Baking Basic Bread posted on Oct 4 2011 10:36AM by Ben Nelson View My Profile View My Other Blogs

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Now just because I am usually blogging about clean transportation, doesn't mean that I lack domestic skills.

In fact, just the other day I baked a loaf of bread. SHOCKING, isn't it!?!?

But all too often, it is. How many folks do you personally know who actually DO bake bread from scratch? Well, with the crowd on this web site, you probably do know a few. But I would say that the percent of typical Americans who actually do make bread from scratch must be amazingly low. After all, it's SO much work, and takes a long time, and it's so much easier just to buy from the store, right?

Wrong. But we have been "trained" by our culture to think that it is. Instead, we all work our 9-5 jobs (that we don't really like) to buy things (that we don't really care for) in our capitalist/consumer system. Now, I am not saying there is some giant conspiracy of corporations to enslave us into being life-long "consumers". There's no conspiracy at all - it's all right out in the open.

A couple of years ago, I decided to give up corn syrup for Lent. It was one of those things that sounded so simple, yet I knew was going to get complicated fast. And it did. I ended up bringing my own ketchup (organic) to the local restaurant, as it was the only way I could eat my fries without corn syrup. And, most shockingly, even many BREADS are loaded with corn syrup. So, as part of my experiment, I started baking as well...

Like many things, to bake a basic loaf ISN'T THAT DIFFICULT. It just takes a little instruction, and not being afraid to fail! ( I have lots of practice failing. As you as you learn from it, it's just called EXPERIENCE!)

A couple days ago, I was having sort of a bad day. I was down and frustrated. And, we were out of bread. But, making things makes me feel better. There's a true sense of satisfaction in being able to do something for oneself. That, and even a bad loaf of homemade bread is still better than something mass-marketed in a bag.

So, in an act of corporate disobedience, and DIY gusto, I baked bread.

Recently, I was at the Mother Earth News Fair in Pennsylvania. While there, I picked up a couple magazines and "Mother Earth's Guide to's". In their GUIDE TO FRESH FOOD ALL YEAR, there was a simple bread recipe on page 51. The article was by Roger Doiron, but the recipe was adapted from one that appeared in the New York Times. It was very similar to one that I saw in another newspaper (and was passed all over the web) a while back, which was the type that I made during the No More Corn Syrup experiment.

The key features of both recipes was that it is "no-knead" AND that it was baked INSIDE a cast-iron dutch oven.

Since I had some experience with the other recipe, I was confident that this one would turn out as well.

After mixing together flour, water, salt, and yeast, I had a basic ball of dough.

The dough is set aside for a fair amount of time, to allow it to rise, and build some sour-dough-esque flavor. I just covered it in my mixing bowl, and set it above the fridge for overnight.

Next, flop the dough out onto a floured surface, roll it a bit, and make a ball. (As seen in photo above. First step in process, the dough is very sticky and shapeless, almost a batter.) Set the dough aside again for an hour or two to rise. 

The oven is fairly hot for this recipe - 475F. While preheating the oven, put the dutch oven in, so that it gets preheated too.

My dutch oven is a Lodge brand enameled cast iron. It was my Christmas gift to my wife not long ago. Lodge is FAR less expensive than Le Cruset, but the plastic knob that comes with it isn't rated for the higher oven temperatures. I replaced it with metal knob on the lid. Saved myself about $200 by doing that....

Once the cast iron and oven are to temperature, pull out the dutch oven and use a kitchen towel to transfer the dough to the cast iron. On this particular loaf of bread, I didn't do a very good job. You can see that once the dough was in the pot, it wasn't a nice round ball anymore! Oh well, it's amazing how much of that sort of thing works its way out in the baking process!

Put the lid on and get that pot back in the oven! Bake for 30 minutes, pull the lid off, and bake another 15.

Let cool on a wire rack before eating.

*POOF* - Bread.

I don't know how exactly it happens. Baking is alchemy. Four simple ingredients, in proportion, plus heat, equals the best loaf of breat you have ever eaten.

I think the pot must know how to bake the bread, because I certainly don't. 

This bread has an AMAZING crust! The only down-side to that is it can actually be TOO hard to cut! I have a pretty nice serrated kitchen knife. I even named it; the BREAD SAW. Trouble is, it can also be the finger saw if you aren't careful with it. Since I wanted to make sandwiches with this loaf, I also wanted an even, fairly thin, series of slices.

I'm not usually a fan of "Kitchen Appliances". They take up too much space, and aren't used nearly often enough. Unless they do something SO WELL, that they are actually worth keeping around. My wife's parents were fairly thrifty people. They bought in bulk from the Army Base store before Sam's Club and Costco even existed, and canned peaches when in season. The root cellar was always stocked. That also meant they had some food prep equipment. After my in-laws passed away, we inherited a few things, including an avacodo green meat slicer, I never thought I would use.

Did I say meat slicer? Hmmm. What's to keep a person from slicing bread with it?

I broke out the near-antique appliance, and gave it a shot. After a test slice or two, to set the thickness, I had the PERFECT sandwich slice!

