I recently bid house guests a safe trip home. I made a huge pork roast with basmati rice and broccoli, but I'm pretty sure I could have opened a can of tomato soup, grated some cheese on top and called it a day — all to the same reaction of "What a wonderful dinner."That's because I made my own bread. Homemade bread is deemed such a luxury that it matters little else what is on the table. And a tasty loaf is truly a wonderful thing. If you've ever looked at the ingredients in your typical sandwich bread, you'll likely see a bunch of mystery ingredients, including high fructose corn syrup.
I make mostly two kinds of yeast breads: American white loaf and Rustic Italian, depending on what I'm serving. Stews and American-style meals, like roasts, are better with the white bread. Everything else gets rustic. Also, the American bread recipe takes just a few hours, whereas the rustic recipe takes two days.
These recipes are pretty complex, so I won't include them here. I use Cooks Illustrated (best cookbook EVER) for both the white and the rustic. You need a subscription (which is well worth it, by the way, but they also have an unlimited search for 14 days free).
The New York Times ran this interesting recipe for no-knead bread that I've never had any luck with, but it's a great idea. I just think my oven doesn't get hot enough. And here's a nice recipe for white bread from a pretty thorough site.
So bake a loaf today, but don't expect it to be there tomorrow.
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