Bread

The staff of life. Mainstay of existence of many. It is a staple food for many, prepared with flour and water and is one of the world’s oldest foods. Comes in combinations of different flours, shapes, sizes and textures. I have tried a lot of bread recipes but the one that I absolutely loved is this one. Soft with a perfect crispy crust, this one is easy to make, with minimum ingredients. This makes 2 loaves.

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Ingredients:

Warm water- 2 1/4 cup

Dry yeast – 2 1/4 tsp

Salt – 1 tbsp

Sugar – 3 tbsp

Maida or All Purpose Flour – 6 1/4 cups

Olive oil – 2 tbsp + 1/4 tsp

Preparation:

Take the warm water in a deep big bowl. Add yeast to the bowl and stir well. Then add sugar and stir again well. Let it sit for about 10 minutes until it becomes to foam.

To this bowl, add salt, 2 tbsp oil and 3 cups of flour and mix well. Add flour again little by little and knead it by hand or if you have a electric dough hook, knead it well for about 10 minutes. The dough should not be too sticky. If after adding 6 cups, the dough is still sticky add 1/4 cup or else, leave it at 6 cups.

Add 1/4 tsp oil to the bowl and turn the dough over a few times to coat the outside of the dough with the oil. Cover and allow to rise until double in size (1-2 hours).After it’s risen, shape bread into two loaves and place in two 9×5 inch greased bread pans. Cover again and allow to rise until about double in size (about 30-45 minutes). Brush a light coating of egg wash (whole egg beaten with 1 tbsp water) on top of the dough before baking. Bake on 190 degrees Celsius (375degrees F) for 30-35 minutes. Brush a light coating of butter on the top of the bread, and allow the bread to sit in the pan for 5-10 minutes. Then remove from pan and set on a wire rack to cool.