Fear Not the Bread Dough

It occured to me tonight, not for the first time, as I was preparing dinner (homemade pizza recipe below), how few people nowadays know the pleasure of baking bread. No, I don’t mean measuring out ingredients and pushing a button on the bread machine. Please don’t misunderstand me, I have nothing against bread machines. I own a bread machine and use it. But there just isn’t anything quite like the feeling of mixing and kneading bread by hand. It’s prayerful, meditative. It’s exercise.

I think people have a fear that making a bread dough is mysterious and difficult. It isn’t either of those things. Perhaps the most intimidating part is the temperature f the water. Maybe they remember the stern warning of their grandmothers “Don’t get the water too hot, or you’ll kill the yeast. Yeast is a living thing.’ and then their Catechism “Thou shalt not kill”. What pressure! In almost 20 years of breadmaking, I have only had the yeast NOT proof one time. It was because my yeast was old, it died of old age, I buried it. Keep your yeast in the fridge, they like it there. If you think of bath water as the right temperatre for your yeast to proof, or bloom in, you’ll be just fine. It can be a tad hotter if the yeast is mixed with the flour before the addition of the water. That’s it, that’s all you need to know.

Another fear might be the length of time your bread dough takes to rise. It’s going to take as long as your bread machine bread. If you’re in a terrible hurry, use the rapid rise yeast. Yes, you’ll have to punch it down after the first rise, but it’s so satisfying, why wouldn’t you want to? I do have a wonderful trick for raising dough. I learned it from some lovely Mormon women who baked A LOT of bread. Place your bowl of dough on the top rack of a cold oven. On the lower rack place a bowl or casserole dish filled with boiling water and shut the door. Your dough loves a sauna as much as you do!

Nissa’s Homemade Pizza

4c. bread flour (substitute up to half the flour for whole grain flour - quinoa is a favorite)
1-1/3 c. warm water (like a bath)
2T olive oil
1 tsp. Kosher salt (or any old salt)
2-1/4 tsp. Rapid Rise yeast

Combine flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Combine water and oil and add to flour mixture. stir together until liquid is absorbed and tip the lot out onto a breadboard. Knead for 10 minutes while singing “O Sole Mio”, listening to a Dean Martin CD or repeating the mantra “patience, patience” (this last one is especially helpful on days your four-year-old has filled the dryer vent from the hosepipe). Spray or oil the bowl you just used for mixing and either tip it over onto the dough ball, or use the above mentioned technique. Let rise until double (30 mins or so). While the dough rises, dry up the puddle your four year old made, strip him, put him into the bath and read him “Where the Wild Things Are”. Punch down and divide your dough into two balls. Roll each one out to about 14” round. Place on an oiled cookie sheet sprinkled with cormeal, or onto a pizza stone. (Oven should be at 350F) Get the four year old (and the other 4 or five, or 6... kids) to help spread with pizza sauce (the dough, not the four-year-old), mozarella (try fresh some time!) and your favorite toppings. Bake for about 15 minutes. Thank God that you’ve spared the four-year-old because he really does make you laugh, be grateful for the time you took to prepare a homemade meal for your family (it wasn’t so bad was it?), and serve with salad.