By Teri Cayton
The Parsons Advocate
You never know what you have until it is gone. We here in Parsons are finding that out the hard way. As most of you know our local grocery store caught on fire this past week. It did significant damage but the store will reopen. The only problem is just popping in and getting that gallon of milk or loaf of bread. Thankfully there are other places in town where you can get the staples and not have to run 32 miles round trip one way and 50 miles round trip the other way.
Living life in a small town has its advantages and disadvantages, mostly advantages I think, but when something like this happens you just have to stop and think if something drastic happened what are the older population going to do that doesn’t like to drive those distances.
People are forgetting the older ways so quickly that it is a scary thought. I bet there are not many people out there that even know how to bake a loaf of bread. It is so much better for you than the store bought kind with all the additives, but people are just too busy today to do the simple things. Momma Said, “Someday it is going to be a matter of survival.”
I am going to help you out some this week by giving you a very simple way to bake bread that is not hard at all. Just slow down enough to make this recipe one time and you will be amazed at how good it tastes compared to store bought bread. Momma Said, “All you have to do is get some butter and jam, sit down and enjoy the moment.” And your house will smell wonderful as it bakes. If you want plain bread just omit the tomatoes, olives and rosemary.
No Knead Bread with Sun dried Tomatoes, Olives and Rosemary
INGREDIENTS
- 3 CUPS all-purpose or bread flour
- 1 CUP whole wheat flour
- ¾ TEASPOON active dry yeast
- 2 TEASPOONS salt
- ½ CUP chopped sun-dried tomatoes
- ½ CUP olives sliced
- 1 TABLESPOON chopped fresh rosemary
- 1½ TO 1¾ CUPS water
INSTRUCTIONS
- Combine the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Stir to combine and add the sun-dried tomatoes, olives and rosemary. Stir to distribute all the ingredients well. Add the water and stir everything together. The dough should be shaggy and a little sticky. Just stir and turn the dough over until there are no traces of dry ingredients.
- Cover the bowl and let the dough rest at room temperature for 12 to 18 hours. The longer you let it sit, the more flavor is developed. After 18 hours, the dough will have risen and may be a shade darker than it was when you started.
- Place a piece of parchment paper on the countertop and dust very generously with flour. Wet your hands and fold the dough over on itself a few times to release the air inside the dough. (Wetting your hands will help prevent the dough from sticking to you.) Shape the dough into a round and place it on the floured parchment paper, seam side down.
- Dust more flour on the top of the dough and cover the dough by inverting the mixing bowl over the top. Let the dough rest like this for up to 2 hours. After the dough has rested for 1 hour on the countertop, place a lidded cast iron Dutch oven into your oven and pre-heat the oven to 500ºF for 30 minutes.
- Then, working carefully, remove the Dutch oven from the oven and take off the lid. Slash the top of the bread using a baker’s lame or a serrated knife if you want to. Use the parchment paper to lift the shaped dough into the pot, paper and all, and cover with the lid. Return the pot to the oven and reduce the temperature to 450˚F and bake, covered for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, remove the lid from the Dutch oven and let the bread continue to bake until it is nicely browned on top – about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the pot from the oven and let the bread sit in it for about 5 minutes. Then, transfer the beautiful loaf to a cooling rack to cool. Although it is tempting to dive right in, let the bread cool for 30 minutes before enjoying.
