Baking bread on a cold winters day.

What better way to spend a cold winters day than to bake some fresh bread.

The smell that fills the house is amazing.

So how do you make your own bread? It's really fairly easy.

Here is what I did.

Mix 2.5 tsp of yeast and 1 tsp of sugar into about 1.75 cups of warm (not hot) water. Let that sit for about 5 min.

In a bowl add 3 cups of flour and 1 tsp of salt.

Combine all ingredients and mix together until you got a silky ball of dough. You may need a little more water or a little more flour. This part is a bit of trial and error. But you can't really mess it up. If it's too sticky add more flour. If it's too dry add more water. Eventually you'll get it just right.

Once you have that dough ball just right you need to let it rise. So set it aside for 30 minutes. I left mine on a silicone mat with a towel over it. This is what it looked like after 30 minutes. (note: I made two batches)

After that you need to kneed the dough one more time. Just for a minute or two. You may also need to add a little more flour. I also cut my dough balls in half so I could make smaller loafs.

Cover the dough again with a towel and let it rise for 60 minutes this time. After about 45 minutes I turned the over on to 375 deg F.

After 60 minutes this is what you'll have.

Now brush the tops with some olive oil (makes the crust nice and crisp) and then I score the tops with a sharp knife to make some patters in it. Not sure if this step is necessary but it make the bread look much more professions. :)

Then bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes (full loaf took about 30 minutes, these half loafs took about 23 minutes). You know when they are done by tapping on the bottom of a loaf. If it makes a hollow sound you're good to go. You can also just tell by looking at it. We all know what bread looks like.

I cook mine on a metal baking "stone" but you can just use a baking sheet or even an oven safe pot.

That's it. Take the bread out. Let cool and enjoy.

If you give it a try post some photos to let me know how it worked out.

Jason.