Don’t y’all wish you had some nice, warm bread fresh from the oven? Lord knows I do! I’m thinking that there’s just nothing on God’s Earth quite as satisfying and evocative as bread. Especially fresh bread made by your own hands. I think it reaches back across the generations to all our ancestors, making bread for their families.

I found this post this morning that I never published for some reason. So, I’m going to share it with y’all. Perhaps we’ll all be encouraged to get out in the kitchen and rattle some pots and pans!

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Today Zeek asked me to make some bread. That’s a rather unusual request from him, so I decided to give it a go.

I gathered everything I’d be needing and set to it. I started out with 3 cups of all-purpose flour, ¼ teaspoon of yeast, and a teaspoon of salt. After mixing all the dry ingredients I added some quite hot water and began to stir.

This process makes a rather moist, shaggy dough. That’s as it should be, so if you’re cooking along with me don’t worry.

After shaping the ball, I covered the bowl with shrink film and left it to rise for three hours. It didn’t quite double, but it was close.

Next, I turned it out onto a well-floured surface and shaped it again. This dough doesn’t require kneading!

At this point I put the dough onto parchment paper and into a bowl and covered it with a tea towel.

Now, I had to turn my attention to getting ready to cook! I got down our lovely red Dutch oven and put it into the oven and set the gas to 450°F (232 °C)and waited for it to reach temperature.

When the stove was fully heated, I lifted the dough ball, with the parchment paper, into the hot Dutch oven and shoved it inside to bake for half an hour.

After thirty minutes I took it out, removed the lid and the parchment paper and put it back inside to bake for another fifteen minutes.

Just look at that loaf! Beautifully done, crisp crust, and a nice hollow sound when I thumped it.

Oh, and yes, it’s just as tasty as as it looks! Go ahead, give it a try; it’s quite easy. You’ll be glad you did!

Well, that’s me for today I reckon. Good bread is hard to beat, isn’t it? I’m headed out to the kitchen now to fix our bread shortage right now!

While you’re out and about, check out a few more posts here at Ol’ Big Jim’s Place. And, if you haven’t had the pleasure of reading my New Yesterdays tale, hop over to Amazon and get it. Conversely, you can contact me for a signed copy. I’ll get it out straightaway and I’ll even pay the postage and shipping! Where will you get a better deal than that, I ask you!

Y’all come back to see me!