Besides being an overall great loaf, one thing I have found about this recipe that FAR superceeds any store-bought bread is ITS ABILITY TO TOAST. This bread, when grilled, toasted, or broiled, forms a perfect, crisp outer layer, while still being chewy inside. In other words - the ultimate grilled sandwich bread.

I made up some ham reubens for lunch.

My wife had roasted some beets the night before, which I have taken a liking to since she gets them from the farmers' market, rather than the canned beets of my youth. Some greens and balsamic vinegar made a quick beet-salad side dish to complement the sandwiches.

So, there you have it. Just as the backyard hamburger will hands-down beat ANY hamburger you will ever find at a fast-food restaurant, a home-baked loaf is a winner over store-bought, any day.

And I'm no pro baker, just a guy trying to learn how to do a few things for himself, instead of letting corporate America do it for him. And, hey, no corn syrup!

Go ahead, learn a new skill, take pride in your work, and add a little butter.

-Ben

PS: There are many "no-knead" bread recipes out there. Here's a link to one at the NY Times. If you don't already have a cast iron dutch oven, either a black one for camping, or an enameled for modern kitchen use, I highly recommend you get one. Best value is at thrift stores and rummage sales. If you want to buy new, I recommend the LODGE brand, but upgrade the knob on the lid.

DIYer, Electric Vehicle Builder, and solar enthusiast http://300mpg.org/

Comments From Readers

Comment by Gloria MacWilliams on Oct 4 2011 11:08AM   That looks fantastic! I haven't bought bread in years. I like the satisfaction of doing it myself. Besides, over $2 for store-bought bread with all its ingredients I can't pronounce - who needs it?. I can start around 6 in the morning and before noon I'm taking a month's supply of deliciousness from the oven. And nothing, I mean nothing (except maybe baked beans) makes the house smell better than bread baking. Thanks for the post and especially the pics. Comment by Jan Erkenbrack on Oct 4 2011 11:36AM   Nice blog and good pics. Since my house is still under construction I don't have a regular stove/oven. But last year I bought a bread machine for $5.00 at a garage sale and have been using it for most of my regular loaf bread. It works well, but I can't wait to get a regular oven so I can shape the bread they way I like it. I read an article in the main stream news some years ago. The focus was on the family farm and how hard it was for them to get by. In the article the farmer complained about paying two dollars a loaf for bread that had five cents worth of HIS wheat in it. I remember thinking "why is a farmer who grows wheat buying bread at the grocery store?" I guess the family farm isn't always the bastion of self-sufficiency it once was. Comment by Spun Gold Farm on Oct 4 2011 12:13PM   No kidding, Jan. But we have been trained to depend on "cheap food" instead of the labor intensive self sufficiency. Nobody told anybody "cheap" was just until they had you hooked, no skills to produce your own. Now, people are using CREDIT cards to buy food. I can't believe what a shock it was when I went to the store the other day and I didn't know the reference point for prices. Is that expensive? Don't know. Haven't bought it in so long I don't have any idea what is a "good" price. But the no-knead bread: it is wonderful! I love it and now that I am not working, I can make it. It has some schedule to it, over a day and a half and when I was working, I didn't have the brain to factor in when to start it to avoid a scheduling conflict. I love the almost sourdough texture to it. I have taken it to group dinners and it was a hit. I even got requests for the next dinner. Cast iron is wonderful stuff. Comment by karloucha on Oct 4 2011 12:46PM   Your sandwiches looked so yummy I was tempted to lick my computer screen..... Welcome to the bread baking world. It's sooo very easy and usually quite forgiving. I can't even imagine eating store bought spongy bread anymore. Now that I've gotten a good handle on breads made with freshly ground grains I'm on to pastries with freshly ground grains!!!! I made cookies last week and they turned out great so this week is cake week. Comment by Jason on Oct 4 2011 3:13PM   My mouth is watering, amazing pics. I'll be doing this when the weather turns. I have a sack of wheat from the neighbor and I'm about to make a concrete quern to grind it. i still have to work out the yeast part, I don't want to have to buy it. I think I can make a 1.5 pound loaf to last a couple of days for us and the yung'uns. I'm thinking of using a pizza stone to bake it on though, or maybe just regular old bread pans. Comment by Ben Nelson on Oct 4 2011 7:16PM http://300mpg.org/   Pizza stones are also great for baking on. I would recommend the same thing though, preheat it along with the oven. As for bread machines, I always thought they were easy to dismiss, as I NEVER liked the crust they produced. For somebody who doesn't have access to a standard oven though, what a great way to still have hot, fresh food! A few years back, I "borrowed"* a bread machine from my mother, and used it for about a year, to do all the work of mixing and rising. I always BAKED in a real oven though, just for how the crust turns out. A bread machine is also a fine way for making a dough that will be processed into something else. For example, making cinnamon rolls. Have the machine make the dough, then roll it out, rub with melted butter, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, roll