The Best Bread Recipe. Ever.

So, I stumbled upon the best and easiest homemade bread recipe ever.

And I had to share.

This is not my original recipe. I have tweaked a couple of things to my liking.

The original recipe can be found here.

The best parts about this bread?

No kneading.

No stand mixer required.

Easy steps.

Soft, fluffy inside, crusty outside.

Mmmm....

Let's get started

You'll need:

- 1 packet yeast

-1/4 tsp sea salt

- 1 3/4- 2 c. water

- 3 c. flour (I've used both a 50/50 mixture of wheat and white, and an all-white...both with good results!)

So, the night before you want your bread, dump into a bowl your yeast, salt and water.

Let stand 10 min. til yeast is bubbly.

Mix in flour until you have a sticky dough.

If it's too dry, add in a bit more water.

If too wet, add in a bit more flour.

Cover with saran wrap and let sit overnight on counter.

In the morning, it will look like this

Nice and big.

Now, flour up your hands and your surface.

You will shape dough into a round loaf.

Just keep tucking the ends under.

I put the load onto greased aluminum foil.

Let rise for an hour on counter.

A half hour into this last rise, preheat your oven to 425 and stick a covered pot or deep pot into the oven while preheating.

(I don't have a dutch oven or covered pot that is oven-safe. I used a deep pot with aluminum foil to cover it)

After an hour, it'll have grown and is ready to bake!

Carefully take the hot pot out of the oven.

Keep dough on foil and place in bottom of pot.

Cover pot with foil and bake covered for 30-35 min at 425.

Then bake another 10 or so minutes uncovered until bread is golden.

Immediately removed from pot and cool on cooling rack.

This bread is so stinkin good.

Has a nice crust to it, and is soft inside with nice air pockets.

It seriously looks and tastes like you bought it from a local artisan baker.

All for pennies and little effort!

It is seriously worth your time trying!

We had chicken salad sandwiches on this bread for dinner and it was amazing.

Please let me know if you try it out! I promise...if I can do it, you can do it!

Homemade Bread

I've been venturing to the Farmers Market weekly to pick up some fresh-made whole wheat bread.

It was sooo tasty and I loved that it didn't have any preservatives or high fructose corn syrup.

But at $3.50 a pop, it was adding up.

I have this abundance of time right now, so I figured why not make my own bread? Just like the olden days.

So this morning I awoke before my husband, put on a pair of high heels and pearls and headed to the kitchen.

Ok, all of that was true minus the high heals and pearls. I NEVER wear heels. Ever.

Yesterday I ventured to Costco to get some ingredients I knew I didn't have.

Whole grain flour and yeast. I figured buying in bulk would be much cheaper and save me from having to run to the store to get more ingredients.

At Costco the only kind of whole grain flour they had was Eagle Mills All Purpose blend of White and UltraGrain flour. It supposedly looks and tastes like white flour but contains the goodness of whole grain.

It was $5.99 for 20 lbs. With the recipe I have it will make approx. 23 loaves.

I also bought 2 pounds of yeast from Costco for $3.69. This should yield approx. 76 loaves.

The ingredients are:

3 1/4 c. flour ($.26)

1/4 c. honey ($.20)

1/4 c. milk ($.09 Shatto milk)

2 1/2 tsp. yeast ($.05)

1 c. water (free-ish)

1 1/2 tbs. butter, melted ($.25)

1 tsp. salt (already had)

Non-stick cooking spray (already had)

Price per loaf: $.85

That is a weekly saving of $2.65 or a monthly savings of $10.60.

Yearly that would be $127.20.

Not too shabby!

I perused the internet for awhile and found a recipe I think I could modify to my liking. It seemed simple enough.

So here it is.... pics and all.

The ingredients

My surprisingly powerful $15 Stand Mixer from Target. With dough hooks.

Put 2 1/5 tsp. of yeast in the bowl with 1 cup warm water. (Not too hot or it will kill the yeast)

Mix them together until the yeast is completely dissolved.

Next, add in the melted butter (cooled off a bit), the milk, the honey and salt. Stir it up.

Add in 2 cups of flour and start mixing with the mixer.

Add in 1/4 c. of flour at a time until the dough is just barely not sticky to the touch anymore.

Let the stand mixer knead the dough for 10 minutes.

Spray a bowl with non-stick cooking spray and place the dough in that bowl.

Put the bowl in a warm place.

I put mine on top of my gas stove set at 200 degrees.

Cover for an hour and let it rise!

It should double in size!

Punch it down, then place the dough on a well-floured area.

Stretch the dough out to a rectangular shape.

Roll it up.

Place it in your well-greased bread pan.

Cover again for another hour in a warm area.

It should fill the pan.

Place in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

Ding! Bread is done!

Let it cool completely before slicing.

