By Request......

Here is the bread recipe that J made the night of the Italian home-style theme (remember, the unbelievable homemade pasta and bolognese sauce?). A few people had asked for it, so we thought we'd share!

Ingredients:

¾ cup - white flour

¾ cup- warm water

1 Tblspn- Yeast (or 1 package)

Honey or sugar

Salt

Butter or Oil

Instructions:

Ø  Put your warm water in a mixing bowl.

Ø  Sprinkle the yeast on top of your water.

Ø  I always sprinkle in a little bit (1 tablespoon or so) of honey or white sugar. The yeast feeds on sugar. It will just give your yeast a little kick.

Ø  Let the water and yeast sit for 10 minutes, breaking up the yeast granules with a fork.  After 10 minutes your water and yeast should have started foaming. This means your yeast is hard at work!

Ø  Now, mix in a ¼ teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of melted butter or oil. Salt will strengthen the glutens in your bread and the butter or oil will keep it moist.

Ø  Start mixing flour into your bowl ¼ cup at a time until your dough begins to pull away from the sides of your bowl.  (I always use the kitchen-aid mixer! It’s cheating, but it works!) Let it knead until your dough isn’t sticky any more (about 10 minutes). It should feel very smooth and soft.

Ø  Take the bread out of the bowl and coat the inside of the bowl with butter or shortening (Don’t use pam, just don’t do it!).

Ø  Put your dough ball in the bowl and roll it around so the butter evenly coats the outside. This will keep the outside of your bread from drying out!

Ø  Cover your bowl with a moist towel (or plastic wrap) and let it sit for 1 hour in a  cool, dry place.

Ø  After 1 hour your dough should be just about twice the size it was the last time you saw it.

Ø  Grease your baking sheet with butter or shortening.

Ø  Work with your dough. Knead it for a few more minutes. This will work all of the large bubbles out of your dough.

Ø  That’s it! From this point the dough can be a pizza crust without any further instructions! Just roll it out and bake it at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. If you are making a loaf… please continue.

Ø  Cut the dough in 2 pieces and form those pieces of dough into balls.

Ø  Roll out the dough (1 piece at a time) until it is roughly 10 inches long and 5 inches wide. Then roll the dough long ways (Like you are making a log of cinnamon rolls!)

Ø  Place the 2 loaves on a buttered cookie sheet (seam down) and let them rest for another 45 minutes.

Ø  After 45 minutes, make a few cuts across the top of the loaves to keep them from bursting open while baking! At this point you can add some Kosher salt to the top of the loaves for a nice salty crust (optional). Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.