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Baking Artisan Bread At Home from Scratch

Homemade Bread 4Wuddup! What’s going on at yours and hows the almost midweek treating you. As for me, I think it’s treating me quite nice. I’ve taken ‘work from home’ for a couple of days and got to try my hands on baking some artisan bread at home: I have to tell you that it popped out a beauty. Nice, golden, crisp top. Perfectly hollow when you tap. Soft and springy at the base. And whoa, what a shocker of a bread with regards to taste. Fresh, nutty and perfectly hole-y! You see, the thing about good fresh bread is you can have it on its own. Just drizzle a bit of olive oil or slather some fresh butter and you are good to go. It’s wonderful. The store bought breads taste so synthetic as opposed to home made ones: there is a stark difference if you have it side by side. Honestly, had I the time, I would have never bought bread again, for homemade bread tastes so much better, and so I did tell to two of my favorite men at the pub where I was having a couple of Buds. Man! That was not taken well, at all 😛 Firstly, the boys completely failed to understand what’s in a bread. Secondly, Why would i waste so much time and energy to ”make bread”. And thirdly, a bread’s a bread. What’s the hype all about.  Gah…It is so difficult to get these men to understand that “you don’t need to be a baker, a foodie or even fully awake to notice that tearing into crusty, freshly-baked loaf is a lot nicer than the supermarket sliced variety”- Jamie Oliver

HB6

Call me loony but I support goodbreadism. Why? Because as a rule, a bread that’s given enough time to ferment is a bread that has longer shelf life. That’s you saving a lot of bread which goes waste due to moulds. Second, the amount of effort put is directly proportional to the taste. Third, if you make your own bread, it also turns out to be much cheaper. 4th and most importantly, it gives me immense joy. That you can make your own bread is supreme to me. I don’t know why.

One more thing which I learnt from my bread research is Artisan bread is not actually a type of bread but the way a loaf is made. A bread that has been given enough time to ferment, rest, fluff and knead and one which has been handcrafted by a baker is an artisan bread. Basically, its not factory made and attention has been given to its quality.

Pretty much the way bread should be had right?

Homemade Bread 2But some people just wouldn’t buy this shit. Maybe I should convince them by telling homemade bread, one which has been given enough attention is actually good for your tummy too because the enzymes have been given time to break down so you can digest better. Which is one word is ‘healthier’ than machine produced one.

To be honest, I so wish I had enough time to bake my own bread. Unfortunately I don’t. So, I’ll have to settle for packaged ones till I can but it was definitely worth the effort.

I have made bread before but none of them came out as superb as this one. I altered the recipe several times to see what suits my climate and this is what I found works best. Hope it works for you too!

How to Make Artisan Bread

Ingredients:

Plain flour or Maida: 3 cups + more

Water: Lukewarm, 1 cup

Active dry packaged Yeast 4 teaspoon

Sugar 3 teaspoon

Salt 1 teaspoon

Margarine/ Unsalted butter: 1/4th cup cut in small cubes

Egg: 1, beated

 

How to

In a bowl add warm water , yeast, sugar, and salt. Let it proof for 10 minutes. Warm water and not hot. The mixture would be frothy.

Now keep adding flour till u get a smoth non sticky dough.

Next add in ur butter and knead again.

Rest the bread dough for 3 to 4 hours in a warm humid place. U can cover it with a wet cloth and keep it near the oven.

Once its doubled punch out the air and knead again with little flour.

Shape ur bread, brush with egg wash and let it sit for about 10 to 15 min.

Preheat ur oven to 250 and bake at 180 till the top is golden.

Rest.an hour before u slice it or ur bread is gonna be gummy and will not have holey texture.

Enjoy with butter tuna salad poached eggs or anything u fancy.

Thats from the baker this night.

Night night.

 

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