500th POST!!!! 500th POST!!!! Thanks to all of you for following, commenting, liking, and cooking with Hot, Cheap & Easy these past few years. I appreciate your support and love having your company on this food and life journey…Don”t forget to sign up for email alerts if you haven’t already! xoxoxo
As we were learning about yeast for my first-grader’s Science Fair Project, it was obvious that blowing up balloons with anaerobic respiration, while cool, was not enough to fully demonstrate the wonders of this delightful fungus.
The best way to appreciate how useful and all around terrific these little creatures are is to tear into a loaf of steaming, fresh-from-the-oven, homemade bread. Yeast lifts flour from its one-dimensional powder form into the sublime airy, nutty, soft, comforting cloud of tasty goodness that is bread. Add a slab of good butter, and you know that manna from heaven must’ve been a yeast bread.
Basic ingredients
The problem is, bread is a pain in the ass to make. You knead, you wait, you punch down. You do it again. Or you have a standing mixer with the right paddles and let the machine do much of the work. And you still have to wait.
Sticky dough
I don’t have a standing mixer. I don’t have the space for it. I don’t have the money for it. I don’t have the time to read all the reviews to find the best standing mixer with the best ratings and the best price that I anyway have no room for and no money for…so usually I don’t make bread. This is why bakeries exist.
After a bit more than an hour
But a bit of digging around the internet found me a fabulous recipe on Jezebel called Foolproof Refrigerator Bread by Jenna Sauers. It required no kneading, no standing mixer, and very little waiting and one batch is enough for three loaves that you can make one at a time when you get the urge. SOLD!
Slash the top for good looks
Here is our version, which doesn’t really stray much from the original. The measurements and instructions are easy enough for a little kid to follow. We shamelessly took a fresh loaf to the Science Fair and offered still-warm slices to the judges and voila! Leandro won the Creativity Prize (the K-4 category was otherwise non-juried except for a few special recognitions). Talk about fostering a sense of pride and joy in a little boy who loves science and food.
No sense skimping on the butter.
And ever since we have been keeping dough on hand to pop in the oven when we need a snack. It’s done in a half-hour….what could be better for a dinner side or something to wow impromptu guests? Continue reading to get the ever-so-simple recipe.
Oh deliciousness (my little toaster oven did the job, but it IS little, so the top got a bit more browned than you might like)
You Need No-Knead Refrigerator Bread
3 Cups warm water (it should feel cozy-comfortable on the hands)
1.5 Tbs salt
1.5 Tbs quick-acting yeast
6. 5 Cups unbleached white flour
Container large enough to hold this much flour and water only doubled in size. You’ll want a cover for it.
Place the water in a large container and dissolve the salt into it.
Stir in the yeast until well mixed. Wait a few minutes for it to begin foaming nicely.
Add the flour, all at once. Stir with a big spoon until well mixed into a sticky dough and there are no big air pockets.
Cover loosely and allow to rise 1-2 hours.
Cover (punching down if necessary) and place in fridge (for up to three weeks).
When you are ready for fresh bread, preheat oven to 450°F. Grease a loaf tin and grab about a third of the dough (putting the rest back in the fridge for next time). With greased hands, form a loaf (the cold dough and the fat on your hands (we use olive oil) will keep it from sticking to you . Place in loaf pan and slash across the top with a knife (for a pretty finish). Bake for about 30 minutes or until crust is golden. You can give it a blast at 500°F for the last few minutes to develop the crust more.
Enjoy!
Hot, Cheap & Easy 
Congratulations on you 500th post. I found you by accident, but I’m so glad I did, I’m loving all the recipes I’ve found so far, especially this one. I have a question; under the picture it says “my little toaster oven did the job”, pleeeeease tell me how you made it in the toaster oven. My big oven just died and I’m using a toaster oven till I can get it fixed and I would love to make some fresh bread. Congratulations again, please keep up the great work.
Hi Barbara! I have a pretty fancy toaster oven (Breville), but I just set it to bake, preheat to 450 and stick the bread in there! The rack is on the lowest setting. I bake in it all the time. Do you have an oven setting?
Thank you for the quick reply, I have an Oster with Convection and to be honest I am not really sure how to bake in it. I contacted Oster and they said I can bake in it just use the convection setting; tried that and ended up with a pan of black brownies. But I am definitely going to try to make this bread. Thank you again.
Keep me posted, Barbara. If you know it’s a quick cook oven, lower the heat and maybe use a glass baking pan rather than metal. It will slow things down a bit…
Congratulations!
I bought my grandmother a bread bowl in the hope she’d make bread when I was a child, but I think she preferred shop bought, after years of daily bread making when she was younger. I had to wait until i was old and make my own 😉
I can understand your granny. We are so happy to discover this recipe. We are going to play around with different flours (and continue the yeast exploration by adding sugar at some point)
Congratulations all the way around….to 500 posts and to Leandro winning a prize. Job well done by both of you.
Very nice Natalia. Fantastic to have achieved the big 500.
I am in awe of your 500 posts, Natalia! Congratulations. I have a hankering today for fresh bread. In Ottawa, Canada, spring MAY have arrived. Rain has washed away much of the snow & the sun is shining. Still a little chilly . . . but perfect for a fresh pot of soup and a loaf of homemade bread. I am going to add this recipe to my list of yeast breads if I can find room for it in my refrigerator. And excellent creativity and strategy with the judges on your science project, Leandro! Very clever.
Thanks so much Susan! I have about a loaf left in my fridge right now and it is going to have to get done SOON. It is such a pleasure to have fresh bread at your fingertips…
Congrats to you on 500 wonderful posts! xx Amazing looking/sounding bread!
Thanks so much Miss M…I am now planning my summer canning to be able to use your lovely labels!!!
How sweet, Natalia! That’s great to hear 🙂 x
:O Perfect pizza bread. Isn’t it?
Congratulations!
Enjoyed it! do check my blog and fill me in with your comments:
http://cheenithoughts.com/food/easy-thai-red-chicken-curry/
xx