There is nothing that beats fresh homemade bread. I have a recipe that is so versatile, you can make just about any dough based recipe. Foccacia? Yup. Baguette? Uh-hu. Pizza crust? Sure thing. Cinnamon buns? Most definately. Oh, and let's not forgette the regular loaves or rolls...
This recipe is so easy to make that it is almost a shame not to have fresh bread daily. So much so, that the recipe is named "Daily Bread". It is not my own recipe. Years ago it was posted on a free subscription based e-mail list named foodwine. I've searched the archives for the original post and I couldn't find it. To the original author - Thank you. My family has much enjoyed your recipe over these past many years.
Daily Bread
Yields 1 loaf/1 pizza
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water (112F)
2.5-3 cups of all purpose flour (depending on the humidity you may need more or less)
1.5 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp vegetable oil (optional, though necessary for pizza dough)
In a bowl, mix the yeast, sugar, water and 1 cup of flour until you get a runny gloppy mess. Keep covered in a draft free place for a minimum for 15 minutes, or even better - overnight.
Once the yeast mixture has proofed, add the remaining amount of flour, the salt and the oil (if desired). Mix thouroughly, the dough should not be particularly sticky, it should be soft and have just a bit of give when pressed with a finger . If you are using a machine of some sort, kneed the dough for a few minutes. If making by hand, kneed the dough for about 5-10 minutes - it depends if you have the time to give a full kneed or not, as long as the dough has been worked a bit, then you'll be ok. Like I said it's a very forgiving dough. Place in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm and draft free place in your kitchen. You can leave it all day while you're at work, or overnight while you're sleeping for a fresh loaf first thing in the morning. Or again, you can make it as a traditional bread recipe and let the dough rise until it has doubled in size.
Once you and the dough are ready, shape in the form that you want... Pizza? Roll it out. Loaf? Roll it up into a log. Baguette? Snake it out. If making bread, let it rise another 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 400F, and then bake your bread for 30 minutes.
Can you see why I so like this recipe? It works with me. I don't have to worry about having to watch the clock to make bread anymore. Is there anything better than a fresh slice of warm bread with a bit of butter with supper? Not in my books. :D
