quick and easy meals for 1 or 2


Pop Pop’s bread recipe

I have made bread in a bread machine for ages. But it’ was enough of a chore that I didn’t do it as often as I would have liked to have homemade “good crusty Italian bread”. And, I could just make enough for one night and I had to wait about 2 hours while the machine did its thing. So I started to mix the dough up in a bowl and letting it rise then forming the loaves or rolls, letting them rise for about 20 min or “ until doubled in size” then baking. Then I read somewhere that you could save bread dough in the fridge for up to 2 weeks and use it when you wanted. So this is my bread routine now.

In a med. sized bowl put 1 and a half cups of warm water, ¾ tbsp. of dry yeast and ¾ tbsp. of salt. I like to add pinch of sugar and a squirt of olive oil, but they’re optional. Whisk it up until the yeast has dissolved and add 3 and a half cups of flour. Stir it up until it’s all mixed up and there are no dry spots. (you’ll get a little exercise doing this) Some times I need to add a little more flour cause it looks too wet but not always. Don’t ask me why. Leave the bowl on the kitchen counter somewhere out of the way with a towel over it for about 2 hours. Drop some flour around the edges and on top. Then punch it down and pull it away from the bowl into a ball shape, kinda. Tear off some and shake some flour on it and shape it into whatever kind of bread you want that day. Now comes the good part. Put the rest of the dough in a container that will have a plastic top that seals down on it. And put it in the fridge. Dust the container with flour and the top of the dough also. Then when you come in from work , school whatever all you have to do is light the oven, tear off some dough and your fresh homemade bread will be ready while you multi-task the supper. I just make 2 small loaves for Gammy and I. Then spread a little corn meal or flour on a baking sheet or anything flat and metal. Even a cast iron skillet will work. Put the oven on 450 and let the bread rest a little. It doesn't have to "double in size". When the oven has heated up put the bread in. It’s done when you tap the bottom and get a hollow sound. About 8-10 min. I’ve found that some times the bottom of the loaves start to get dark before the top is done. I just turn them over and let them finish upside down. Some times they want to stick then I just get a spatula or turner thingy and scoot them of the pan. We like to make a dip out of extremely virtuous olive oil, some crushed black pepper, dried basil and a little garlic powder. We enjoy fresh homemade bread every night.