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!

Meal Plan Monday

In an effort to live a more simple and frugal life, I realized I need to get back to meal planning. It truly does save lots of time, headache and money! 

We have a WHOLE freezer full of organic, free-range meat to use up from our Meat CSA so we need to get a cookin'!

Here's what's on the menu

Monday- Ground beef soft tacos

Tuesday- Cheeseburgers on the grill

                Cole Slaw

Wednesday- Eating out w/ friends

Thursday- Crock pot roast Chicken and potatoes

Friday- Leftovers

Usually we have TONS of leftovers as it's just the two of us eating (Levi wishes!), and most meal recipes are for 4+, so Friday and Saturday and even Sunday is usually various leftovers from the week!

Here's our recipe for Crock pot Roast Chicken....it's super easy!!

You'll need:

4-5 lb. Chicken

Olive oil

Various spices: salt, pepper, paprika, sage, parsley, Old Bay (you can really use what you like!)

Directions:

Rub the chicken with olive oil, then sprinkle selected spices all over chicken. Rub in the spices.

Place in crockpot set on LOW for 8 hours.

Cut up veggies you prefer (we will do potatoes) and arrange around the chicken.

8 hours later...dinner is ready!!

Super easy!

We use the leftover meat for various other dishes... chicken pot pie, chicken enchiladas chicken tacos, etc.

Happy Eating!

Baking

This past weekend I had such a great time baking with some friends from church.

A couple at our church used to own a Great Harvest Bread Company.

I was raised on that bread, and when I learned that this couple used to own one, I knew I had to learn from them!

So a few of us girls from church met at their house and learned a ton!

And ate the best bread ever!

We started the afternoon by grinding our own wheat.

Yeah....never done that before.

One of the girls owns a wheat grinder and man, that made awesome flour!

We then made a Challah dough and a Whole Wheat dough.

We used a 'sponge' method for the dough, which was totally new to me.

Basically you mix the 'wet' ingredients together with part of the flour, let it sit and the yeast do its thing for 30-40 min, then add in the rest of the flour and salt. Then continue the regular process.

The Challah dough was very versatile.

And it doesn't need to be kneaded.

Even better.

They said the Challah dough makes perfect cinnamon rolls.

We made a 'savory roll' with fresh pesto and parmesan.

It was incredible.

Probably the two greatest things I learned from it was:

1. You don't need fat. No butter or oil is needed. That shocked me!

2. The ideal temperature for your dough is between 80 and 82 degrees. It was suggested to bump up your heat when making bread, and to take temps of all the ingredients. If your ingredients are running a little cool, make the water a bit warmer. If the ingredients are warm, make the water cooler. Genius.

At the end of the day, we all left with a loaf of Challah and a loaf of Whole Wheat.

For dinner we all dined on soup, salad, and our 'savory rolls'.

I wish I took more pictures, but my hands were covered in dough and flour for a good portion of the day.

We made them promise to do this again soon.

Especially when I learned that they have an awesome soft pretzel recipe....

This couple at church is not a couple I knew very well. They are around my parents age and it was amazing to learn from them and to hear their wisdom.

I strongly encourage you to get to know an older generation of people and learn from them.

I know as a wife I can learn so much about marriage, family and running a home from someone a few steps down the road!

Homemade Whole Wheat Tortillas with Flaxseed

As I've been trying more and more to make our own bread, this week I ventured into tortilla making.

It's so easy!

Here's what you need:

2 c. whole wheat flour

1 tsp. salt

1/4 c. shortening (could use lard or butter)

3/4 c. water

Sprinkle of flax seed

One

Measure your dry ingredients into a bowl

Two

Add in your shortening

and mix til crumbly

Three

Add in water and let your mixer do the hard work. Let it knead at a medium speed for a couple of minutes.

Four

Your dough should look like this

Five

Divide dough into eight balls

Let balls rest for 10 minutes covered with a tea towel.

Six

Make sure you have a hot skillet

Seven

Roll out each ball to a very thin circlish figure

Homemade tortillas definitely *look* homemade in my kitchen...

Eight

Place tortilla onto hot skillet, cooking each side until you see bubbles. Then flip.

Nine

Tada! Hot, fresh, healthy-ish tortillas!

Ole'!

Have you ever made homemade tortillas?

Are you going to give it a try?

Breakfast: Overnight Oats

This is my new favorite breakfast.

And it is uber easy.

And it's clean.

Bonus.

Here's what you need for the 'base':

1/3 c. Greek Yogurt

1/3 c. Oats (just regular ol' oats)

1/3 Milk (or soy/almond milk)

Mix this all up in a tupperware and set in the fridge the night before you want to eat it.

The oats will absorb all the liquid and soften!

Then, add in any fun extras!

Here's my standard:

Almond Meal

Wheat Germ

Flaxseed

Local Raw Honey

Whole Foods Peanut Butter

It is soooo good.

It seriously *almost* tastes like a peanut butter shake.

That you eat with a spoon.

For breakfast.

It is super filling and filled with all sorts of good stuff!

Can I talk to you about the peanut butter?

