No-Yeast Bread

No-Yeast Bread - made July 31, 2020 from CD Kitchen

Based on my most recent shopping excursions, it looks like the stores are able to restock most of the pandemic-rare items. I only really shop at three stores these days: Costco, Trader Joe's and Target. And during the worst of the shortages, yeast and sometimes flour were often missing but I was fortunate enough to find them a few times by lucky chance.

Nowadays, supplies seem to have gotten back to mostly normal. Wipes are still sometimes difficult to come across as I don't go out often enough to come upon them when they're first put on the shelves and they don't last long. But everything else, toilet paper included, is back in stock. More importantly for bread bakers, yeast and flour are once again plentiful.

During the days of shortage and the (somewhat baffling) rise - haha - of breadmaking, with the shortage of yeast, no-yeast breads rocketed to popularity on pinterest. Which is where I found this recipe from CD Kitchen. I meant to make it a couple of months ago but whenever I found yeast back then, I'd make the Honey Oatmeal Bread in my bread machine. I still have yeast but I'm finally getting around to trying out this recipe.

It's made like an Irish soda bread where you just mix the ingredients together, knead it a few times to make sure no flour spots remain, pat into a round loaf then bake it. I made it a taller/higher loaf than I was supposed to, standing higher than 1 1/2" recommended in the recipe but I like taller (read: bigger) pieces of bread. I baked it in my cast iron pan which I unfortunately forgot once and left soaking in the sink. Which, as any cast iron pan user knows, will lead to rust. I had to google how to get rid of the rust (equal parts water and vinegar then scrub within an inch of your life) before I used it again.

If you look at the picture of the bread loaf from CD Kitchen's blog, theirs looks professional. As you can see from my pictures, it's safe to call my attempt "rustic". I did brush it with milk halfway through the baking time as I don't like super-crusty bread. It still didn't brown evenly but never mind. Ironically, I think the crust was the best part. The bread was a bit heavy in texture, which I had expected, even with the chemical leavening, given it didn't have any yeast. Plus I don't think I baked it long enough. The recipe said to bake for 30-40 minutes and I erred on the side of 40 minutes. It wasn't raw but it was definitely dense. I don't know if it would've benefited from a longer bake. Taste-wise, this isn't very sweet since it contains very little sugar. Most no-sugar breads get their flavor from the development of the yeast with the flour, water and salt. But no yeast breads don't have that advantage. Overall, I think this is on par with a good Irish soda bread but if you want a more traditional bread, definitely go for one with yeast.

4 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups water
2 teaspoons vinegar
1 tablespoon butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. 
3. In a 2-cup measuring cup, combine the water and vinegar. Add the water to the flour. Stir in the mixture until a dough forms.
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead for 2-3 minutes to make sure all the ingredients are incorporated.
5. Shape the dough into a flat, round disk no more than 1 1/2 inches high. Place on a baking sheet or pizza stone or cast iron skillet. Dip a sharp knife into flour then cut an "X" on top of the loaf.
6. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown and the crust is firm. If desired, brush the top of the loaf with milk halfway through the baking time for a softer crust.
7. When bread is done, remove from oven and brush with melted butter for flavor and to soften the crust.