Daily Bread

I made bread today. I haven’t made any in a long time and I used to make it every single Friday – two big, hearty loaves to last a week’s worth of sandwiches, French toast, and slices thick with butter just for a snack.

I started making bread a couple of years ago. I was listening to a podcast of The Splendid Table (Download. Listen. Repeat.) and they talked about making bread in just five minutes a day. My kids eat LOADS of bread and I liked the idea of managing the ingredients.

Plus, baking bread makes the whole house smell good.

And you can brag about it.

The basic recipe is very easy, and these are all the ingredients you need.

• 1-1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (about 1-1/2 packets)
• 1-1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 6-1/2 cups unbleached flour, plus extra for dusting dough
• Cornmeal

The great thing is, you can modify it like crazy. You could mix in wheat flour. Maybe you could even put raisins and cinnamon in there and make raisin bread. Try whatever you want. I’m not the boss of you. 

Today, I added chopped olives (from my aunt’s trees!) and a few tablespoons of olive oil and I had OLIVE BREAD just like that.

Dip this in olive oil and balsamic. You won't be sorry.