Hello there!!! 🙂
Long time no see, hum?
Well, there hasn’t been much to write about but today I am back and with something very exciting. At least for me it is! haha
The past week, I had a few days off meaning I finally had time to put my apron on and explore the cooking/baking world again!
If you ask any Portuguese person what they always have to have on their dinning table, most probably you’ll get “Bread” as an answer. I unfortunately, am not the biggest bread fan out there but I sure miss every now and then a good slice of “Pão Alentejano” with butter; loooooots of butter! haha
Always thought that making your own bread was very difficult and somehow, never had the guts to give a try. Until last Thursday!
I browsed around for an easy-beginner-kind of recipe on good old traditional Portuguese bread. Guess what? I found something!! #happy
Got all the ingredients, with a twist, and so I was ready to get to work and make my first bread.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 500 g flour of your choice; I picked whole grain.
- 400 g warm water (yes, grams of water… I also found it weird)
- 1 tsp salt
- 10g of yeast (I used instant dry yest like this one: LINK)
And the most amazing thing is that I only had to mix all dry ingredients first and then add the water slowly until it got to a nice consistency; not too dry neither to “sticky”. Also, no need to use any kind of machine. Just a wooden spoon will do, as you’re not suppose to over stir/mix the ingredients.
Let it rest for 2 hours, pre-heat your oven at 200C with a pan inside (yeah, this is the trick for a good crusty layer).
Once heated, sprinkle the pan with some flour and your loaf of bread as well.
Put your loaf of bread in the pan, carefully, and cover it. Let it bake for 30 minutes and then remove the lid and bake for another 15/20 min.
This is what came out of my oven!
I had to hold myself for about 20 min until I could get some slices and spread some butter on them!
Well… it was just plain DELICIOUSNESS!!!!! Damn!!!
I was soooo proud! hahaha Mr. man was also very positive about the outcome; a winner I’d say. 🙂
Already have some more ideas for future breads; all I need is time to bake them. But hey, once I make some more I come share with you.
For now, try not to drool too much over the pics and please, give this recipe a try! I can promise you you won’t regret. 😉
See you soon!!!
(I have to go watch GoT now!)
