Before getting to the bread recipe. I want to let you know I am now teaching a Painting Techniques Intensive online Course for Interiors, Art and Furniture. If you love to paint come join me! I have created an amazing course where all levels of painters are welcome. Here is the link:
How To Make Home Made Bread
I love to make home made bread, it warms the heart and the home. When the girls were little, on cold foggy Winter days I used to meet them after school with warm buns of Pain Au Chocolate, wrapped up in a linen napkin. Now with my littlest in High School, she would be horrified to have Mama waiting with warm bread. It makes me giggle to think of doing it. If I were home with my family in California out at the beach house I would be making tons of little "panini" to be served warm with Thanksgiving dinner.
The thing about making bread is you can't really go wrong and you can add whatever you might like to the recipe to make it special.
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Here is my basic recipe:
It only takes about 5 minutes to mix and four hours to rise.
This recipe also works for Pizza dough.
5 to 6 cups of fine white flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup of warm water mixed with half a bag of dry yeast or 1/2 a cube of fresh yeast.
(I think in America it is often called beer yeast. I like the fresh cubes best and you can get them in the refrigerated section of the market near the yogurt. In Italy I use Lievital fresco)
Dissolve the yeast with your finger in the warm water
Add to your flour mixture
Then I get another cup of warm water put it to the side and add it as needed to the mound of flour mixture till the consistency looks and feels right. See photos
Mix the dough into a ball with your hands
You can knead it in the bowl or on a wood cutting board or marble slab, adding flour sprinkled on the board.
Then once the dough seems good I put it in a deep bowl, cover it with a cotton or linen napkin and leave it to rise 3 to 4 hours.
Once the dough has risen you knead it down again and form your rolls or loafs as you choose.
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| Here is the Fleischmann's dry yeast that I use in the US. |
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| Here is the dough mixed into a ball waiting to rise |
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| The dough covered wit a cotton cloth waiting to rise |
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| Sorry the photo is blurry but you can see how much the dough came up |
Here is the fun part, you can add dark chocolate (70% cocoa makes it a super food) a chunk to each roll, push it in the bun and cover with dough.
Glase the top with egg yolks to give a pretty golden effect.
Cut the loaf open on the top and add fresh olive oil and rosemary.
Sky is the limit now.
Have fun Happy Thanksgiving to those of you dear readers in the U.S.
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With affection,
Natalie
