Fresh Bread!

One of the biggest challenges I've had is to have good, fresh bread for breakfast.  I love bread!  Nearly everyone does; it makes the meal.  There is nothing like the smell of baking bread to make a house a home.

Fresh Bread at Oft's Bed & Breakfast

When we first opened our Bed & Breakfast we bought fresh bread from a local bakery; well, a bakery 10 miles away.  It was expensive, time consuming and wasteful.  You see our business is sporadic.  We would buy a $5-$8 loaf of bread for 2 or possibly 4 guests and then have the rest of the loaf go stale or eat it ourselves.  (I gained about 10 pounds!).  Freezing the remaining portion just didn't cut it either.

During one of our trips back to Colorado, we stayed with old friends.  They had a stack of old "Mother Earth News" and started leafing through them.  One article caught my eye; "Impress your friends with the bread formula: 13, 3, 3, and 6."   I was curious and found it was a recipe for wet dough bread.  It was 13 cups of flour, 3 TBLS of yeast, 3 TBLS of salt and 6 cups of water.  This makes enough dough to make four loafs of bread.  The neat thing is you can store the dough in your refrigerator up to two weeks and bake it as you need it.  Fresh bread whenever you need it.  Problem solved. 

I've modified the recipe somewhat; using half whole wheat flour.  I have also found some small bread pans that are perfect for 4 people.  We've had lots of complements, especially when guest check in. "OH, what is that wonderful odor coming from the kitchen?"  "That is your breakfast bread!"