The Best Bread Ever!

Welcome back!!  If you hopped with me yesterday, you saw that my card had a gift with it and today I have the recipe for you.  First, let me give you a look at the yummy loaf of crusty bread before I packaged it up.

I have to tell you that this fresh bread dough recipe has changed our lives!! It is SUPER SIMPLE and tastes great!  In fact, I keep a container of dough in the fridge at all times because it lasts up to two weeks!

Now that I've got your stomach growling, let's get to the good stuff....the recipe.

BREAD DOUGH
3 cups warm water
2 Packets instant rise yeast  (1 1/2 Tbsp)
1 1/2 Tbsp Kosher Salt
6 1/2 cups unbleached flour  (You can use other regular flour as well)

You will need a large container to store the dough in as it will rise and double in size.  I use a gallon pitcher and it stays in the fridge all the time.

In your large container, add the 3 cups of warm water and the yeast.  Give it a minute or so to activate then add in the kosher salt.  At this point give it a stir then start adding in your flour.  I add in 2 cups of flour then stir then another cup and stir.  For the particular flour I use, I only need 5 1/2 cups of flour so the first time you make the dough, add the flour slowly until you get a well mixed dough.  This dough is a bit wet....and that's ok because you DON"T HAVE TO KNEAD IT!!! That's another reason to love it!  Now, put your mixed dough in the fridge in the container.  Be sure not to put an air tight lid on, the gases from the yeast need to vent.  I keep my lid with just a crack open for that reason.  Now you can let the dough sit and rise for at least 3 hours before using.

Now let's talk about baking this awesome bread.  You need a couple of things to make baking this bread easier.  Parchment paper, a pizza peel (or use the back of a cookie sheet) and a baking stone.  You can still make this bread without the stone, just place it in the oven on a baking sheet.  The baking stone is nice though, it helps the bread bake evenly.

Wet your hands and pull off a piece of dough.  It will be sticky so the wet hands helps you form the dough into a nice cylinder or circle.  Place the dough on parchment paper and set it on your stove top to rise while your oven preheats to 430 degrees.  This is the temperature that works for my oven, you can go as high as 450 degrees if need be.  Once the dough has sat for 40 minutes, pop it onto the baking stone with the pizza peel and let it bake for 25 to 30 minutes until it's nice and golden brown.  Let the bread cool for about 10 minutes if you can keep your hands off of it, it's harder to cut fresh out of the oven.

Did you know that this dough makes great pizza too?!  I make personal pizzas for my kids for lunch which means no arguments about the toppings!

Be sure to use parchment paper to make it easier to add the pizzas to the oven.  I can let them sit on the counter and bake one at a time that way.  This dough is sticky, so the trick to the pizza dough is a well floured counter to roll you dough on.  I keep a little container on the counter and add extra when needed.  Just grab a little blog of dough and set it on your floured surface.  Add a little flour to the top so the dough doesn't stick to your rolling pin.  Roll it out and lay it on the parchment paper then add your toppings.

I have a quick tip for your pizza sauce.  Use your favorite spaghetti sauce instead of buying a fancy pizza sauce.  So we don't let the jar sit in the fridge and go to waste, I freeze the sauce in an ice cube tray.  Once the sauce if frozen I take out the cubes and store them in a freezer bag.  When we are making pizza I simply pull several cubes out to thaw in a dish.  You can zap them in the microwave for a few seconds to make it go faster.  We don't use a microwave so I just set them on the counter or pop them in the toaster oven.  Now you have no excuse not to make pizzas for dinner tonight!!

I hope you try this recipe out, it's so nice to have fresh bread and pizza with ingredients you can control yourself.  We like healthy and fresh in my house, so this recipe has been a life changer!

And now when a new neighbor moves in or you want to give a friend or loved one something freshly baked from your kitchen, you know what to do!   You can find the original post HERE for more information about this welcome to the neighborhood set that I made.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, I hope you enjoy this bread as much as I do!!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin