It’s far too easy to buy processed food at the grocery store. Life is busy, especially in the first months after school starts again. Especially when it is still hot outside, the baking still heats the house, and the AC has to work harder. But as the cooler temperatures approach, it is time to start baking once again. Bread is one of those things: it is simple in its most basic form.
A little wisdom from The Little House Cookbook on bread:
At least most of us don’t need to grind our wheat and can just open up our flour container.
Bread only needs four ingredients in its most simple form: Flour, yeast, salt, and water.
It doesn’t require sugar, oil, or any other ingredients. It is the simplest of “ingredient household” baking.
Even shorter is sourdough bread, but let’s start with simple yeast bread. And more than just simple, it’s a very affordable way to learn how to make and bake bread.
(On that recipe you can see above? The need for stale, dried bread was to clean out the grinder for the wheat berries—they also used it for Pa’s coffee beans every morning, so you ran bread through it to remove the flavor left behind. And if you had animals, they could be fed the crumbs.)
Bread making is witchcraft in ways – a few simple ingredients come together, and the heat changes it all. It comes out crinkly on top, with an aroma that wakes one’s hunger.
When I was in college, I would make bread on my day off from work and school. One day, some guy my boyfriend knew came by to see if he was there. He stood at the door, and I could tell he was sniffing. He looked at me, “Did you make bread?” In total awe. As if I were a kitchen witch. And no, he didn’t get any. Only people I like get my homemade bread. Making bread is an act of love for me, to serve my family the best I can.
And yes, it has the “sound” when you press on the crust. That crinkly sound that promises a delicious interior.
4 Ingredient No-Knead Bread
Ingredients:
- 1½ cups warm water (120-130°)
- 2¼ tsp (1 packet) dry active yeast or quick-rise yeast
- 1½ tsp fine sea salt
- 450 grams all-purpose flour (3¾ cups lightly measured)
Directions:
If your kitchen is cold, use a heating pad set to medium.
In a large mixing bowl, add the yeast, salt, and flour. Pour in the water, mix until the dough comes together.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel, and let it sit in a warm area to rise to double (on a heating pad for us). Dry active yeast takes 75 minutes, and quick rise takes 45 minutes.
Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit an 8″ or smaller cast-iron pot (that has a dome lid) or a similar size dutch oven with lid. Don’t go bigger, the bread will be too wide and be flat.
Sprinkle a bit of flour on top of the dough, then gently pull the dough away from the sides of the bowl, tucking the edges under to form a ball. Place it on the parchment paper and set it into a clean mixing bowl about the size of your cast iron pot. Cover again and let rise for 90 minutes for dry active yeast or 1 hour for quick-rise yeast. Take a sharp knife and cut two lines across the top of the dough.
In the last 15 minutes, preheat the oven to 450° and place the cast-iron pot and lid in the oven to heat. Have a thick wood cutting board on your counter, the pot will be ripping hot.
Take the pot out, place the parchment paper and dough into it, and cover with the lid.
Bake covered for 30 minutes. Take the lid off, and let it bake for 10 minutes. If golden on top, take out. If not, bake for another 10 minutes. Ours took 40 minutes total.
Take the bread out and place it on a cooling rack. Let the cast-iron pan cool down in the oven; it will be very hot.
Once cooled, store in a bread bag (cloth or plastic). (See here on how to sew one)
Eat within 24 hours for the best taste/texture. The crust will soften a bit if stored in a plastic bag.
Cost Notes:
This bread can be made for under $1.10 using the ingredients listed about.
5-pounds of flour will make 4 loaves of this recipe. Each loaf is 70 cents give or take.
The yeast is 35 cents per loaf.
Plus the salt (which most kitchens have). We buy yearly a large roll of parchment paper. While it is convenient to use, it can be done without. It’ll just mean you have to clean your pot and the bottom of the crust may get crunchier.
As for cast iron pots…I will say this: Buy once, use for forever. If you don’t have any? Ask your elderly relatives and friends – chances are they may have ones they don’t use anymore due to the weight. Or shop garage sales/FB Marketplace or free pages. Even the ugliest cast iron pans can be restored with a good scrubbing and seasoning them.
~Sarah