It was a rainy day here in Austin Texas, which is something that does not happen often. Since I could not spend the day in the garden, I settled in for a day of good ol’ fashion homemaking which included getting caught up on laundry, a bit of cleaning, freezing some fresh garden veggies, and whipping up a batch of homemade flowerpot-baked bread and homemade butter. Both of these recipes can be found in the Extraordinary Cookbook, which just happens to be this month’s giveaway!
The recipe for this homemade bread is one of the easier bread recipes I have made, and I love that it baked in only 20 minutes. The bonus to this easy recipe is the presentation is absolutely adorable. Each individual loaf is baked and served in a small terra cotta pot, which would be perfect food and decoration addition for a dinner party.
Ingredients:
1 – 1/4 ounce envelope of active-dry yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
3 1/4 cups white bread flour
warm water
1 tablespoon salt
butter for greasing
a bit of extra flour for kneading and garnish
Method:
In a small dish place your yeast, sugar, and 1 tablespoon of warm water. Stir ingredients until they are dissolved.
In a large bowl mix flour, salt, and the dissolved yeast/sugar mixture.
Slowly add 1 1/4 cups of warm water to the flour mixture slowly, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until a moist dough has formed.
Transfer your dough to a floured surface and knead for at least five minutes until your dough is elastic and smooth.
Transfer your kneaded dough into a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and sit in a warm room for an hour, or until the dough doubles in size.
While your dough rises, grease the insides of the terra cotta pots very liberally with butter, then sprinkle the inside of the pots with flour. If there is a large hole in the bottom of the pot, cover with aluminum foil.
Once the bread has risen, transfer back to your floured surface and knead for approximately one minute (the dough mixture will greatly decrease in size.)
Divide your dough into your terra cotta pots, so each pot is approximately half full. Sprinkle the top of each with a bit of flour.
Cover your pots and let the dough rise for another 45 minutes.
Bake the bread at 400 degrees for 15-45 minutes depending on the size of your pots.