up, slice, put on a sheet and bake. I took some of those cinnamon rolls to a party one time, raw, on a baking sheet, so I could have them hot and fresh out of the oven. After baking, I took them around and offered them to guests. When the one guy said how good they were, I said "Thanks, made 'em myself!". His reply was a "Yeah, right". As in there was no way in heck that I could possibly have made them. I guess I will have to take it as a compliment that he couldn't believe I made something that good! *As I said before, I am not a fan of UNUSED kitchen appliances. My Mom had a bread machine and never used it. I borrowed it for about a year, without asking. Then I returned it to the same place in the bottom of the pantry without mentioning it. She never noticed. Comment by Spun Gold Farm on Oct 5 2011 3:08AM   The benefit of the covered cast iron dutch oven is the steam. I don't think you would get near the same results with the open pizza stone. The steam gives the french bakery effect. Comment by Nina Bowman on Oct 5 2011 8:25AM   I love making sourdough bread from scratch. I don't even use any yeast in mine. I also use the no knead technique. I have a vita-mix and grind my own wheat, the only ingredients I add are flour, salt, water, and the sourdough as basics, then I add herbs or other ingredients for different type of loaves. Mine are a little heavier than a store bought loaf but are much tastier and nutritious. Love the article. Comment by karloucha on Oct 5 2011 9:47AM   Nina, What sourdough recipe do you use?? I have a Sheepherder Sourdough Bread that I make all the time. We too looooove our sourdough breads...... I was a little worried when I converted 'Sid' the starter over to the freshly ground wheat but he loves it. He rises and bubbles like a happy little camper..... Comment by Nina Bowman on Oct 5 2011 10:15AM   I use 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour 2 cups bread flour 1 1/2 tsp. salt (I use Himalayan Crystal Salt) 1 1/2 cups purified water 1/4 cup starter I mix these together well the night before I make bread and leave covered in the refrigerator overnight. In AM I let sit in the microwave (or a warm area) with the light on for about 3 hours to warm up. I then spread on a floured board or countertop until it's about 12-14" square, I add any additional ingredients as herbs, cheese etc. Fold each side in about 2/3, place back into the covered bowl and place back into microwave with light on until doubles in size, take out refold, repeat one more time, this time I place in my baking pan, let rise until doubled in size, and cook 450 degrees until crust is golden brown. Let cool completely before slicing. Comment by Spun Gold Farm on Oct 5 2011 12:38PM   K, what do you use in your sheepherder sourdough? Comment by Anne C on Oct 21 2011 12:26PM www.shelterkraft.com   I recently heard an inteview on Seattle's NPR station last night with Greg Atkinson, a baker on Bainbridge Island. He emphasized the same point you make - that somehow we've been conditioned to believe that cooking/baking at home is "so much work" but actually it's a delight, and the results are so much more flavorful and fulfilling to eat than packaged foods. You can listen to his interview here, and also he provides a recipe for "fuaxreos" (a home made version of oreo cookies). http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=24739 Comment by karloucha on Oct 21 2011 1:57PM   Spun Gold - Here is my Sheepherder Recipe: Sheepherder Bread 1 cup sourdough starter, room temperature (Iâ??ve converted my starter to whole wheat) 1 cup lukewarm water 2 tablespoons olive oil 1-1/2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/3 cup light rye 3 to 3 1/2 cups bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour* (Replaced above flour with my freshly ground flour) Cornmeal Sesame seeds Olive oil * The thickness of your sourdough starter can determine how much flour needs to be used. If you think the dough is too moist, add additional flour (a tablespoon at a time). The same is true if the dough is looking dry and gnarly. Add warm water (a tablespoon at a time). Standup Mixer Recipe: In a large bowl or in the bowl of a 5-quart stand mixer, combine sourdough starter, lukewarm water, olive oil, sugar, salt, baking soda, rye flour, and bread flour. Using the dough hook, mix everything together into a uniform dough; cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. After resting, knead dough on a lightly floured board by pulling the dough towards you and then pushing down and forward with the palms of your hands (kneading gives the bread the elasticity and lets it rise). Place the dough in a large lightly-oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in a warm spot to rise 1 to 2 hours until almost double in size. NOTE: It can take even longer to rise as sourdough rises much slower than bread made with regular yeast. After kneading, shape dough into a into a one-inch high circle and place on a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet that is dusted with cornmeal (I use the new silpads instead of cornmeal). ** See note below. Press sesame seeds into the surface of the dough and brush with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 to 3 hours. