No-Oven Bread

I've switched from no-knead bread to no-oven bread. How do you make bread without an oven? You visit the neighbors, bread dough in hand!

My sister's coming to visit tomorrow and I really wanted to have some homemade bread. So I went with something I could make today (so that ruled out no-knead bread). I went back to the only bread I've ever successfully made before. It's an american-style white bread that's good for sandwiches and toast. It's from a pretty old bread-making book by Bernard Clayton, New Complete Book of Breads. It was redone about 10 years ago and has nice explicit instructions for using a food processor withe each recipe. The recipe I used was aptly named "My First Loaf".

The instructions were pretty straight foward and the food processor worked great! I did kind of hold it down to keep it from dancing across the counter. Apparently nothing wrong with the yeast I used in the no knead bread - same source here.

One thing that I'm not sure if I got the water to the 120 degrees that was specified. I really have no idea, so I kind of guessed what "hot" would be. Thinking maybe an instant read thermometer is really required. I was hoping to skate by without more equipment. Also I don't think I really shaped the loaves quite right - maybe not long enough since theys seem fatter/exploding in the middle.

But wow, the smell of bread baking was awesome. The benefits of being a good neighbor! I guess Davina also deserves some bread. :) The recipe ends with the perfect note: "If this is your first loaf, stand back and admire your creation." And I did.