Homemade bread

Pictured above: A loaf of bread sits on a wooden cutting obard with a knife, honey and butter. A slice of bread has been cut and drizzled with honey and a pad of butter.

Ingredients

3 cups of warm water

1 ½ tablespoons (2 packets) of yeast -- Was spotted in CVS's baking aisle

1 ½ tablespoons of salt

6 ½ cups of flour

A dash of cornmeal (optional)

Homemade bread

If you live in NQ, there is never a shortage of food throughout the week. An unlimited meal plan allows you to eat to your heart's content without worrying about dishes, meal planning, or grocery shopping. But there is a loss of comfort in the dining hall, and often students miss home cooked meals. For me, there is nothing that reminds me more of home than a nice warm loaf of bread fresh out of the oven. Additionally, the comfort of baking, doing something with your hands, and taking the time to make something yourself is incredibly rewarding. Below is my favorite bread recipe which is quite inexpensive, and difficult to mess up (I would know). I strongly recommend eating it fresh out of the oven with a little bit of butter and honey. Happy baking!

Instructions

  1. Mix lukewarm water and yeast together in a large mixing bowl, add salt and let sit for a couple of minutes.

  2. Add all of the flour and mix with a wooden spoon. This is a wet dough so you DON'T need to knead, instead make sure all the flour is incorporated.

  3. Cover the bowl with a towel and let sit for a minimum of two hours (overnight is also fine, but put it in the fridge).

  4. Remove the dough from the bowl and separate into 3 or 4 pieces (about the size of a large grapefruit each). Each piece should be gently “cloaked” into a loaf. Again, don’t knead! This takes less than a minute. If you don’t know what gluten cloaking is, here is a link.

  5. Place the shaped dough on a pizza stone or pan (if you are using cornmeal, place the dough on top, but if not I find flour works fine as well).

  6. Preheat the oven to 450.

  7. Dust the top of the loaves with flour and then “slash” them about a ¼ of an inch thick. Be creative! I am awful at this, and none of my designs ever work out though.

  8. Place a small dish with a cup of water inside the oven, this will give the dough a nice crust.

  9. Bake for 30-35 minutes until you have a browned crust.

  10. Enjoy with some honey and butter!

Pictured above: A loaf of homemade bread with a thick, golden crust with a misshapen bottom where the bread "blew out".

Lea lovingly calls this her "Chernobyl Elephant's Foot Bread" and insists that although it looks odd, it was quite delicious.

Do you see the resemblance?

Pictured above: The infamous Chernobyl "elephant's foot", a highly radioactive mass of corium and other materials from the Chernobyl meltdown.