Hurricane season, high heat, high humidity and the list goes on!
Ahhh yes, sadly it has been since May, the last time I had a post and basically have baked. It really has been super unpleasant this year here in Hawaii. Paradise, sure…decent baking weather…nope. I do not have air conditioning to keep it cool enough to make baking enjoyable.
Baking is my passion and I LOVE it, it makes me happy and I have been a bit sad not being able to happily bake and post. I am hoping we will soon be having some cooler temps in which will make baking more often, more bearable for me.
I was busy over the entire summer, I happily had family visiting for two months. I did bake once with my brother while he was here. It was fun but terribly hot. The rest of the summer was spent all over the Island, beaches, swimming and sunburns.
Now I feel like we are supposed to be entering into fall and I just want to bake! So, we recently had a pasta dinner and I decided it was about time to bake a delicious bread and hope that the new recipe I was about to try lived up to my expectations. It did.
This one is pretty hands off which means you don’t have to spend an entire day making a tasty and hearty bread to go with your dinner. I would make this to go with many different dinners like soups & stews, and it is also a awesome dipping bread, if you enjoy that kind of thing.
- 1 Teaspoon Sugar, dissolved in 1⅓ cups very warm Water
- 2 Teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
- 4 Cups Bread Flour, white
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- Line a cookie/baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper and set aside.
- Sprinkle your yeast on top of sugar/water mix. Leave it for 10-15 minutes or till it becomes frothy.
- In the stand of your mixer bowl, add flour and salt, make sure to have dough hook in place.
- Add yeast mixture and then olive oil.
- Mix well to form dough ball.
- Turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead 8-10 minutes. Until it is soft, smooth and elastic.
- Move dough to a large, rather tall bowl or container that has been lightly oiled. Turn to coat dough.
- Cover and leave in a warm place for 1 hour or till doubled in size.
- Turn out on to a lightly floured surface, punch down slightly. Mold it into a round or oval shape and place on your prepared sheet. Cover and leave for about 1 hour or doubled in size.
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
- Dust the top of your loaf with flour, make several deep diagonal slashes in the top of your loaf.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
- Cool on wire rack.
