Easiest Yeast Bread Ever

I love homemade bread. Well, truth be told, I love all breads -- as long as they are hearty, toothsome, crunchy, chewy, fragrant, crusty, or otherwise bread-like.

I have a bread-maker, and I own the world's best cookbook full of bread-maker recipes. But sometimes, I just don't have three or four hours to be at home, tending the machine. Tend a machine? Yes, I do. I have found that sometimes the "kneading" motion wiggles the machine half-way off the counter. And I learned the hard way that the directions are serious when they tell you that you have to remove the bread promptly as soon as the timer goes off, if you want to avoid soggy and unappetizing consequences.

So here's the recipe I use when I'm feeling supremely lazy and/or short on time, but I still want to eat really delicious, nutty, whole-grain goodness. It takes no kneading of any kind. You mix it up like a biscuit or cookie dough, bonk it into the oven to proof and then bake, and two hours later...mmmm.....

Super Awesome No-Kneading Bread

1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups oats
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/8 cup flax seeds
1/3 cup bulgar wheat
2 1/2 teaspoons gluten
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons (or one envelope) yeast
1/4 cup craisins or raisins or currants
1 Tablespoon honey
1 cup milk
3/4 cup water

Put all dry ingredients & fruit into a bowl and mix well. Add wet ingredients. Stir. The mixture will be sticky and gooey. Let sit long enough to get out your loaf pan and cooking spray and put away all the ingredients. Spray the loaf pan, add the dough mixture, and place the pan into a COLD oven. Set the oven to 225 degrees, and set the timer for 45 minutes. When the timer rings, do NOT open the oven. Up the temperature to 350 degrees, and bake for one hour.

Remove bread from pan, and allow to cool before slicing, if you can stand to wait that long. (If you can't--I never can--the bread will taste delicious piping hot with a little butter on it, but it will be quite crumbly and somewhat more difficult to slice until it cools.)

This will NOT be a tall loaf with a fine crumb like a sandwich bread. Instead, it will be a hearty, grainy bread that is tremendously satisfying if you like the nutty taste of denser breads.

This is a very forgiving recipe. You can substitute pumpkin seeds or sesame seeds for the sunflower seeds, if you like. You can add 1/4 cup of your favorite nuts, chopped up a little. You can substitute other grains for the bulgar or for a portion of the oats. You can even remove up to 1/4 cup of the flour and substitute other grains or seeds for that.

I would post a picture, but the bread never lasts long enough in our house for me to take one. I'm baking a loaf this chill and rainy afternoon, though, so perhaps I can add a photo.

Happy home-baking!