#2 – Basic Bread Loaf

I’m sure there will be very few days in the future when I do 2 posts in one day but today is a special occassion so I thought I’d make the effort to do so, and in keeping with that specialness, my first food display will be one taught to me by my mother.  Before she did I had seen photos and read recipes on how to make bread but it always seemed like to be successful at it required hands-on training for me due to the feel of the dough needing to be a certain way for the end result to turn out right.  The traditional Trinidadian version (where the parents are from) calls for dairy milk, butter, and sometimes eggs thrown into the mix but here is my veganized version:

All ingredient amounts are approximate; I’m not a measuring cup/spoon user:

4 cups bread or unbleached all-purpose flour

2 cups lukewarm water

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup raw sugar

1 TBS sea salt

1 TSP yeast

Directions – mix sea salt into flour then add oil and mix again.  In separate bowl stir sugar and yeast into lukewarm water until dissolved.  When water starts to bubble add to flour, mix and knead into soft dough then allow to rise which may take 2 – 4 hours.  After it has risen punch it down, reknead, and separate into 2 loafs.  Place in loaf pans (or you can freeze one for later) and allow to raise again one more hour.  This is how mine looked at this point:

Bake at 350F for 15 – 20 minutes or until light brown.  Here is the final product:

Be sure to take it out of the bread pan when you get it from the oven or else it may sweat.  Also for a creamy flavour you can use almond milk instead of or in addition to the water when mixing.