I love this bread. And one thing that I really love about it is that it is so fast and easy–it’s kind of like having the best of both the yeast bread and quick bread worlds. It literally comes together in minutes, then you let it hang out in the pan for an hour, and bake it. It has the sturdiness of a yeast bread–like you can actually make sandwiches on it–but it’s so unbelievably quick and easy. If you’re scared of yeast, this is a great way to get your toes in the water. It’s holey and has a good bite to it like English muffins, but it tastes way better than those hockey pucks from the grocery store (not knocking the hockey pucks…they’ve got a place…just nothing compares to freshly baked bread.)
For starters, measure out 12.75 ounces of all-purpose flour (about 3 cups, lightly spooned into a measuring cup and leveled with a knife), 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon instant yeast, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt.
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your mixer, combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and yeast.
Set aside. Lightly grease an 8.5×4.5″ bread pan and lightly sprinkle with cornmeal. Set aside.
Combine water,
milk (I use whole milk buttermilk the last time I made this and it kind of blew us all away)
and olive oil
in a small saucepan and heat to about 110-115 degrees, stirring very frequently (it will heat up quickly, so don’t go far.) I tried doing this in the microwave like they suggest in the King Arthur recipe, but after cooking it too long and curdling it 3 times, I gave up–it was just easier to closely monitor it while it was on the stove. It should be warm enough for a hot shower but not so hot you wouldn’t want to wash your face or hair in it. Remove from heat. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and beat on high for 1 minute. Spread the dough (it will be very wet and sticky, like on the verge of being pourable) into the prepared pan.
Cover and allow to rise in a warm area for 45-60 minutes or until the dough has risen about 1/4″ out of the pan.
This actually didn’t rise up quite as much as I wanted it to and as much as it has in the past–I think it’s because I used bread machine instead of instant yeast. But. It was still super delicious and airy. It’s hard to screw this one up. Anyway. While the dough is rising, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. When the dough is done rising, bake for 22-26 minutes or until the top is golden and the bread sounds hollow when you tap on it. Remove from the oven and place the pan on a cooling rack for 5 minutes, then turn the bread out of the pan onto the cooling rack and allow to cool completely. When ready to serve, cut into 1/2″ slices.
It can go sweet or savory and will be amazing either way. Butter and jam is never a bad choice
But I dare you to find a better bread for toasting and topping with butter, thin slices of ham, and a fried egg.
