what we made: simple homemade bread

Three words I like. Simple. Homemade. Bread. Put those three words together and that feeling of like turns into love. I am about to give you a recipe that will change your life. Super basic ingredients, so basic that you should have them all at your house at any given moment. (honestly) Super easy directions. And super delicious bread! The only down-side is that bread has to rise and therefore it is not one of those instant gratification recipes, (we all love those) rather it is a "wait for a whole day and make you crave it like mad" recipes. I promise it will be worth it. Unless you botch it, which if you botch this one then I do question your abilities at being a human...just saying.

The ingredients ( plus the herbs which are not required...they just flair it up a bit)

Then the waiting.

Just around 12 hours....not a huge time commitment...and if you don't have the freedom to sit and watch it rise that is alright. (insert sarcasm)  I mean with three little ones under 5 years of age I do have the luxury of being able to sit uninterrupted for 12 hours to watch dough rise-but I prefer to scream myself hoarse and pull out my hair parenting instead.

(disclaimer: I did not really get hoarse...or pull my hair out...but voice raising and eye rolling did occur within the 12 hour span of the bread rising)

The next day take that dough and plop it out on the counter...flour it, flour it real good!

Then wrap it in a towel that has some flour sprinkled on the inside of it. Let that baby sleep for a bit...not long...maybe just long enough to preheat that pot of yours you need to cook the bread in.

Once the pot has preheated take it out and drop that dough right into. It kinda sizzles a bit...which is how you get that nice crunchy, dark shell on the outside of the bread...my favorite to eat!!

 You will bake it for 30 minutes with the lid of the pot on...then you take it out and remove that lid and place it back in the oven for 10 more minutes.

 Final product....and just look how those 10 minutes gave the bread that lovely color!! And your house is now smelling amazing because you have fresh from the oven bread.... you will feel like a million bucks....and in reality you probably spent about one buck to make this whole thing!

 Now to serve this bread-I like to make it our meal. I know I am weird...bread is usually a side dish....did I mention that I am a carb addict? FEED THE ADDICTION....bread for a meal it is:) I have butter for my son, parmesan cheese and olive oil with seasoning for the rest of us. And that bread does not last too long. Good thing it is simple to make!

The recipe:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon yeast
(mix the above ingredients together)
1 1/2 cups hot water added to the dry ingredients and mixed by hand
**The great part about this bread is ANYTHING can be added to the dough to perk it up. Dried herbs, cheese, tomatoes, let your taste buds go wild:)  **

Let dough sit in a bowl (covered with a towel) on the counter for 12-16 hours. Take dough and dump it onto a floured surface, adding flour until the dough is no longer goopy. Place dough on a floured towel and wrap it up....this will rest until the oven/pot has been preheated...not too long. Preheat oven and Le Crueset (or any other cast iron pot with a lid) at 425 degrees. Once preheated, remove the pot from the oven and place the dough into it with the lid on. Put it in the oven for 30 minutes. Take pot out of oven and remove lid-place pot (uncovered) back in the oven for 10 minutes....then pull it out and enjoy!!