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. After rising is completed, bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 degrees F. and bake and additional 15 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped. (A good check is to use an instant digital thermometer to test your bread. The temperature should be between 200 and 210 degrees.) Remove from oven and place the bread on a wire rack to cool. Makes one large round loaf. **Notes: I bake mine in my cast iron skillet well oiled and add to my dough about ¼ cup of flax, sesame and/or pumpkin seeds as well. We love nutty bread. Comment by Mamaprepper5 on Oct 21 2011 7:20PM   I have recently switched to making my own bread because of the exorbitant cost and chemicals involved. Definitely more rewarding...except I've been having a problem with my bread rising. Maybe this recipe is what I need. Thanks so much. Comment by Christi Crane on Oct 21 2011 8:12PM   Has anyone tried adding a 7 or 8-grain cereal mix to their bread? It adds a nice taste of the various grains, and you only need to replace about 1/4 cup of flour per loaf to get a great effect! Comment by karloucha on Oct 22 2011 8:26AM   Mamaprepper - What has been the problem with your bread rising??? Are you grinding your own grains?? I'll try to help if possible; I've been baking my own for a very long time and have run into some interesting quirks to bread....lol. For the most part it's as easy as falling off a log with just a few simple adjustments. Comment by Garrett Boudinot on Oct 22 2011 9:46AM   Right on, nothing gets a good crunch crust like baking the bread yourself. My family has always done it, it's good to see it's catching on. Another fun thing to do is lay the dough flat and lay in a layer of anything from cheese to meats to herbs. then you just foll the dough around, and you've gone from a piece of bread to a 5 star snack and great gift. There's some great bread ideas on here, great blog! Comment by Etak on Oct 24 2011 9:16AM   Funny to find this here when we just discovered the NY Times recipes ourselves and made the bread 2 days ago. It's wonderful!!!--especially covered with butter and honey :) Comment by spinsalot on Oct 24 2011 10:35AM   I made the NYT bread as well yesterday. Have to say tooo easy, and super bread. can haedly wait to make more. Comment by Tom S on Oct 25 2011 6:12PM   You inspired me!! I failed!! my resipe: 3 cups flour 1/4 tsp yeast 1 1/4 salt 2 cups water Let rest on top of frig overnight/got home from work. Baked at 450 for 30 mins 15 browning. Came out flat!!! 1 1/2 thick. nice color tastes good. What happened. Started another batch. Being stubborn Comment by RedHeadedYeti on Oct 25 2011 6:37PM http://www.earthineer.com/profile.php   This is the Yeti's wife whose mother is an expert bread-baker, and we concur that you didn't use nearly enough yeast. 2 heaping tsp to that amount of all purpose flour would be more appropriate. Keep trying, you may fail a few times but eventually you'll get the hang of it and it will be wonderful and so satisfying to have made your own! I had the worst times trying to get it right, but eventually I did and now it's easy. I think I posted on Karloucha's bread recipe (Jenna-Lee) my mom's basic recipe, which is very very similar to yours. The other thing is you want a light somewhat sticky dough, easy to knead, very pliable (you can always add more water if the dough gets stiff and heavy). But mainly, I think it was the lack of yeast to flour that caused yours to be flat. Also, be sure to let it rise till doubled the first time as well as the second time. The second time is when it's in whatever shape you decide to bake it in (loaf pan, round blob on cooking sheet, rolls, whatever). Hope this helps! Comment by karloucha on Oct 25 2011 8:05PM   @Tom.... 1/4 tsp yeast????? You need at least one pkg (2-1/4 tsp) yeast for that amount of flour...... Comment by Glo D on Oct 26 2011 9:46AM http://offthegridat-30.blogspot.com/   I'm really going to have to try this recipe! Only problem I might have is getting my wood stove hot enough. :) Comment by Etak on Oct 26 2011 1:20PM   @Tom, yes the recipe does say 1/4 tsp--you are right to make it with that amount for this particular recipe. :) The height of this particular bread is going to be dependent of the size of the bowl you use for rising and the size of the pan you use for baking. It's not meant to be a super lofty bread, though. For that, you'd have to find a different recipe! :) But, with that said, if you like the taste, why does the height matter? Comment by spinsalot on Oct 26 2011 2:35PM   I did exactly the amounts of all ings for the NYT bread and did the folding like wise. Even with the 1/4 tsp of yeast (could that really be correct) my bread came out wonderful. Super crust great inside and tall enough to make sandwitches. Water measurement was 1 5/8 cup not two. So 18 hours first rise, fold over on board, then 2 more hours to rise and then into the hot castiron pan @450. really good bread. Comment by Tom S on Oct 26 2011 6:14PM   Thank YOU all for the help.Update: Batch 2 mini flop. Bigger than flat bread. After letting it rise, I dumped it out on the kneading sheet- a sloppy mess w/ water! Added more flour and let rise. Baked it and Not much bigger than the last batch. Trying again! I'll Whip it up in the am before work. Will add yeast as directed. Thanks again!!! I'll cross thy fingers :) Comment by Rita Heikenfeld on Oct 27 2011 7:54PM www.abouteating.com   I've made this bread a couple of times and continue to be amazed at how easy it is. Next time you make it, toss in some herbs - elevates the bread a notch. I put some "how to" photos on my blog at Cooking with Rita on Cincinnati.com and my bread looks just like yours! That means one thing - the recipe really works. Comment by Catherine Lyon on Oct 27 2011 8:09PM   I have a meat slicer and NEVER thought of slicing bread