Bread in a Bucket

This is so easy.

Get a bucket with a lid.

1 1/2 T salt
1 1/2 T salt yeast (I used two packages)
6 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used 3 cups whole wheat, 3 1/2 all purpose)
3 cups warm water.........out of the tap

Nothing fancy about making this bread. First dump the salt and yeast into the bucket. Pour in the 3 cups of warm water. I put the lid on and let it sit a few minutes for the yeast to start growing. But you can go crazy and throw in the flour. Stir it up with a wooden spoon. You need to get all the flour mixed in. Put the lid on the bucket and lift the corner so that it's not completely air tight some of the gases need to escape. Let the whole mixture sit for two hours. It will grow, you will see the air bubbles. It looks like a big sticky mess.

Lift the lid, sprinkle you hands with flour, pull off some of the dough & shape into a ball. Should be the size of a grapefruit. Put enough flour on it so it doesn't stick in your hands. You don't have to knead the bread. Only shape into a ball. Put on a pan, I used a pie plate cover with towel. Let it rest for about 45 minutes. It will grow again because of the yeast.

After resting the dough slash the top. I had trouble with this, all the air came out of my loaf..........making it look like a blob......my slashes didn't look so good.
I used spray oil on my pan, and a sprinkle of corn meal. (you don't have to do that)
Before I put the dough in the pie plate I poured warm water on it. This warmed the plate up. Yeast grows better in warm areas.

Set the oven 375F. Put the bread on middle shelf of oven with a pan of hot water underneath. This makes a crunchy crust. Oh don't use a glass dish for the warm water underneath the dough........they break.

Bake for 25-35 minutes.

Put the rest of dough in fridge. You will get at least 3 more loaves. You should use it within two weeks. When you take dough out of the fridge let it rest with a towel over top for about 45 minutes before you bake it.

It took me longer to type this then make it.

If you can watch this video it explains it all better than I do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFJZPm-_2-M&feature=related

Let me know how you do on this. It's really good and so easy.