A no-knead loaf, a foccacia, and a pie crust -- enough to keep your kitchen warm all winter.
A weekend bake is one of the kindest things you can give your week. Mid-Sunday afternoon, the smell of bread or butter pastry takes over the house and pulls everyone toward the kitchen. The trick is not to chase a complicated bake. Three reliable doughs -- one yeasted, one olive-oil based, one for pie -- can fill a calendar of weekends.
Start with a no-knead loaf. Mix flour, water, salt, and a tiny amount of yeast on Saturday night. Let it ferment cold overnight. Sunday morning, fold once or twice and shape. Bake hot in a Dutch oven and you will pull a bakery-grade loaf out of your oven without ever owning a stand mixer.
Add a focaccia for the savory craving and a butter pie crust for the sweet. The focaccia uses the same flour and yeast as the no-knead loaf with more water and oil. The pie crust is butter, flour, and ice water. Three doughs, three weekends, and you are quietly a baker. The kitchen, suddenly, is the warmest room in the house.
Tomas Reuther writes for Simply Gourmet. Reach our editors at info@simplygourmetlakeplacid.com.
