February 7, 2009

The Art of Making Bread!

I say the art of making bread because it is truly an art! Over the past couple weeks we made two batches of bread and I have a new respect for my Grandma & Mom! The bread turned out wonderful - so I guess it runs in the family!

Here are the tricks for good buns:
Fluffy
Rise up - not out
Crunchy on the outside
Soft on the inside

Here are the ingredients:
1 block of yeast or 4 packs of dry yeast
4 cups of water
2 tsp. of salt
6-8 cups of flour....this could be more, depends on the flour, so don't worry if you have to use more.
Olive oil (for your hands)

Directions:
Use warm water.
It should be warm to the touch, but not HOT. That will kill the yeast.
Be sure your bowl is warm too so it won't cool off the water too much.
Put all the water in a bowl and melt the yeast in the warm water.
Add the salt and let it sit for about 5 minutes.
(Typically some sugar is added to yeast to help it rise, but in this recipe, sugar is NOT used.)

Mixing:
We used a KitchenAid mixer to knead the bread.
My Grandma and Mom made it by hand - you have no idea how hard that is until you try.

Add the flour one cup at a time and mix (with a spoon) in a little more flour after each addition.
After about 4 cups it will start to get pretty thick, so start using your hands for the rest of the flour. (If you have a mixer, you can mix everything with the machine)
Put olive oil on your hands, just lightly, do not put it on the dough.
Now keep mixing in the flour until the dough stops sticking to your hands. It should be nice and soft, but not sticky.

Let is Rise:
Now put some olive oil in the bowl, just enough to smear in the bowl.
Put the dough in the bowl and roll it around so the dough has a little coating of oil.
This is very very light.
Put a towel over the bowl and let it raise for about 45 minutes.
You can warm up your oven a little to help the bread rise. Be sure if your oven does not have bread proof setting, that you turn OFF the oven! You only want the oven barely warm.

Now, after the 45 minutes you can do one of two things:
1)Punch it down, knead it, and let it raise again.
2)Or form into buns or put into bread loaves, let that raise and bake it.

Making the Buns:
After you let it raise the second time - do not punch it down. When you make the buns, dip your hands into flour to keep the dough from getting too sticky.
Start taking the dough and forming into buns. (Cut the dough - DO NOT TEAR IT)
You will also do this if you only raise the dough one time.
Now that you have the dough formed into buns or loaves, let it raise for 30 minutes in the warm oven

Baking the bread:
Heat the oven to 425 degrees
Bake the buns for about 20-25 minutes.
The browner the buns the crunchier the crust.

Once the bread is done, add some butter and you will be in heaven!

Using the dough to make pizza crust!
Take about 25% of the dough
Flatten out, then roll out the dough
You can make a round or square pizza depending on your pan

Making the sauce:
1 can of tomato sauce
1 can of crushed tomatoes
Italian spices
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
Pinch of sugar
Pinch of Red Pepper if you like it spicy
Cook on the stove for about 20 minutes

Baking the pizza crust:
Heat the oven to 425 degrees
Bake the crust for about 20 minutes.

Adding the toppings:
Take the crust out of the oven after about 20 minutes
Cover the crust in sauce
Add the cheese
Add toppings
Add more sauce
Add a little more cheese (depending on how you like your pizza)
Put the pizza back in the oven for about 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted

Well, that is how you make awesome homemade bread and homemade pizza! If you use a mixer, you need to use the bread hook to mix the dough. It is fun to make the dough by hand, but it is sooooo much easier to use the mixer.

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