Easy No-Knead Bread

Baking bread is a joy, and when making this easy no-knead bread, your house will smell like a bakery. Plus, you'll save time and have less mess!

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• The Missing Bread Recipe
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Helpful Hints
• Related Recipes

The Missing Bread Recipe

Do you ever have food memories? You know, when something somehow triggers the taste of yummy food from way back when. I've been experiencing that lately with thoughts of my Maw-maw's homemade bread.

I have an envie, "pronounced ahnvee" (Cajun French words meaning longing), for her yeast rolls these days. Memories of walking through her kitchen and eyeing a specific large white Tupperware container on her counter only meant one thing. There's homemade bread in the house!

The bread was shaped in rectangles like puffy, dense clouds with a bit of sourdough taste.

Paw-paw called it "Pain de Femme" or "Bread of the Wife." I can hear him saying it in his gruff Cajun French dialect. We believe it was his way of complimenting her.

Mama said Maw-maw would make 3 loaves at a time and bake them in a black Dutch oven. She'd slice the fresh bread and slather it with butter and Fig Preserves, stick a piece into her children's 4 pairs of hands, and tell them to "Go outside and play!"

What a fond memory! I can imagine the screen door slamming behind them as they ran out, caudling their warm bounty.

There's all that to say and without Maw-maw's "Pain de Femme" recipe. Sad, isn't it? After inquiring about it with many, I found that no one has it. Then, my Aunt Martha sent me an easy no-knead bread recipe she thought was close to how Maw-maw made hers. It's not as dense, but it'll do for now.

You may also like this Oatmeal Rolls, Brown Sugar And Oat Bread Recipe, a soft, fluffy yeast roll with a slightly sweet and nutty oat taste. This Cheesy Greek Bread is made with a French bread loaf that can made ahead for easy prep.

Ingredients

• Butter - to prepare the pan, in the recipe, and to paint on after baking.
• Whole egg plus 1 egg yolk - the extra fat in the yolk helps.
• Warm milk - around 100 degrees (microwave cold milk for about 1 minute on high).
• Active dry yeast - regular instead of a rapid rise to get 2 risings before baking.
• Granulated sugar - to help the yeast rise.
• Pre-sifted all-purpose flour - if you can't get it already sifted, you can sift regular all-purpose flour.
• Salt - for flavor and to assist the yeast in rising the dough.

The original recipe instructions call for milk or water and 1 egg, but after researching bread-making, I discovered another egg yolk, and milk instead of water adds more fat to help with the dough's denseness.

I also tried using rapid yeast to save a step but with no success. This bread is better with 2 rises. What was my grandmother's secret? I know she'd laugh before answering this question, and then she'd be surprised when I told her she didn't have to do all that kneading. Well, maybe.

Instructions

It's so easy. It takes less than 3 hours from start to finish and is worth the reward with its simple-to-remember steps and ingredients.

• Butter the sides of a large mixing bowl and a 9x13 baking pan.
• Melt the 5 tablespoons of butter in a small bowl and set aside.
• Place the whole egg and egg yolk in a small bowl and set aside.
• Stir the active yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar into the warm milk and let sit 5-7 minutes to allow the yeast to bloom.
• Meanwhile, mix together flour, salt, and the rest of the sugar into a large bowl. 
• Add eggs to the flour mixture and begin stirring with a mixer, then mix in the 5 tablespoons of melted butter and the yeast mixture until all ingredients are thoroughly combined; the dough will be sticky.
• Put bread dough into the buttered bowl, turning the dough once to butter all sides of the dough and cover the bowl with a damp cloth; let the dough rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size in a place where the temperature is around 70 degrees.
• Punch dough down with the back of your fist, then make 12 equal-sized rolls and place them in the buttered baking pan.
• Cover with the same damp towel and let rise again for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Brush the tops of the rolls with the rest of the melted butter.
• Bake for 25 minutes.
• Brown under the broiler for no more than 1 minute if desired.
• Serve immediately or store in an airtight container; rolls also freeze well in an airtight container.

Helpful Hints

A helpful tip in making rolls is using a 2-ounce ice cream scoop. It makes evenly shaped rolls, and the sticky dough comes out clean.

Another tip is to stock your kitchen with USA PANS like the one shown above, and you will be doing yourself a favor. They are non-stick, have a quick-release coating, are made in the USA with aluminized steel, are sturdy, and heat evenly, producing excellent baked goods.

I hope this whets your appetite enough to give this Easy No-Knead Bread recipe a try. Happy breadmaking! . . . And eating!

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Let us never forget that what we are is more important than what we do.

J. Hudson Taylor