with it, Great idea Ben!!!! Baking bread is easy, the one self sufficiency tool I already had up my sleeve as I moved from the city to the country. Hamburger buns, bread sticks, and pull apart loaves are family favorites!!!!! Thank you all for all the wonderful suggestions, BREAD IS EASY!! Comment by Redbeard on Nov 1 2011 11:44AM   I liked the idea of using a meat slicer so I bought one: $90 at runnings farm and fleet, what a crap heap it has a plastic bach stop that makes your bread feed uneven so I can do it faster with a knife and a bit more even. I wont give up I will try and find a better one maybe at a auction. My other addiction Comment by Ben Nelson on Nov 8 2011 11:32AM http://300mpg.org/   Jerry, I'm a big fan of older style appliances because they are made of metal and designed to be repaired. I inherited the meat slicer from my wife's parents. I have also bought kitchen appliances at the thrift store. Not only are the older appliances better built, the thrift store also has good prices, and there's NO PACKAGING or shipping of the goods. I needed to buy a blender a while back, and discovered that the Oster brand hasn't changed their basic style in FOREVER! That meant that I could buy an older blender, but still use new blades and still easily get replacement rubber gaskets. The drive shaft in the blender is metal, as is the receiver in the blades. It's also a square drive. That means you can take a cordless drill and just the blender pitcher with you camping and make blended margaritas! The threads on the pitcher base also matches up with course threads on many types of jars, so you can make your own Magic Bullet! The meat slicer really does work well on the bread. Just watch your fingers! Comment by Spun Gold Farm on Nov 8 2011 12:48PM   Practice makes perfect with hand slicing too. After all these years, I can slice a pretty even slice with a serrated knife. Comment by Jim Staton on Nov 8 2011 12:58PM http://myadventureinbees.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html   I've never had good luck with bread. It rises good the first rise but usually no rise the ssecond time. Just to be hard headed about it, I tried making my own sourdough starter. After about a week it just sets there. No bubbling or anything. Comment by Ben Nelson on Nov 9 2011 12:48PM http://300mpg.org/   Oh, another thought for anyone on city water.... Yeasts are little creatures that convert sugar into CO2 gas to make the bread rise. City water often has chlorine in it. I've heard that it's enough to kill yeast and make bread not work at all. Clean water is very important for both baking and brewing. If you are on city water, try using distilled water or at least filtered or boiled water for your baking needs. Comment by Jennifer Kennedy on Nov 9 2011 12:59PM   This looks awesome! I checked out the Lodge website and shopped around a little. To think I was complaining about the $40 price tags on the rusty iron Dutch ovens at the local thrift store and flea markets. Holy cow! I think I'll go back and look around with fresh eyes. :P I wouldn't dream of using municipal water to bake with. I don't even like showering or washing clothes with it. Blegh! I hope to one day have a greater degree of water independence, but I'm not sure how to go about it. Today, the rain is pouring down and I'm sitting here wishing I could capture a hundred gallons or so with every storm, instead of the 10 gallons we manage to catch in our makeshift "rain barrel" (which is actually a plastic storage tote/bin/whatever). Alas, I lack the know-how! :( Comment by Spun Gold Farm on Nov 9 2011 1:15PM   Chlorine evaporates if you leave it open to sit in the glass or jar for a few hours. At least it is fragile. At Jennifer: here there are 55 gallon drums in the paper for sale all the time. put some of those near your downspout if you have one and put a pipe under it you can direct from barrel to barrel. PVC 3" should catch everything. I knew a guy who plumbed several 55 gallon drums together to build a "holding tank." Comment by ShadyGlade Farm on Nov 9 2011 2:01PM   Chlorine is also heat sensitive. If you are using it for disinfection it's important to use cool water for maximum effect, which usually works out well as contact with beasties for 10 minutes is recommended and air drying often takes that long. Comment by Ozark Kate on Nov 11 2011 9:34PM   Greetings. I'm new here. I'm glad to have the opportunity to interact with others who have concerns similar to mine and who have chosen to do something to help themselves. I agree that bread making is a very basic skill. Every household should have at least one person who knows how to do it. It is true that some people just seem to have the knack for it while others find it more difficult. Case in point: my spouse and I get very different results even if we use the exact same recipe. Nevertheless, he does know how to make bread. I don't use a bread machine anymore. I mix and knead the dough in our Electrolux Assistent, or mix it in a big bowl and knead it by hand. I let the dough rise the first time, covered, in our Excalibur dehydrator with the temp turned to 110 degrees F or I can put it on top of the refrigerator under a dish towel and let it rise up there since that's the warmest place in the house. I mostly use about the cheapest ingredients I can find, plus water that's been run through a chlorine-removing filter at the tap, and I don't use honey any more because in whole wheat bread where the color isn't a problem I've found molasses to give a better rise. My spouse, who is a biologist, speculates that honey's antiseptic properties interfere with the yeast. He could be right. It's great to have bread with a short list of ingredients, all of which we can pronounce, and without any of those scary phytoestrogens that come with the soy products that are being crammed into everything one can buy at the supermarket. Comment by Catherine Lyon on Nov 11 2011 11:01PM   Here is my sourdough starter recipe for family favorites such as pancakes,blueberry muffins, french bread, bread sticks, and sourdough hamburger buns. Sourdough Starter 2 boiled potatoes (mashed in their own water) & just enough water to make soupy potatoes 2 cups unbleached flour (or whole wheat, rye, etc.). 