Make it: Fresh Bread

With the flip of the calendar from September to October, it seems Fall is here. The days are crisp, handknit socks once again adorn my tootsies, and the oven is getting used once again. The best thing to grace our oven lately? Fresh-baked bread. YES.

This bread is inspired by a very simple recipe my mother gave me a few years ago. In hers, it was just flour, salt and yeast.

I’ve added whole-wheat flour, flax meal, cracked wheat and chia seeds, for a very hearty loaf.

The girls wanted to help with this batch, so “help” they did. Tank dresses are the perfect thing to wear on a 55° day, according to my crazy kiddos.

The best thing about this recipe, no matter if you make it three-ingredient simple or more complex, is this: you keep the dough in your fridge and yank out a chunk every day about an hour and a half before dinner.

That means for a bit of work every 3rd or 4th day, fresh bread is yours every single dinner.

Yummadoozle, as my ladies and I are fond of saying. (Please ignore Astrid’s grumpy face. She’s becoming unfond of photos or ever doing anything I ask her to do).

In bowl of stand mixer, mix:

• 3 C luke-warm water
• 1 1/2 T active dry yeast (or 1 1/2 packets)
• 1 1/2 T sea salt

In big bowl, mix:

• 3 1/2 C all purpose flour
• 3 C whole-wheat flour
• 1/3 C cracked wheat
• 1/3 C flax seed or meal
• 1/3 C chia seeds

In mixer bowl:

• Turn on mixer to about 3 and slowly add flour mixture
• Mix until just moist
• Put in container in the fridge

About 1 1/2 hours before you’re ready for bread…

• Take out a grapefruit-sized chunk of dough
• Knead/fold over 3-4 times on floured surface
• Let sit, covered with a dishtowel, for about an hour
• Bake on greased cookie sheet in a 450° oven for about 30 minutes. Put a baking dish with water on the rack below to kind of steam the loaf
• Eat daily, with loads of butter or jam or honey or cheese or…