything I could produce with those?
Bread looks so good, can’t wait until spring break to try it out.
Seriously though, if you have something stashed away for us students Joy, I’d love to see it!
hey joy!
i empathize with you on the bread and butter days… hopefully, with such gorgeous and delicious looking bread, you’re days will look sunnier soon
Bread and butter with suger sprinkled on top: my childhood snack, I still love it, it’s my comfort food
I made bread last night, the dough is in the fridge and I can’t wait to take it out and bake it today. My will be complete with bread and cheese, followed by bread and chocolate. I am giving up guilt because one of the finest things in the world is the satisfaction of making then baking bread.
That is such a beautiful loaf-and there is nothing better than bread and butter.:)
Hmmmmm…… mouth watering now. Must go to store for bread flour then bread and butter, here I come!
Gorgeous loaf of bread – mine never look quite this lovely!
joy, may i just add “breaking up with your boyfriend” as another icky ingredient to that sandwich of life?
i baked bread over the weekend too.
your bread looks so deliciously wonderful though!
Can’t wait to try this recipe out! Then spread some butter on a warm piece and eat it up!
I just wanted to say thanks again to the commenters who gave me advice on how to make this bread without a mixer; I gave it a shot, and it turned out delicious (if not as pretty as yours, Joy)!
You guys are the best!
[...] from Joy the Baker and Steamy [...]
i made your bread this weekend! it was my first foray into the bread making world (other than quick-loaf breads)… it was tough. process and my bread. not that its not good. but i dont have a stand mixer, so i tired the suggestions that someone put on the comments and it sort of worked. did i over knead?
I just finished baking this recipe. Good, basic crusty bread. As a hint to non-experienced bakers: be very careful when you add the water for steam. If you are using a baking stone, the stone absorbs the moisture, and may actually break or crack. It happened to me in the past, so I no longer use a stone when I steam my breads.
Yummmy! I loooooove bread! I made this today and it was so good, awesome with nutella! I did not use a mixer and had no problems.