Bread

I decided to try making some bread this weekend. It turned out rather nice.

I started off making the sponge, which was one handful of flour, a packet of rapid rise dry yeast and about a teaspoon of sugar.

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and add about a cup of hot tap water. The yeast packet says about one hundred and thirty degree water. I just let the water run until I was sure it wasn't getting any hotter and added that, probably about 120 degrees.


I let this sit for about fifteen minutes so that the yeast could be activated.

Next I started adding in flour one handful at a time. I ended up with about 7 handfuls of flour added before it was ready to be kneaded.

My handfuls must have been about 1/2 a cup.


Kneading the dough....









After the dough was kneaded for about 10 minutes, I put in an oiled bowl and covered it.







After about an hour the dough had doubled in size.

Then I kneaded the dough for about a minute more and cut it in half and formed two dough balls.





I shaped these two balls into loaves and cut some slits in the top.

I baked the two loaves on 350 for about 35 or 40 minutes, which yielded the two finished loaves in the top photo.

This bread turned out very delicious.