Not so bad after all!

You can make more than one loaf at a time, and can freeze the dough if you'd rather do that for the next few loaves.

Homemade bread is a bit time consuming, but for most the process you can do other things since it is mostly just rising! A great time to do housework, read a book, sleep or write a blog entry!

Please let me know if you've tried it or have another great recipe!

My next goal is to make homemade jam. Mmmm.....

P.S. I am eating a slice now with Shatto butter and cherry preserves. Oh my....SO delicious!

The gift of hospitality.

hos·pi·tal·i·ty   
–noun,plural-ties.
1.the friendly reception and treatment of guests or strangers.
2.the quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way.

We live in a selfish world. A selfish culture. And I, Mrs. Free, am the Queen Bee of selfishness.

I am lucky to be married to a man who is incredibly thoughtful of others.

He reminded me the other day about the minsitry and hospitality of providing meals for those who could use some cheering up.



No, this is NOT a new concept by any means. But we twenty-somethings often only think of providing meals when maybe a new baby is born, or a death in the family.

People are struggling with all sorts of things daily. And an out-of-the-blue home cooked meal may be just what they need. To feed their spirit.

Mr. Free and I were able to bless others with this hopsitality this week and it was such a blessing to us! To be able to show others we care, and for a moment, put ourselves on the back burner.

I enjoy cooking and would like to continue to bless others through this ministry. Whether by opening our own home for a nice meal, or making a supper and bringing it to someone who could use it.
I'm sure many of my readers out there have done this for years.

Please share your favorite freezer-proof meal! So far I only have a few recipes and would love to add to my repetoire!

Espresso Nutella Shake

Meet my new boyfriend.



His name is Nutella. He's Italian.
(I know that's a bad picture...I just finished a 1st grade concert. I'm tired. Sue me. Actually, please don't. I'm a teacher. I have no money.)

Today I concocted a little jewel. Espresso Nutella Milkshake.

The recipe is as follows:

2 shots espresso- cooled to room temperature
4 scoops of vanilla ice cream (I used low-carb because I'm healthy like that..hahahahaha)
3 globs of Nutella (that is the correct measurement. globs.)

Throw all that stuff in the blender, give it a whirl and pour.

You're welcome, world.

I.LOVE.FALL

If you don't know.....I LOVE Fall. Seriously. Every year I love it more and more. Lord knows how I'll feel about it when I'm in my 80's. yikes. Here are a few of my fall favorite things:

1. Pumpkins and pumpkin carving!


2. Hoodies


3. Hot chocolate


4. Beanie hats, preferably with my curly pigtails and a hoodie.


5. Hayrides


6. Tights


7. Apple Dumplings ***see recipe below!***


8. And MOST of all.....decorating for Fall!!!!


***Apple Dumpling Recipe***
Yields 2 servings
Ingredients:
* Ready made pie crust dough, or your own favorite recipe
* 1 apple
* Butter
* Brown Sugar
*Cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut apple in half, core and peel. Divide pie crust dough in half. Place half of apple on half of dough. Fill center of apple with approx. 2 tbsp. butter, 1 tbsp. of brown sugar, and a few shakes of cinnamon. Wrap dough around apple, using a little water on your fingers to seal the edges. Sprinkle a little table sugar and cinnamon on outside. Place on baking sheet and bake approx. 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

HOMEMADE FUNNEL CAKE!!!!!!!!!!

Mr. Free and I attended the local Oktoberfest this weekend, and I REALLY wanted a funnel cake. The budget is a little tight at the Free Household, so we are really trying to live up to our name. Mr. Free told me he'd make me one as soon as we got home. He'd never made one before, so I was a little skeptical.
OH.MY.GOSH. This man knew what he was doing. It was at LEAST as good as any local fair, and I would say MUCH BETTER even. Here is what Mr. Free did:

Ingredients:
* Instant Pancake Mix (the just-add-water kind)
*Milk
*Vanilla
* 1 egg
*Powdered sugar
*Any toppings of your choice

To make two medium sized funnel cakes, follow the measurements given.

*Heat a skillet or deep fryer with oil until 375 degrees.
* Mix 3/4 c. milk with 1 c. instant cake mix. Add in 1 egg and 1 tsp. vanilla extract. Mix all well.
*Pour into ziploc bag and got off one corner (or you can use a funnel....we didn't have any that didn't have oil in them...)
* Right at surface of oil, drizzle batter in circular motion into oil (be careful of the steam...)
* Cook about 1-2 min. per side, until lightly golden brown. Flip with tongs.
* Remove from oil and let sit on paper towels for a minute or two to absorb the grease.
* Top with powdered sugar or topping of your choice!

SOOOO easy! And SOOO much cheaper than the fair! Thanks to Mr. Free and his fair culinary skills!