Bake your own bread

Today's recipe is for homemade bread. I know many of you won't make your own bread because you think it is too difficult and time consuming. Actually, with this recipe it takes only a few minutes of preparation time.

This is my base recipe. The idea is too get as many healthy things into your bread as possible. You can, and should,

substitute whole wheat, rye, oat, bran, flax meal, or wheat germ for some of the flour. You should use at least 2 cups of white bread flour though because it contains a lot more gluten. Other-

wise your bread will have a cake-like consistency.

Also you can add nuts, seeds, cereals and even dried fruit to your dough.

Aside from the health benefits of making your own bread, there is also a substantial cost saving. The two loaves I made here in the picture cost me about 50 cents to make. You would expect to pay about $4 each at a store. That's a savings of $7.50! Assuming a family of four ate one loaf a day and you made all your own bread, you would save over $1300 per year on bread.

Cheff Jeff's Homemade Bread

2 c. Water, warm about 110ºF

1 TB or 1 package active dry yeast

2 TB Honey

3 c. Unbleached Bread Flour, approximately

1 TB Salt

2 TB Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Canola Oil

2 c. Whole Wheat Flour

Put the warm water into a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast, honey, and 2 cups of the bread flour. Mix just until smooth. Cover and let stand in a warm place until approximately double in bulk. Add the salt and the oil. Stir in the wheat flour. Now this is the tricky part. You should now have a very sticky dough that is difficult to stir. You now need to add just enough bread flour to finish the dough. I do this by hand adding a little bit of flour and kneading it in until the dough is no longer sticking to my hands. Then you put some flour down on the counter and knead the dough for about 5 minutes adding flour until it is no longer sticky. The finished product should be smooth and elastic.

Put the dough into an oiled bowl, cover and let rise until about double. Form into two loaves and place on sheet pan that you have covered with parchment paper, or just use pan coating spray. Allow to rise in a warm place until about double again. Place loaves in oven . Turn on oven and set to 350ºF. Bake for about 45 to 50 minutes until brown on top and bottom. Allow to cool on wire rack before slicing.

This dough is also great for pizzas. If you want to get fancy you can mix one egg with 1 TB water and brush on the top. Then cut diagonal slits in the dough and top with sesame or poppy seeds. You can shape the dough any way you want but if you make several small rolls instead of two big loaves e.g. sandwich or dinner rolls , you'll need to reduce the cooking time to about 35 minutes.