New best bread ever – easy-to-make Peasant Bread

I have unsuccessfully wrestled with many  bread recipes. This one, in particular, may not be the best bread in the world, but it is such a thorough recipe, with such simple ingredients, and such a good chance of success… I’ll say it. It’s my favorite bread recipe ever. And you make it in a BOWL. How cool is that? (pyrex only; something oven safe!)

The recipe is from Alexandra Bakes, and her whole site is basically food blogging goals; check it out here: https://www.alexandracooks.com/2012/11/07/my-mothers-peasant-bread-the-best-easiest-bread-you-will-ever-make/.

The romantic feeling of making your own bread is often undone by the flour everywhere, the stickiness of your fingers when you are kneading, and the sadness of not good rising bread. This bread, by being no-knead, means that one less variable is up to the poor baker (me, in this case), so I was able to see reliable rising and not accidentally leave it too long. I didn’t get big yeast bubbles like so many other people making homemade bread, but I did get airy dough.

I really love the crust that forms from the liberal coating of butter and the use of the bowl as the container for the bread; the amount of dough for me was perfect for my large pyrex bowl. Flipping it out of the bowl was so easy, and the bread is very slicing-friendly so it will be useful for sandwiches…

I’m just basically in love with this bread. I wish I had more of a romantic story about it, but if you have seen any of my sorta-didn’t-rise breads, or the hockey-puck style french bread I made one time, you would understand the sense of triumph I have eating a piece of bread that is actually good the next morning. I made it with one cup of wheat flour to three cups of regular bread flour, which makes it just a tiny bit healthy and slightly earthy/chewy, but mostly it’s just like any bakery-style white bread boule. As long as the yeast actually foams, your bread should be just as good as mine using Alexandra’s recipe!

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