Sunday in the kitchen: My basic bread (cheater method)

I confess: I'm feeling lazy today.

Instead of baking something, I sat on the couch watching Bambi II with my offspring and flipping through cookbooks flagging all the recent "must make's" with sticky notes. It was divine actually. Until I realized that I don't have bread.

As in, no bread for school lunch tomorrow. And after my little Ikea excursion, we won't be buying lunches for the next, oh, millenia.

To rectify the situation, I brought out the breadmaker and actually used it for baking the bread. I never do this. It's just a mixer with a timer on it, as far as I'm concerned. But I do confess (another one?) that I love filling my home with the scent of homemade bread with little to no effort.

This isn't my favorite bread recipe, but it's my go-to for fast bread with a good sandwich texture. And it's one that we actually finish before it dries out.

Michelle's Basic Bread

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/4 tsp yeast (one packet, if you buy it that way)

1 tbsp honey (I never measure, just pour in a good squirt)

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups milk
1 tbsp butter (real stuff please)
optional: milled flax seed is fantastic, but I'm all out :(

Warm milk & butter in microwave. Don't boil it and it's ok if the butter isn't completely melted.

Combine flour, yeast, and salt and stir to combine. Add milk mixture and honey to flour mixture. Beat on low speed using the dough hook attachment, scraping flour to the center of hte bowl with a spatula, until evenly moistened. Then beat on high speed until dough pulls away from side of bowl (abt. 5 min) adding more flour 1 tbsp at a time until dough is no longer sticky. Turn onto a lightly floured dough.

Slap that dough into a lightly greased bowl, fliping over to grease the top, and set in a warm place to rise until doubled (abt 45 min). Punch dough down and knead briefly to release air. Shape into a loaf and allow to rise until doubled (abt. 45 min again).

Bake uncovered at 400F until well-browned (abt. 25 minutes). Turn out onto a rack and let cool. Or be like me and slice off a good 1/3 of the loaf and eat it with melty butter.

***If you use a breadmaker to mix it, just pour it all in and hit go! It turns out best on a full cycle, not the accelerated cycle, but do whatever floats your boat.


***Recipe adapted from Basic White Bread in the Sunset Breads cookbook (a freebie in 1994 with the purchase of Banana Nut Crunch cereal).