I did it! I made bread! Three times I made bread! I didn’t use a fancy mixer or bread machine. Just my hands and a few simple ingredients.

I always assumed making bread would be the most difficult thing on the planet. Obviously certain recipes are more difficult than others. I found one that had about 746 steps and took 3 days from start to finish. I mean, obviously it would taste good but at that point I’d rather spend $7 on a fancy loaf from expert bakers instead of wasting 3 days of my damn life for something that may or may not turn out. (according to the comments a lot of people’s bread didn’t turn out. BUMMER!)

So when I stumbled across an easy bread recipe I thought, why the heck not! I had all the ingredients already and I just bought a trusty new bread pan. I am not a baker. Baking is science and me no good at science. I think it’s very interesting but it’s never been a strong suit for me. That’s why I used a recipe instead of just trying to figure it out on my own. In grade 11 my best friend Jess Brown was running for school prez. I was her “campaign” manager. I made brownies (with a recipe that I pulled out of my ass) and handed them out around the school. “Have a brownie, vote Jess brown!”. I’m not saying that the brownies made her lose the election, but I’m not saying they didn’t. They were horrible. I’ve come a long way since then and I’m a much better baker. I even improvise sometimes, and it always* (kinda) turns out! Here is the recipe for the first batch of bread I made, from the Minimalist Baker. Check out her stuff!

In proper Julia fashion, I changed a few things. I didn’t have whole wheat flour so I pulsed up some rolled oats in my nutribullet to make oat flour. So easy! I made 2 cups worth of oat flour to substitute the whole wheat. I also omitted the flax seeds because I didn’t have any. Otherwise, I followed the instructions to a T.

Considering this was my first ever attempt at bread, I am very pleased. The oat flour obviously made it more dense than the whole wheat would have. When I use this recipe again, I will stick to the script! BUT if you’re gluten free I totally urge you to try this with oat flour and buckwheat flour. Yes, it will be as puffy but it’ll still be delicious. And how cool would it be to make your own gluten free bread instead of spending 8 bucks on some puny little loaf at the grocery store. I’d like to experiment with putting some baking powder in there to try and fluff it up a bit. I’m a big fan or trial and error cooking. It’s the best way to learn and eat your mistakes along the way.

After this loaf was consumed I stumbled upon a great recipe from epicurious. I goddamn love epicurious. It was for a simple beer bread recipe. No yeast. No letting it rise. No nothing. Just dump the ingredients, mix and bake. SO EASY. Check it out!

Seriously. A dog could make this is they have opposable thumbs. I used 2 cups all purpose flour, 1 cup buckwheat and a bottle of blonde lager. Again, this isn’t going to be your fluffy Dempster’s crap but it’s good! It’s so good toasted with peanut butter and jam or mashed avocado and lemon. I made a beautiful green themed avocado toast breakfast. One is garnished with lemon, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. The other with tomatillo salsa. Wash it down with green tea and you’ll feel ready to take on your busy day!

A few days later I used the same recipe but substituted regular flour for 1 cup corn meal, 1 cup buckwheat and 1 cup all purpose. I used a bottle of Mill Street 100 meridian beer and sprinkled sea salt on top before I popped it in the oven. In less than an hour you can have beautiful, homemade corn(ish)bread. Serve it alongside a nice big bowl of chili or top it with avocado again! Or mayo, tomato and fresh basil.

Unless this bread has come right out of the oven, I always like to toast it. Toasting it gives it another layer of flavour and crunch. It’s so nice to eat bread with so few ingredients. You can feel good about what you’re putting in your body. (even though some would argue that flour and grains are eeeeeeeevil but come on, relax a minute ok?)

My next task is to create a super fluffy “guilty pleasure” bread. and rye bread! and a grain free/vegan bread! I will try all the breads because it is my duty as a food blogger. Oh the sacrifices I make…

That’s it for today! Thanks again for eating with me. If you like what I eat, tell your pals! or your mom! Mom’s love me! and I love them!

Until next week. Now, GO TO BREAD!

Love, Julia