Outrageously Easy BIG Bread
2 (1/4 ounce) packets yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 cups hot water
3 tablespoons turbinado
1 tablespoon salt
3 cups + 3 cups flour, divided
1/3 cup vegetable or corn oil
1. To proof yeast, pour warm water into a small ceramic bowl and add the yeast, but do not stir. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, pour hot water over the turbinado and salt; stir with a wooden spoon to completely dissolve. Combine 3 cups flour with the hot water mixture. Pour the oil on top of the dough mixture then add the yeast mixture on top of that, but do not stir.
2. Top with the remaining 3 cups flour and mix well. (I begin mixing with the wooden spoon but I very quickly have to move into squishing the dough with my hands.) At this point, the dough should be pliant and moist, but not gooey. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and set aside to rise for at least 45 minutes. (I've left it for almost two hours.)
3. On a lightly floured cutting board or countertop, divide the dough into half. (This is when I recruit someone to knead the dough, but the recipe actually calls for no kneading; I've done this recipe many times without kneading anything, and it always turns out really good.) Flatten each half into roughly an oval/rounded rectangular shape, about 1/2-3/4" thickness.
4. Roll the dough lengthwise and place on an ungreased, but very BIG, cookie sheet. (If you don't have a very large cookie sheet, use two cookie sheets, one for each half of the dough.) Cover the dough with a moist towel and set aside to rise again for another 45 minutes (or longer).
5. After the dough has risen the second time, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and bake for exactly 23 minutes. If you can keep everyone from digging in right away, allow to cool for about 15 minutes and then enjoy. (Also, before the bread bakes, you can slit the top of each lump of dough a couple of times and brush lightly with some kind of egg substitute. The glaze helps the bread come out with a slightly crunchier crust. I don't usually bother.)
Source of recipe: Whenever I go to potlucks, I bake this bread and it disappears within minutes. I've even had special requests for it. At a family Christmas, after I found out that store-bought rolls (ick!) would be served with the Christmas Eve dinner, I announced that I would make homemade bread. Since dinner would be served in a little less than two hours and since my family knows how much I absolutely detest cooking, my mother thought I was lying. She couldn't believe that I could make "respectable" bread without any kneading and in time for dinner. I made this bread and, as usual, it vanished almost instantly. My mother got this bread recipe from me. I think the dogs got the store-bought rolls.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I realized I didn't set aside the yeast in the warm water, I just added it in the mix. How could I have missed that? I read the recipe like 50 times!! And yes, it tastes divine!!
I'm going to try it but oddly, it did not rise once in the oven. I let it rest an hour and a half the first time, and an hour the second time, and lightly kneaded it, but instead of slices it ended up like a bisquick mess lol. oh well, I'm sure it tastes awesome. I'll try again tomorrow
I really like this bread and I have made it several times. But it seems like nobody has noticed that the reason it is so big is because it has so much yeast in it. I always use half the yeast as it's not very healthy to eat too much yeast, and it turns out great. It is obviosly not as big, but I let it rise at least 2 hours altogether. So my advise is to use half the yeast.
I just made this bread and I used 4 cups whole wheat flour and 2 cups white flour. I also threw in a cup of sunflower seeds into the batter. It didn't trun into a big bread, but it was really tasty. I have been eating large pieces of the bread since and I love it! I think that I will use the rapid rise yeast next time. Great and easy recipe! I will try the cinnamon and raisins the next time. Thanks for a great recipe! It will be a permanent addition to my recipe book!
Another great review! I never made bread before and my bf joked that I was a bad baker....well HA! Afterwards he was like wow so good can I have another slice. I'll only make this on special occasions as it would be devoured very quickly.
I halved the recipe and used ww bread flour and and some wheat gluten. I can see adding other goodies in the future. Really easy...I'm going to make this for parties to show off how healthy and unprocessed bread can be.
Here's yet another variation:
1/2 tsp molasses added to the yeast mixture.
use regular 3 tbsp of brown sugar in the big bowl.
only 1/2 tsp of salt.
flour:
first mix:
2 cups dark rye
1/2 cup bulgar wheat
1/2 cup flax seed
then:
1 cup white flour
2 cups wheat bran
oil:
1/2 olive, 1/2 peanut.
Sesame seeds are wonderful as a topper to this one!
with this version, the dough will be rather sticky, so after the first rise you may need to kneed or stir in some more (1/2 cup or so) white flour for elasticity.
"Burger" buns can be made by rolling 2 tbsp of dough into a ball after the first rise. allow it to rise again on a cookie sheet and then bake and they should be the right size for a veggie burger.
I don't think this recipe needs one more person stating how great it is, so I will skip that part (I made it with pesto- EXCELLENT) and instead ask a question:
I'm planning on going to a 4 day outdoor festival and would like to bring this bread with me while I camp there. Do you (the vegweb people) think it would be alright to slice up, wrap, and then take? Like normal sliced bread? We aren't allowed to bring knives into the camp site, but I don't want it going stale on me if I cut it up.
What to do?
WOW!! I haven't been on VegWeb in ages and ages, but I was looking for a vegan spinach/ranch dip recipe and decided to breeze by this bread recipe. I am stunned at all of the responses! :o I must say that this is wonderful.
A little history: in grad school, I was stressing about my very tight budget and moaning about the prices that grocery stores charge for something as simple as bread. A friend of mine (another very poor grad student) shared this recipe with me. She believed in sharing good things with as many people as possible. Besides sharing the recipe with friends and family, I posted the recipe here, and all of you VegWeb folks have certainly carried on the tradition of sharing good things. There are so many neat variations and additions! Thanks to all of you, there have to be at least 15 different ways to make this bread now. You all rock! I wish you all many loaves of yummy bread. :)
Outstanding - easy- delicious. incredible - everytime
This was amazing and *super* easy. When I halved the dough, I made one into a plain boule-shaped loaf. For the second, right before I rolled it up to form the loaf (before the second rise), I spread a paste I made out of roasted garlic, dried rosemary, black pepper and olive oil (put through the food processor). I glazed both with a salt solution (1 t. salt to 3 T. water) to make a crispier crust. Right after putting the loaves in to bake, you can also pour a cup or so of water straight into the bottom of the oven to get a burst of steam (make sure you close the oven door right away ^_^), and again at about 5 minutes in, which will give you a crispier crust. (Disregard this if you don't like crusty breads...) Once the crust starts to get some color, stop steaming so the crust will start to form. Keeping the outside soft for the first part of the baking ensures that the middle will cook all the way through.
I can't wait to make it again! (Maybe I'll try raisin bread next....)
Thanks!
p.s. Like bec1029, my bread was really flat and pretty big around. Since I wasn't making sandwich bread, it wasn't a big deal. I think if I were to make a loaf of bread for sandwiches, I would use a loaf pan instead of a baking sheet or bread stone. I also would brush the top with margarine or oil right before and right after baking to make the crust soft, rather than crusty.
Greenwan, if I've caught you in time, try using a loaf pan. The bread should rise a little bit in the oven, and maybe that can save it. (Hope it helps!)
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