Dang ya'll. Some people crave sweets. I crave bread and butter. And if it's made from scratch? Welp, it pretty much enters the addiction phase. This recipe has only 4 ingredients. It makes two large loaves. It's a tad detailed, not gonna lie. But honey, it's so worth it. The insides are so moist and delicious and the crust gives it that crunchy, delicious outer bite. I'm not even going to say make this for your friends and family this time. No, no, no. Make this delight for yourself. Grab a bottle of cabernet red wine and a stick of butter, turn on Netflix and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Honey, this one's for you. Enjoy!
Let's cook!
Ingredients:
7 3/4 cups bread flour
3 1/2 cups water at 90-95 degrees
1 tbsp + 1 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp instant dried yeast
Here's how we do it, step by step:
In a large bowl, add flour and warmed water. Mix well, folding over several times until it becomes a dough. It will be sticky and wet. Cover the bowl with a towel and let rest for 30 minutes.
Next, sprinkle with salt and yeast. Fold the dough ("folding" means to stretch the dough by stretching it by sections and folding it over and over until the ingredients are well incorporated)
Let rest for 15 minutes, covered. Fold again. This releases the air. Cover once again and let rest in a warm, dry place for 1 1/2 hours. Fold again and then cover again, this time letting it rise for 3 hours.
Once the dough, has had time to rise (approximately 5 hours from your first fold) remove the dough from the bowl and place on a floured surface. Fold once again and form into a smooth ball.
Cut the dough in half and roll each dough into 2 smooth balls.
Place the dough balls, seams side down into floured baskets (or bowls if you don't have baskets). Sprinkle with flour. Cover the baskets and let rise for an additional hour.
Preheat your oven to 475 degrees. As you can see I use two cast iron dutch ovens. Spray the pots with oil. Place JUST the pots with lids, into the oven. Allow them to get hot for 40 minutes.
Once the pots are heated, carefully remove the lids and add the loaves to the hot pots, seams side up, with lids on.
Bake for 25 minutes. Then carefully remove lids and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove immediately from the dutch ovens and place on to a cutting board. (Have your stick of butter ready!)
Baby!!! Do not wait for dinner to have your first slice! You cut that bad boy up, slather it up in butter with no remorse or consideration for your statin levels and dig in!!
You will never regret making this delicious homemade bread. Never. You may dream about it. But you will never regret making it. Enjoy cuties! This one's for you!