What if bread didn't take all day?

You're not a bad cook because you don't bake bread. I have been telling that to myself for years, with the very simple reason that homemade bread, while delicious, takes too damn long to make! To make a good loaf of sourdough takes six days. To make a good whole wheat, at least most of a day. Risings take multiple hours, so you have to be home all day or at least in and out at the correct intervals, a tough thing to do for anyone with, well, a job, school, family, or life outside the kitchen.

Dum duh duh duhhhhh!!! (triumphant music) I have found the perfect bread recipe for busy people!! That's right my friends; I, Rita Kerr-Vanderslice, the many-time failed bread baker, made bread yesterday and it was lovely, AND it took only 2 hours total. 2 hours!

How is this possible? Not really sure, actually, but I do know that everyone should own this cookbook: The Forgotten Skills of Cooking. Darina Allen is the author, and in this book she tells you how to do everything from making your own yogurt, to raising chickens, to foraging for mushrooms, and, of course, baking bread. Her simple Ballymaloe bread recipe is a simple whole wheat bread that reminds me of my dad making bread on Sunday mornings. Some timing may be slightly different depending on your altitude (writing to you know from 5,000 above sea level) and your oven.

Either way, congratulations to anyone who reads this; you are now capable of being a homemade bread baker; no more excuses. The only changes I made to this recipe are a) converting the yeast measurement from ounces of compressed yeast to teaspoons of active dry.

Ballymaloe Wheat Bread
1 2/3 c lukewarm water
1 tsp molasses
4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
3 1/2 c whole wheat flour (or replace 1/2 c flour with bread flour if you have it)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
Butter or oil for greasing your 5X8 inch bread pan

Preheat the oven to 450. Combine 1/2 cup of the water, the molasses, and the yeast in a small bowl and set aside. Combine the flour and salt in a larger bowl and grease your bread pan. In about 5 minutes, your water and yeast should take on a creamy texture and be foamy at the top. That means it's ready to add to the flour along with the remaining water. Mix it all together in the bowl with a spoon (it will be too wet to knead) and then place the mixture into the bread pan, sprinkle the top with the sesame seeds and cover with a kitchen towel. Allow the bread to rise for approximately 20 minutes or until the dough has risen to just below the top of the pan. Place it in the oven and cook at 450 for 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 400 and cook for another 40 minutes, or until the bread sounds hollow when you tap it. For a good, hard crust, remove the bread from the pan 10 minutes before it is done and place it directly on the oven rack.
Enjoy your newfound bakerdom!