Today, we bake bread. We bake because deep thinking works up an appetite, because Minnesota believes it’s still winter, because kneading works out the angry bits, and because the smell, touch, and taste of this loaf brings me to a place I find comfort and memory in. Maybe you can go there, too.

(I should note that occasionally, I’ll bake a loaf of bread, and some folks react as if I’ve invented the solar system or something. If you think this post is not for you because you’ve never done it before, I offer the following: This is not complicated. People have been making bread for quite sometime. I hear they even do it in Europe. Doubt not. We gonna knead together.)

Step one: Gear up.

Bread doesn’t take much working time, but you’ll need to leave hours for it to sit and rise, so start in the morning and make it when you’ll be at home watching movies or figuring out how wordpress works.

Get these things:

• large mixing bowl
• measuring utensils
• spoon (wooden spoons are best for bread dough)
• tin foil
• 2 loaf pans or baking pans (you could even use disposable, foil pans)

This recipe makes two loaves, so halve it if you only have one pan.

and these:

• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon kosher salt

and throw them together in a large mixing bowl so they look like this:

Pour two cups of boiling hot water over them and set a timer for 10 minutes.

While you’re waiting,

get these measured out in a different bowl:

• 1 lb, 1 oz. (or 3 ¾ cups) bread flour (you can use unbleached, all-purpose in a pinch)
• 7 oz. (or 1 ½ cups) whole wheat flour
• 1 Tablespoon active yeast*

After 10 minutes, your melted ingredients should look like this:

and should be warm (not hot) to the touch.**

Then plop the flours and yeast on top of the melted ingredients.

Step two: We knead. O yes, yes, we do.

Start by mixing everything together with a wooden spoon. The flour will still be visible and it’ll get tough to stir. It should look like this:

Now, comes the fun part…

Stick your (washed) hand into the bowl and SQUEEZE. Do it again… a couple more times until everything sticks together.

Okay, now pick it up, stick it just under your nose, and inhale. Pause. This is when comfort and memory kick in for me…

Back to work: put it on the counter and start to knead. If you’ve never kneaded before, just think of it like folding the dough over and pushing it back down. I use my fingers to pull it up and the heel of my hand to push out and down. It’s a lovely, repetitive motion that begets profound thinking and promotes soul savoring.

Do this for 8 to 10 minutes. I’m not kidding. Work it. And use both hands; I had to take a picture with my left… (You can cheat and use a heavy stand mixer with a dough hook for 6 minutes, but make sure you give one additional hand kneaded minute at the end.)

It will be a sticky but silky ball of goodness. Now put it back in the mixing bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, set a timer for an hour and go away.

Step three: Things shape up.

Your dough should be about two times it’s original size, but don’t freak if it’s not super inflated; it’ll come.

Now you shape the dough and put it into whatever vessel you’ll bake it in.

Plop the dough ball onto the counter and cut it in half. (If you’ve halved your recipe, use the whole ball.)

If you’re making a loaf, I fold in the pointy ends and roll it into a sausage shape so it looks like this:

If you’re making rolls in a baking pan, I roll the clump into a sausage and cut it into pieces like this:

 

and arrange them in the pan:

Cover ‘em up with more plastic wrap, set the timer for another hour, and go away again. (This could take two hours-ish, so don’t plan your sandwich party just yet.***)

Step Four: Heat and Bake

Your bread should now be the shape you want to see come out of the oven.

Preheat the oven to 350º

Bake your uncovered bread in the middle of your oven for 25 minutes.****

After 25 minutes, put a piece of tin foil over the bread so it doesn’t get too dark, bake for 10 more minutes, and it’s done.

 

Yes. Yes. Yes. and Yes.

This bread makes a particularly amazing ham sammy with mayo, or strangely enough, rocks tuna salad and a pickle. But above all, toast. Just toast, butter, coffee. Magic.

We eat together,
and it makes a good day.

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For the detail oriented:

*If you don’t think you’ll bake much bread, buy the 3-packet strips of yeast, rather than a jar. It’s cheaper and they’ll last longer.

**Two things that will quickly kill yeast and prevent your dough from rising are too much heat and letting the yeast come into contact with the salt before it’s had a chance to “come to life.” If you have an issue with that, try adding the salt just before kneading.

***Bread rises with warmth and moisture. In Minnesota, we have them in abundance or scarcity, so your rising time will fluctuate. In drier, cooler times, I set the bread on top of the oven while it preheats, where the heat rises out. You can even put a dry kitchen towel over the plastic wrap to incubate the loaves.

****Make sure your oven is fully heated before putting the bread in. I let it sit for at least 10 minutes at 350º before baking.