"Back to life, back to bread, back to child, back to husband, you can't live in the woods."
--The Baker's Wife, Into the Woods
To kutt [cut] the upper crust of a loaf of bread for your soverayne [sovereign] was good manners in 1460. The custom at the time was to slice the choice top portion off a loaf and present it to the highest ranking guests at the table. Centuries later, this practice led to calling the elite who ate the upper crust "the upper crust."
"Without bread, without wine, love is nothing."
--French proverb
I've had my old bread machine for many years--sometimes I forget I have it. But it worked just great the other night and easily produced this tall, fluffy loaf of soul-warming homemade bread!Here's the recipe I used in my machine, adding ingredients in order:
1 cup fat-free milk
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups flour
Spread flour around in the pan and tomp down a couple of times to settle it. Then on top add:
1 package active dry yeast
I just used the basic setting--and 3 1/2 hours later we had nice warm, huge bread slices to go with dinner. This also makes great French toast the next day! Get out your bread machine!
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