1/2 cup of honey 2 teaspoons of salt Mix thoroughly and put into crock, stir every other day (about 4 days). It will get bubbly and thick/sweet smelling (which is good). You can use it everyday after it has turned bubbly. ** Do not use metal utensils or bowls. Mix by hand, do NOT overmix with a beater. ** When you have about 1 cup of starter left in the crock, feed your starter. When feeding your sourdough starter - add equal parts water and flour (I save my potato water from cooking to use in place of regular water). When baking or cooking with sourdough, use about a cup of starter (or sponge) and use regular bread recipe (minus the yeast). Enjoy, because baking with sourdough bread is easier than regular bread since you use the starter (sponge) instead of yeast in the recipe. Comment by Ann Chubbuck on Nov 22 2011 2:44PM   Ben, I would recommend letting your bread raise on parchment paper. Then, when you put it into your hot dutch oven, use the paper to pick it us and just put the paper right in with it. (do NOT use wax paper - it bakes right to the bread). I have a no-knead crusty bread that I really like. It actually calls for beer. But the crust is amazing. Comment by Doreen Mateicka on Dec 22 2011 3:13PM   Wonderful stuff! I haven't actually made bread in years, but I've been reading about getting back into this skill. (At the time I was young and stupid and thought that store-bought meant better.) I think I'm going to try this one as soon as I can get my hands on an appropriate Dutch oven (something I've been drooling over for months). Comment by RedHeadedYeti on Dec 22 2011 6:23PM http://www.earthineer.com/profile.php   Ann, I'd love to see your beer bread recipe! This is not actually the Yeti, but his wife :-). Comment by Jannie on Jan 22 2012 8:17PM   I had never had much luck baking bread but have been thinking of starting again. I do buy store bought bread without high fructose corn syrup but agree am getting tired of all the "other stuff" in there. I can't wait to try this. I love my cast iron dutch oven. I have a Martha Stewart for the house and regular cast iron (not a big brand name) for camping and outside dutch oven cooking. I also bought Lodge for my kids. Usually around Black Friday/before Christmas, many stores offer them as loss leaders to get you into the store. I never find them at that price any other time. Comment by Jimbo on Jan 23 2012 6:01AM www.holcombshaven.com   Baked my first two loaves last Friday. The first loaf lasted almost 15 minutes. Comment by Jannie on Jan 31 2012 2:11PM   Finally success! First time I made bread that it turned out so good and not hard enough to use as a doorstop! Comment by Ginny Schneider on Feb 8 2012 6:39PM   Took me a while to try this bread: Had to buy a dutch oven--Lodge is great! (I spent quite a long time looking for an American-made cast iron dutch oven to compare to the Lodge brand, but nothing ever turned out for me, so I finally bought one from them, and I just love it!) Anyway, I have made the bread several times now, and it has come out perfect each time--hubby wants me to keep making my own bread and forget the grocery store brands! Thanks for the tips! Comment by Jessica Marie on Feb 29 2012 1:42PM   Just wanted to say thanks because this makes bread making seem simple enough for even me to attempt! I'll let you know how that goes... Comment by Mother Earth News Fair on Feb 29 2012 4:54PM http://www.motherearthnews.com/fair   Glad you found the Guide to Fresh Food All Year helpful, Ben! It's always wonderful to see people go outside their comfort zones to produce something sustainable (and delicious). -Erica from the Mother Earth News Fair Comment by Joan Blurton on Mar 1 2012 11:18PM   Is the Lodge dutch oven sold in regular department stores? Thanks. Comment by Sandra K on Mar 2 2012 12:33PM   Joan, you should be able to find it online. I'm fairly certain you can find it on Amazon as well. Comment by Julia on Mar 5 2012 2:44PM www.facebook.com/secretgardenbotanicals   Well look at this! I just blogged about wanting to trya no knead bread this month and I just got a cast iron dutch oven. I think I will try this! Comment by Ben Nelson on Apr 18 2012 11:38AM http://300mpg.org/   Thanks everyone for all your positive comments! Next, I think I may have to try making "bread bowls" for soups, stews, and chili's. Also, due to positive results of this bread-baking, I've started experimenting with making yogurt, and a cottage-cheese-based heirloom Cheese Torte recipe! PS: My Dad just picked up baby hen chicks the other day, so we will start having a source of home-grown eggs in the future. Pretty excited about ingredients like that too! Comment by Bloom on May 28 2012 8:31AM   As an experiment, I decided to make bread when we were spending a few weeks at our cabin in southern Missouri. Our cabin is heated with an old laundry stove, solar powered propane fridge and water hand pumped