Baking Bread

Fellow bloggers are responsible
for the pictures you are about to see --

Here's how it went down ----
I was mindin' my own doggone business,
just browsing through some blogs I love
when what did I see???
Not once,
but TWICE on the very same day?

Gorgeous pictures of homemade bread.
So fresh and lovely.
I could almost smell it.
Twice it happened.

Once - I could've shaken it off and
thought how good it would taste and
*click*
been on my merry way.

But twice?
That was what pushed me over the edge.

THEN --

I'm flipping through a magazine
in Wal-mart yesterday and
there it was ---
a beautiful loaf of
French bread and
a super simple recipe.
Right there!

In My Face

I knew what I had to do, of course....
I whipped out a scrap of paper and pen
from my purse and
copied down that recipe,
marched myself over to the baking aisle
and came home and
made bread.

And yes! It tastes soooo good.

With a good amount of real butter.
And a big dollop of peach preserves.

Oh. Did you hear that?
I think I just heard angels singing............

Start to finish
was
3 hrs.
and most of that was "rise time".

So - here ya go........

2 packages yeast
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 cups very warm water

Place in a bowl, give it a stir.
Wait 5 minutes.
It will get kind of foamy and you know
your yeast is alive and working.

Then -
Add 2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon salt
and
gradually add
5 1/2 cups flour
until a soft dough forms

On a lightly floured surface
(to keep the dough from sticking)
knead the dough 5 mins.

Place in a clean oiled bowl,
set away from drafts,
and let it rise until double in size
or 45 minutes.

Spray a large jelly roll pan with oil
Sprinkle with cornmeal (just 3-4 Tablespoons)
and
place formed loaves on the pan.
I did 2 loaves, next time I'll try 4 smaller ones.

Put loaves on pan and set out of draft.
Let rise another 45 minutes
or until double in size.

IMPORTANT --
brush top with 2 egg whites
that have been slightly beaten
and cut slits on top of the bread
at intervals of every 3 inches.

Preheat oven to 400
Bake 20-25 minutes

Let cool
IF you can
Slice and ENJOY !!!

Go on now.
Try it!

You'll thank me!

Yum -

Gwynie Pie