bread is best

i was horrified when the no carbs fad was going around. i love bread so much and i think it's a misunderstood food. if you're for carbs but not for preservatives and high fructose corn syrup, or as we call it, s'orn, then i have a few recipes for you. 

once a week i try to make bread for the house. i was good about it for a while but now it's so hot i procrastinate. making your own bread

 is easy and very rewarding. i don't have a bread 

maker so i'm not sure if these recipes would work for one, but i recommend trying it by hand first, i think you'll like it. wear an apron though, because, if you're like me, you'll get flour all over yourself. 

i usually make baguettes and use them for soup night (mondays) or slice in half for sandwiches. 

4 cups flour (all purpose, actually, not bread)

1 package active dry yeast

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 cups warm water

oil for bowl

this is a straight dough 

method which means you mix it all in one bowl at the same time. A WARNING though, as with all bread baking, follow the same order: water, yeast, flour, salt. salt always goes last because it kills yeast on contact. that'

s the reason you put salt in the mix at all, so that the bread won't keep rising forever like in that 'i love lucy' episode. 

mix it with a wooden spoon until it forms a kind of ball. turn the ball out onto a floured surface and knead the dough until it's smooth and elastic. 

oil up a big glass or stainless steel bowl and add your dough ball. cover with a tea towel and let rise in a w

arm place. in chicago right now, anywhere is a warm place but in the winter i turned my oven to the lowest setting and 

put the bowl in there because it was so cold everywhere else. let the dough rise until it's doubled in size. this takes a little over one 'house' episode. 

turn out the dough to your floured surface and punch it down (knead out all the air bubbles). cut ball into three equal parts. roll those into balls, cover and let rest about 10 minutes. punch down again and roll out int

o three baguettes. careful not to make them too long so they don't fit on your sheet pan. throw some corn meal down then put the three baguettes onto the pan. cover again and let rise. watch another episode of 'house'. 

uncover and score the bread with a floured knife so that it looks profesh. 

put a baking dish full of water in the oven. 

bake at 450 degrees. after 15 minutes, remove the water. 

bake until golden and when you flick the bread it sounds hollow (about 25 more minutes)

these freeze well and when you want to eat it leave it on the counter until it's thawed, no one will know. to store it on your counter, double wrap it in a bread bag (you can use a big ziplock to

o). right before eating stick it in the oven at 350 to re-awesome it. 

another bread that's really easy and delish is pizza! (see, carbs are the best). i make this all the time and even my, 'i can't make anything from scratch', mom makes this. 

1 1/3 cups warm water - warm: not boiling, not cold. this is so the yeast is nice and toasty, we're really catering to the yeast's needs.

1 package active dry yeast

3 tbs olive oil

3 1/2 cups flour (all purpose, if you want a whole wheat pizza, cut the whole wheat flour with some all purpo

se or bread, it'll be way too dense if you don't. i did it once, it was gross)

1 1/4 tsp salt

straight dough method (you know what that means!) SALT LAST! 

knead dough until kind of stiff. 

cover and let rest. 

preheat your oven to 400 degrees and get your fixin's ready. you can put anything on pizza, don't limit yourself. once we had a 

cheddar, apple and onion pizza!

punch down dough and form it. you can flip it and sing italian songs if you want, it tastes the same either way. i have registered for a round pizza pan, but currently don't have one so i use a regular sheet pan and make a rectangle pizza - it's still good. 

throw some corn meal on the bottom - it'll look like delivery pizza later! 

top with fixin's and bake until cheese bubbles and crust is brown (20ish minutes)

i hope you love bread as much as me now. 

love,

keighty