from our well. We've decided to go as green as we can possibly afford. No grid power. Anyway, I put together the bread with flour, water, yeast and salt, kneaded it, let it rise, punched it down, put it in a stone bread pan I picked up from a flea market. I found this old oven contraption at a flea market that looks like a cake saver. It has a small thermometer in the top and a base that sits on a flame. It worked great! I ended up with 2 awesome loaves and had to cook 2 more the next day! Comment by PrivateIce on Jun 11 2012 4:28PM   I've been baking for years. My first anniversary present 17 ears ago next week, was. kitchenaide mixer. Key here is to ft at least a 350 watt model. Anything weaker will not kneading bread. I've been using the recipe out of the Kitchenaide book for years, and one from Jamie Oliver's early cookbook The Naked Chef. Why DON'T I bake so much? Because 2 loaves never last more than half an hour. I would love to grind my own wheat though... Comment by PrivateIce on Jun 11 2012 4:29PM   Sorry that was so incoherent. Earthineer doesn't have a mobile stylesheet and their site doesn't always work great on my smartphone. Often I cannot see what I am typing. Comment by Rhonda Strehlow on Oct 3 2012 8:08PM   I have been baking bread for years, following the examples of my mother and grandmothers. My favorite bread recipe includes mashed potatoes and eggs. It will keep in the refrigerator for a few days, it makes great sweet rolls and you can mess around with different types of flour and still get a good loaf. I just discovered bread flour at the Amish store and really like the results. A friend gave me gluten to use in my bread; does anyone use gluten? If so, how much? Comment by Amy Giles on Oct 4 2012 8:59AM   I've tried the recipes off of various threads here on earthineer to make bread in my dutch oven. They turned out fine but I've learned that my family isn't really the "crunchy, tough crust" kind of bread lovers. We like the lighter, airier breads that don't require black & decker power tools to cut through. Can anyone tell me if it's possible to make a non-petrified crust bread in a dutch oven if I use a different recipe or is that just a trademark of all dutch oven bread? Comment by Gardening Girl on Oct 4 2012 5:41PM   If you go to kingarthurflour.com you will find a recipe for Pan de Mie it's like the Wonder Bread from the store. You'll just have to buy the special baking pan for it too. I've never personally used the recipe before so I can't vouch for its success. Comment by Ben Nelson on Oct 4 2012 7:03PM http://300mpg.org/   I just tried the other day baking this same recipe in a Crock-Pot. It actually turned out pretty well. It had a real nice light crust. Now, how I managed to MELT THE HANDLES off my wife's Crock-Pot may just have to be another blog entry..... Comment by Ben Nelson on Oct 4 2012 9:10PM http://300mpg.org/   OK, I guess that story DOES merit another blog entry. Here it is. http://www.earthineer.com/content.php?blogid=18860 Comment by Tony Renzulli on Oct 5 2012 3:38PM   Just made my first loaf of "sun bread" today in my sun oven. Comment by Judy Bee on Oct 30 2012 4:31PM   I was inspired about bread after I read all the blogs yesterday....But I have had this thing for beer bread. A while back, I bought a store mix. It was good, but I was really interested in making some from scratch. I found a recipe online that only had 3 ingredients...3 cups flour(self-rising), 1/3 sugar and 1 can of beer. I really didn't want to use the sugar, so I substituted honey. I had all-purpose flour, which I'm using up and added a biscuit mix to it. Combined the ingredients and put it into my foil lined mini dutch oven. This way it would be easier to lift out. The end result was a light, somewhat fluffy bread. Almost like a dessert bread. My intention was to have it accompany some homemade beef stew....which by the way went very well with it! I have been interested in solar ovens and would love to hear more about them. Hope this finds you all safe and warm today! Comment by SherryBinTally on Oct 30 2012 6:58PM   I hope this doesn't fall off the main community page by all the GE blogs... Catherine Lyon, do I have to perpetually keep the sour dough started in the crock pot? Comment by Catherine Lyon on Oct 30 2012 7:21PM   Sherry, Not sure what you mean, but I think you are asking if you can store it if you do not want to use it everyday and the answer is yes you can store it. You can put the sourdough in a mason jar with a screw lid and store it in the fridge for 2 weeks at a time without stirring or using. After two weeks, pull out and stir with a wooden spoon. You can either use some (let what you want to use sit out and get to room temp), and store the rest in the fridge. YOu can do this for weeks at a time without having to keep it ready to go. Does this help? Did I get what you are asking? Comment by Alouette Farm on Nov 20 2012 9:45PM   Wow - I love the idea of using the meat slicer for slicing the bread -I never would have thought of that. I am getting a new meat slicer (I am so lucky!!) as a gift from my company for my 10 year service anniversary. I luv working for a company that still has service anniversaries and pensions. My Mom, brothers, sisters (basically my whole family) and I have been baking our own bread for years and I love the fact that so many other people are getting into it too. I also bake cakes and pies from scratch, including the pie crust; although, I must admit that cutting in the crisco is about my least favorite cooking activity. My mom hates whipping cream - go figure.... I remember a few years ago, I was hosting some kids and they wanted a cake, so I baked one from scratch out of my head and they were AMAZED that this could be done. It is so sad today that all kids seem to think everything comes from a box or a can. I bake my own beans and I make my own mince meat for mince meat pie. I have a friend who did not know mince meat has real meat in it!