If you have never had Whole Foods freshly ground Honey Roasted Peanut Butter, you haven't lived.

Source

It is so delicious, you could just eat it straight from the tub.
You must try it.

But for overnight oats, you can get creative!

Another combo I like is the 'base', plus wheat germ, flax seed, almond meal, apple pie spice and apple butter!

Tastes like apple pie!

I've heard of others doing the 'base' plus pumpkin pie spice and canned pumpkin!

Or you could add peanut butter and jelly!

The combinations are endless!

But it truly is a filling, delicous, healthy breakfast!

Have you ever tried them?

Food Monday: Greek Yogurt

Greek Yogurt is all over the clean eating blog world, but I thought I'd sing its praises.

Greek yogurt is awesome.

But, it's...different.

It's not your usual yogurt.

It's thick. Real thick.

And it's tangy. Almost like sour cream.

No "fruit on the bottom" here!

But...it is full of nutrition!

For 6 oz. it contains 90 cal., 7 g. of carbs and 15 grams of protein!

And no fat!

And it is VERY versatile!

Not only can you eat it plain (or with local honey... like I do!)

It is great in recipes!

I showed you how I used it in my Clean Pancake recipe

I've also used it in substitution for Ricotta in a Clean lasagna recipe I used.

It was great!

Super creamy!

I also used it in a no-pudge brownie mix!

It can be pricey, but 33 oz. at Costco is $5.89.

Much cheaper than anywhere else.

Does anyone else love Greek yogurt as much as I do?

What's your favorite way to eat it?

Snow Day.

I think I jinxed things with putting out my 'winter' flag this year.

I *think* I've taught a total of like 6 days this month....

Pretty crazy.

Mr. Free and I had the realization today that we will have snow days...for life.

Not too bad of a gig. : )

But part of our Snow Day tradition, is some pancakes to start the day.

With my new efforts to eat clean, I've come up with a great recipe for 'clean pancakes'.

Mmmm.....

They are very thin, nearly crepe like. And they are not the typical heavy 'whole wheat' pancakes.

They are sooo light.

Here's how I make 'em:

1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour

1 tbs. almond meal, 1 tbs. flax seed, 1 tbs. wheat germ (this can be omitted if you don't have them)

1 tsp. vanilla, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 tbs. honey

1 c. Greek yogurt

(you could sub sour cream or reg. yogurt, but Greek yogurt is your cleanest, must nutritious option)

Here's what I buy.

It's $5.89 for 32 oz. at Costco. By far the cheapest deal for Greek yogurt.

I am using this a lot in my cooking. It is a great sub for sour cream!

2 eggs, 2 tbs. milk (I used organic half and half...needed to use it up!)

Whisk together til *just*mixed.

Make sure you have a hot griddle or skillet! I used non-stick cooking spray. You could use butter too.

Laddle in some batter.

Yes, my pancakes are shaped weird.

Mmmmm.....all done!

See how thin they are? They are so light and FULL of protein from the egg, milk and greek yogurt!

For toppings we use

Best.butter.ever.

If you're in KC, run to HyVee and get some.

You won't be sorry.

And our homemade mulberry syrup.

MMmmmmm......SO GOOD!!!

This recipe yielded 8 pancakes.

Please tell me if you try them!

They are my new favorite recipe, clean or not!

Happy Snow Day!!!

I'm going retro in the kitchen.

I got a bread box!

I had been eyeing her since last year at Target.

I've been wanting to incorporate more turquoise and yellow to the kitchen and thought she would be perfect!

But I waited to long....she was gone...

But this year, she came back at $14.99.

And I never pay full price.

So I waited, and she was on sale for $10 this weekend.

Not the greatest, but she was the last one left.

Using Christmas gift cards I snatched her up!

I love how bright and cheery she is!

Did I mention she's practical too?

With making all of our own bread, I didn't have a great place to store it.

I would usually wrap it in saran wrap, then place it in a bowl on the counter.

It looked cluttery.

Now, I have a great place to put it!

I think she looks super cute next to my gunmetal Kitchenaid and our cheery yellow towels!

It gives hint to the upcoming Spring!

So friends, how do you store your bread?

Do you have a bread box?

Keep it on the counter?

In a drawer?

In the fridge?

Do share!

Recipe: Date Cocoa Balls

These are soooo yummy.

100% clean.

All natural.

Raw.

Full of energy.

Here are the ingredients:

1/2 almonds (raw or toasted)

3/4 c. pitted dates

1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp vanilla extract

2.5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1.5 tbsp. water

Place all the dry ingredients in a food processor and grind until a fine, crumbly texture. About halfway through add the water.

It should look something like this.

It may look dry, but it has enough moisture to be able to form balls.

Scoop out handfuls and form into balls.

That's it!

Just chill and they will last up to a week!

These are very addicting....they taste like candy!

Please try them if you can!

P.S. I in no way invented these bad boys...they are all over the clean eating blog world, but I wanted to pass the recipe along and tweak it for a small food processor. My new one broke. : (

So I just have a little guy for now.