Baking Bread [Rolls] for the First Time (Part II in a Series)

Ok, so I just posted the recipe below. While thoroughly proficient with an oven, I have never really baked bread; though I vaguely recall having my parents buying a bread machine in my youth and making bread one time. This however, is different. What happened this morning in the kitchen sparked a new interest in the kitchen. I am pleased to report that there will be many further bread making posts in the coming days.

A few notes on the recipe. The water rolls call for cornmeal on the bottom- ours was a bit gritty and large, so perhaps next time I will grind it or mas it some or just use flour instead. One packet of yeast is typically 1/4 or 5/16 oz- we used one Hodgson Mill Active Dry yeast packet. One note on the bowl, use a large glass bowl, and cover with glass lid if available or cling wrap. The dough ball did puff up to a very large size! And to avoid any and all confusion the egg whites were to be brushed on prior to baking.
For our next batch of bread I will try experimenting with my own grains, picked on my own and ground in the blender ( I dont have my own Cuisinart Mixer yet- believe it or not- however it is the top item on my Culinary wish list), however, for this first batch i used the flour that I had rounded up at the Co-Op last night.
Here is an estimate of total cost of everything:

• yeast packet- $0.89
• 3.5 C. regular All-Purpose flour- $2 or less (I spent $2.60 on organic flour in the bulk bin last night and still got about 6 cups, and I almost have enough to repeat the recipe)
• Eggs- luckily, I had 2 eggs already, but this is a cost item.
• 2 Tbs oil- also a cost item, however also on hand in the/moms (test) kitchen.
• Cornmeal- a peppering for every roll- well once again- if rocured from a bulk bin and you did not need to open a new package of it, this can be rounded up fairly cheaply. It goes for about $1.99 a pound and you will need about an ounce.

If you are not always buying all the ingredients, bread can be made fairly chealy at home. Since most of us have flour and eggs at home always the only additional purchase will be yeast packages and/or milk/butter depending on the type made. For the rolls we made there was no milk nor butter.

The dough was fairly easy to make, the hard art was laying aroung and waiting to toss it in the oven. Once in, however- they smelled fantastic. Almost exactly like, if not better smelling than Pillsbury oven rolls (of which I am not a fan). The first batch of nine went on a cookie sheet in the middle rack. We cooked them for 15 instead of 20 but one or two could have stood to have stayed in for about 90 more seconds. The first batch were good, but the cornmeal on the bottom was a bit gristly. The second batch went in as soon as the first was done, and it went on the bottom rack. Cooking on the bottom rack helped to eliminate some of the grit on the bottom of the rolls (from the cornmeal), it also made the rolls puffier and softer- definitely the preferred.

So, after popping the first 18 rolls of bread out of my oven, I am delightfully impressed by the bread and its simplicity. They were fantastic hot out the oven, and the yeasty flavor would have been a great pairing to a fine beer, or a dinner like last nights pasta. I see now why Ancient Egyptians had breweries and bread bakeries in the same place. More on homebrewing later.

So- as the old adage goes "if you can bake a cake, you can build a bomb," or something to that effect. Baking bread is not something that need to be thought to be an old or archaic process, nor should it be thought to be to hard to be done on your own. There is no need for fancy equipment, or hard to pin down stuff (although making starter looked a bit intimidating). With all the crap they put in bread now (like corn syrup and trans fat, or a ton of cheap preservatives; take a look at your bread's ingredients- does it read like the fine print on a contract or is it simple with 10 ingredients you can identify and pronounce?) plus the fact that a loaf of bread costs almost the price of two gallons of gas- I suggest that we all experiment in out kitchens with flour water and yeast.

Crusty Water Rolls 7.5/10 (8.5 when hot)
Cost: under 5 dollars.

make your own bread. feed yourself well on the cheap. cripple an industry.