@#? - her mom always bought the jarred fruit stuff, which is mostly high fructose corn syrup! Mince meat is time consuming, difficult and expensive so I make vats of it to freeze in quart size jars for the year. If anyone wants the recipe, let me know. You will need a source of venison and don't let anyone add pork or anything else to the venison or it will mess up your mince meat. Thanks for all the great bread recipies and cooking suggestions. I had not thought of using the crock pot or the pizza stone for anything but pizza. Alouette Farm. Comment by Alchemist on Nov 21 2012 6:02AM   I, for one, would appreciate your sharing of your venison mince meat recipe. Thanks! Comment by Char knight on Nov 21 2012 8:38AM   Have baked my own bread forever-- taught my kids to make their own too. Now teaching my 8 yr. old grand daughter. Have had goats and sheep-- made my own cheese. Buying small amounts of flour and yeast won't save you all that much money-- we buy our flour in 50 lb. sacks--from the mill--sugar in 25 bl.from local store-- large blocks of yeast--same store. We usually buy bread flour and smaller amounts of all purpose. Two 50bl. bags usually last us all year.We keep the flour in five gallon buckets in the cool store room, where it freezes all winter and is very cool all summer. Yeast is frozen in sealed blocks. one yeast block is opened and put in small jars-- also in freezer-- one left in the fridge to use all the time. And just asking--- what is so hard about mixing and kneading?? Am in my 70s don't have a problem with it. One thing-- does anyone have a recipe for Fruit Joy-- can't find my recipe-- it's yeast and sugar and fruit-- you put it in a big jar-- every so many days you add more-- it ferments-- severed over ice cream or cake-- very good! Comment by Char knight on Nov 21 2012 8:39AM   that's served-- not severed! Comment by Harry Symonds on Dec 10 2012 12:31PM   Hello everyone. Im new to this board but not new to making bread. There is a great book out there called "Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day", For anyone starting out, I highly recommend this book. There is no kneading, minimal mixing. The technique is almost bullet proof. The One thing you will need is a good THICK (1/2 in. min) pizza stone. The thick stone holds the heat and stabilizes you oven. NOTE: Never put a cold stone in a hot oven or pull out a hot stone and put it in the sunk. The thermal shock will fracture the stone. ALWAY put a cold stone in a cold oven and then preheat. My other half found out the hard way when she pulled a semi hot stone out of the oven and put it in the sink to clean it. The stone immediately fractured in half. If you need to clean the stone because of pizza drippings etc, allow the stone to cool in the oven until it is cool to the touch. Use only water- no soap, and a NON METALLIC scrapper to dislodge any food bits. Anything metal will potentially "score" the stone and again cause it to fracture. The secrete to good crust on French bread is steam heat! Commercial ovens actually use a steam injector. you can duplicate the same thing at home by putting a flat pan under your pizza stone. Preheat as above (Cold Stone- cold oven) When you are ready to place your loaf in the oven, Slide the loaf onto the stone and immediately add water to the pan below. Avoid splashing water directly on the stone. Close the oven and continue baking. The blast of steam will make the crust you want. Cheers Harry Comment by Harry Symonds on Dec 10 2012 12:39PM   Strictly FYI; here is my recipe for French bread I posted on my blog site www.the waterplace.net http://ecohealthywaterblog.com/2012/09/24/french-bread-follies/ Comment by Alchemist on Dec 10 2012 1:39PM   @Harry... The only thing I would add to that is the water you are adding to the pan below the stone should be as hot as possible - not cold or lukewarm water. Comment by RedHeadedYeti on Dec 11 2012 1:46PM http://www.earthineer.com/profile.php   @Harry: I would add that dropping a pizza stone on a tile floor is not recommended. Once we purchased a new stone, we just keep it on a rack in the oven all the time. My wife claims that it helps to disperse heat more evenly, and she's always right, so it must be true. I'm fine with it because it's convenient for placing bread and cold pizza slices and the like on for reheating. Anyway, that should resolve any issues with putting a cold stone in a hot oven, since it always warms gradually this way. Comment by Robert Erickson on Jan 10 2013 8:02AM   A couple of comments to the various inputs above (I'm a newbie): 1. I've made the Mother Earth News bread in a cast iron dutch oven several times. Very easy and very tasty. Problem: a store bought loaf lasts a week; a home made loaf lasts two days. 2. Those using bread machines, check yours out. Mine has a setting to churn butter. I've tried it a couple of times and it worked fine. I suspect that it is all about the time and speed of the kneading device. 3. On the absence of steam when using a stone, put a cup of water in a cast iron skillet on the shelf below the stone. That ought to provide enough steam to set the crust nicely. Thanks for letting me put my two cents in.