Who bakes bread when it is 85 degrees out? Apparently I do. This bread is SO GOOD. When you take a bite of this stuff when it is still warm and has a little vegan butter on it, you are totally going to freak out. I feel really proud of myself when I bake something awesome. I think it is because people who don't bake tend to be really impressed by it-- "You made this?! Wow!" This bread is sure to impress the pants off everyone you know.
Of course there are many healthier breads out there that you could choose to bake instead of this one. However, this is a great one to start with if you have never baked bread before and want to give it a try. It is easy, there are only a few ingredients and all of them are cheap and easy to find. Truth be told, this is an old Better Homes and Gardens' recipe, the only real change is substituting soymilk for dairy milk.
Cornmeal
Cooking spray
6 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages active dry yeast
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups soymilk
1/2 cup water
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Spray two 8x4x2-inch loaf pans with cooking spray. Lightly sprinkle the insides of the pans with cornmeal and shake the pans around so that the cornmeal coats the bottom and sides. Set them aside.
In a large mixing bowl, use a wooden spoon to stir together 1/2 of the flour (3 cups), both packets of the yeast, and the baking soda. Set the bowl aside. In a medium saucepan, heat and stir soymilk, water, sugar, and salt over a low flame until just warm (about 5 minutes). Stir the soymilk mixture into flour mixture and slowly add in the remaining 3 cups of flour and continue stirring until everything is well combined. It should be thick and sticky (that's what she said).
Pull apart the dough with your hands to divide it in half. Plop each half into a loaf pan. It is not going to look anything like bread at this stage. Keep in mind that the dough will rise and fill up the pan eventually. If it just looks like a blob in the middle of the pan right now, you are in good shape. Sprinkle the tops with more cornmeal and set the pans side by side. Find a clean kitchen towel and drape it over both of the pans. This keeps the heat in and helps the yeast start the party that gets the dough to rise. Leave the dough alone in a warm place for 45 minutes, resist the urge to lift the towel and peek at it while it is rising. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. After the rise time, take the towel off the pans and put them in the oven to bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove pans from the oven and turn them upside down onto a wire rack to get the loaves out. I don't have a wire rack so I just used the bottom of a large colander and it worked just fine. Let the loaves cool for a few minutes before slicing then it's yum-time.
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| This recipe and this picture were shamelessly ripped off from bhg.com |
