Crusty Loaf Bread

                                          

And I'm back!

The other day, I baked a loaf of crusty bread to go with this red wine meat dish that we were having for dinner. The plan was to put up a post on the bread BUT! The family gobbled it up before I even had a chance to get my camera for the final baked bread shot!

They say that good things should be consumed in moderate measures. But Gluttonous people like me don't necessarily adhere to that saying. Perhaps baking two loafs of bread within a span of 3 days may seem a bit excessive to some but come on! Who cares? Keep it, freeze it or give some to your pet dog! My dog, for instance, loved my crusty bread! He kept following me and sniffing the dough-and-baked-bread scented air from the minute I got the dough together to the minute I sliced the bread! 

The really good thing about this bread is that it doesn't  use much fat or oil. Except for about a teaspoon of butter, some oil for greasing the pan so that the dough doesn't stick to it while it rises and while it bakes and about another teaspoon to brush over the bread once its done.

This recipe makes a large bread loaf. To be honest, I would use this recipe again and make bread rolls because the crust on this thing is just so heavenly and I can totally see me putting a slice of cheese, some bacon or ham and pickles on this. Yum! 

To a cup of warm water (not hot water, you do not want to kill the yeast!) dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and then add a teaspoon of yeast. Keep it aside for 5 minutes. Add 1.5 cups of flour and about a teaspoon of butter, cutting it into small bits first. Mix.

Add more flour, a little by little, till the dough is no longer sticky. I think, in total, I used a bit more than 500 grams of flour. I used a spoon to mix the flour into the dough but midway it became too difficult and tiring to mix it that way. So I used my hands! Which was very eerie but satisfying to say the least. 

The dough coming together

Soon, you should have a non sticky dough. Knead this dough for a few minutes to develop gluten...

...and then, what the heck, slap the dough in your clean kitchen counter a few times (fun!).

Once the dough is smooth, place it in a large greased container (the container should be able to hold at least 3 times the volume of the dough) and let it rise (cover the container!) in a warm place for about an hour and half or until it doubles in volume. Then, punch (ah! What a stress buster!) the dough to release the trapped air, let it rise again and then punch it again! 

Finally, let the dough rise in the container, for 8 hours or overnight in the fridge ...

After the overnight rise

...Then, transfer it into a greased loaf tin and (you guessed it!) let it rise for an hour.

Bake the dough at 180C for half an hour or till the bread sounds hollow when tapped. Remove it from the tin and return it to the oven for 15 minutes, upside down, to give the underside of the bread time to harden. Then, take it out of the oven, flip it right side up, brush the top and the sides with melted butter and return to the oven for 5 minutes. Take it out of the oven and place it on a cooling rack. Slice and enjoy!