The Efx3 Recipe Collection

This is a recipe for fairly easy homemade bread,  I didn’t write the original recipe(that can be found here) but I have altered it to my tastes.

3 cups lukewarm water

1 1/2 Tblsp Yeast

2 tsp salt(use more  if you use sea salt/kosher salt, up to 1 Tblsp)

3 Tblsp honey

5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour(also called graham flour)

3/4 cup quick oats(not old fashioned oats)

Prep time: 3 hours to make the dough(makes 4 loaves), 40 minutes to make a loaf

Cooking time: 30 minutes

First add the yeast, salt and honey to the warm water and mix it thoroughly.

then put all the flour and oatmeal in a large bowl/container and add the water mixture

Now mix it until it is just a nice mass, do NOT kneed it(it doesn’t need it heh)

OK now you let it rest lightly covered at room temp(around 70 f) for 3 hours, it should poof up and start to flatten out on top.

at this point the dough is done, it can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks(lightly covered) or it can be used right away, you can even divide it up into 4 portions and freeze them for later use, thawing them in the fridge before final loaf making.

To make a loaf: dust your hands well with flour and grab off a nice sized hunk of dough, this recipe makes four smallish loaves but can easily make two or three bigger loaves, it’s all in how much you take. As soon as you have the dough gob in your hands quickly form a  French Boule loaf, just pull the sides under, give the loaf a 1/4 turn and repeat, set the nice little loaf on a cookie sheet OR cutting board OR pizza peal that is dusted with cornmeal(it keeps the loaf from sticking) slash the top of the loaf with a serrated knife to assist it with the rising process.

Now leave the loaf to rise and set a timer for 20 minutes, when it goes off set a baking stone OR cast iron skillet in the oven along with a shallow pan(like a broiler pan) on the shelf below it, set the oven to pre-heat to 450 and set the timer for another 20 minutes. When the timer goes off this second time quickly slide the bread off the cutting board directly onto the hot stone, dump a cup of water into the shallow pan below it and close the oven door, set timer for 30 minutes.

There it is, crusty on the outside, moist and chewy on the inside, yeasty, flavorful and GOOD

It can be made on a regular cookie sheet if you don’t have a baking stone or cast iron skillet but the crust texture won’t be the same.