Super Easy Rustic Restaurant Bread

I found this great bread recipe to share.  It is so easy and tastes like the chewy textured rustic bread served in nice restaurants with dipping olive oil and balsamic.  


3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast 
1 1/2 cups water
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons vinegar


Mix by hand with a fork just until the flour is mixed in and cover bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter all night or 8-12 hours.   It will not rise a whole lot but will look like it has little seeds in it. Using a little flour, stir down and dump out,  and shape into a ball the best you can.  It will be very limp and wet.  Let it rise 1 1/2 hours in a 8-10 inch skillet sprayed with PAM or on a piece of parchment sprayed with PAM nestled in the skillet. Cover dough with a lose sheet of plastic wrap sprayed with PAM.   When the bread is almost done rising, preheat a covered Dutch oven (preferably porcelain lined) in a 450 degree oven.  When the temperature is reached, lift the lid and dump in the dough.  If you used parchment, lift the dough out by the corners of the parchment and set into the Dutch oven.  I like this better because the loaf stays more rounded.  You can slash the top of the loaf with a sharp serrated knife now if you want, it looks prettier.  Bake covered for 30 minutes.  Remove the lid and continue baking 5-10 more minutes, until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and the Dutch oven and let cool about 2 hours.  Slicing it before it is cool will ruin the crumb and not taste as good.  


Don't leave it out on the counter cooling if you have a golden retriever, just saying.  


This sounds a little difficult but it is very easy.  I made it two nights in a row, wanting fresh bread for lunch.  Don't throw it out if it doesn't look right.  It doesn't look right!  Just keep following the directions.


When you have made it a few times, you can start in experiment with adding whole wheat sourdough starter or rye or other ingredients you might want to try.


You can purchase a great Dutch oven at Wallmart.com.  Tramontina 3.5 quart Cast Iron Dutch Oven for $30.  You can order it online and have it shipped to your nearest Wallmart for pickup for free.  That is a lot cheaper than the Le Creuset for $130.  I use this pot for lots of things, so it gets good use. 

Epic Rides in Jackson

During the Draper Days fireworks, Mark turned to me and said, "We should take a quick trip up to Jackson next week."  So last Tuesday off we went.  It was a beautiful drive with everything so green and lush.  We stayed at the same B&B we stayed at for our 20 year anniversary.  Ten years rushes by.  We biked 30 miles the first day going south away from the Tetons.  It was mostly ranches and so incredibly beautiful, we kept stopping just to look around.  We were going to run the Snake River but it was so full and the rapids were a category four, so we decided to keep biking instead.  There was a little mouse in our room, in our backpack chomping on a candy wrapper that woke us up at 3:30 am.  After seeing it run across the room, I couldn't get back to sleep.  A little tired, we left for our 51.5 mile ride from the Bentwood to Teton Village Ski Resort and on to Jenny Lake.  I kept telling Mark stories from my childhood about camping and staying in my Uncle Lewis' cabin in that area.  We made it to the Jenny Lake Lodge for a wonderful lunch and then back.  I have to say, it was the most beautiful ride I have done.  The Tetons changed views the whole time riding.  We had lots of good food, fun and loved being together for a little trip.   On the way home we stopped in Evanston to buy some fireworks for Patrick.