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Bread - Part 2 - A Simple Recipe

© Georgene A. Bramlage

Here is what my favorite poet, Emily Dickinson, had to say about baking bread in a letter to a friend: "I am going to learn to make bread to-morrow. So you may imagine me with my sleeves rolled up, mixing flour, milk, saleratus(instead of yeast for bread to rise), etc., with a deal of grace. I advise you if you don't know how to make the staff of life to learn with dispatch." Emily Dickinson, American poet (1830-1886)

Would you like to make a simple loaf of bread? With some adult help, even boys and girls as young as four years old can put together a loaf of bread. This recipe might look difficult, but a wonderful loaf of bread is your reward if you carefully stick to each step and are patient.

Here is a simple recipe:

• 1 ½ cups of lukewarm (75° - 90° F) water (If temperature is too high the yeast will die; if it is too low the yeast works very slowly.)
• ¼ cup honey
• one packet dry yeast (2 ¼ teaspoons or ¼ ounce)
• ¼ cup mild-tasting vegetable oil (like canola)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 cups whole wheat or white bread flour
• ½ cup of whole wheat or white bread flour put aside for sprinkling on your work surface and dusting your hands.

In the order listed above, place and stir together all of the ingredients in a very large bowl. Stir and stir until you make a lump of dough from the ingredients. Then, on a clean counter top or mixing board, sprinkle some of the ½ cup of flour you put aside. Put the lump of dough on the flour-speckled counter and let it rest for about 10 minutes.

Now, dust your hands with some of the saved flour and begin kneading - the process of "push, turn and fold" that makes the bread dough tender. This is how the process goes: "Push the dough away from you to make it flat instead of round and then turn the dough ¼ ways around, fold it in half and pull it towards you."

You knead the lump of dough repeatedly...over and over again. If your hands become sticky, sprinkle a little more of the saved flour on your hands to stop the dough from sticking.

When can you stop kneading? When the dough looks more like a ball than a lump and is soft and tender. A poke into the dough ball with your finger will make a little dent. Some bakers say the dough should be as soft and tender as your ear lobe.

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