Easy-peasy Stir-‘n’-Pour Bread made by Princess Anee and me

We are still on the delightful errand of The Baby Watch here in Ohio. We. Are. Not. Impatient. We resolve to stick this thing out until this precious new babe is safely ushered into the world andintoAmma’sarms! and into the capable and loving arms of his/her parents, Andrew and Sonia.

Meanwhile. As we wait, everybody asks me: what are you guys doing with your time? Well. Here’s the scoop. We are playing games, and trekking up to the royal bed chamber of Princess Anee whenever she hearkens us to do so, and putting together puzzles and playing with her doll house, and drawing pictures of fanciful princesses, reading copious numbers of books, and doing the alphabet-magnet board thingy, and counting the quarters in her purse (there are five of them).

When we aren’t doing those things, we brought books to read and we are coloring together and catching up with visiting and knitting and taking pictures and playing with balloons and taking out the trash and watching the birds in the backyard, and going shopping and reciting poetry to each other and, well. We are staying busy.

No moss, as it were, is growing underneath our seats, no sirree bob.

Also, we are cooking. My co-grandma Jamie, whom I am happy to report is also here on Baby Watch, is a famous cook–and though I would rather just sit back and let her do what she does so well . . .that would be a tad rude and besides, I like to stay busy, too, so I offered to make bread to accompany her soup. As I was dragging out the ingredients, and studying a recipe that Sonia had written down on a post-it note, Anya came in, pulled up a chair to the counter, and offered to help.

Anya, aka Princess Anee, when she lived close by, used to come often to our house to spend time with us. It was delicious heaven, folks, to have her so close, and of course you already know this if you have littles or even bigs with littles of their own, who happen to live . . . close by.

One thing that Anya loved to do at our house was “mix, Amma!” while I was working in the kitchen. I would give her a big bowl and a wooden spoon, and as I prepared lunch or dinner or whatever, I’d dump little bits of this and small handfuls of that into her big bowl, and let her mix them. This kept both of us happy for a very long time. I tried to vary the colors and textures and so forth, so of course it would be more interesting for her, and she would stay longer. So to a cup of flour–went a grind of pepper, then a clump of brown sugar, then perhaps some peanuts, then some powdered sugar, then a handful of cheerios, a handful of peppercorns, some dried herbs, and then some cinnamon—you get the picture. I would add something whenever she made a peep. She would stir happily.

This never got old, for Anee or me. Eventually I’d have dinner made, and Anya would have a big, well-mixed bowl of . . . something that we’d later throw to the chickens.

*sigh*

So. Yesterday when the Princess asked to “help mix” I slid the big bowl that I was going to mix bread up in over to her, and handed her a wooden spoon. And I gave her a kiss and a hug that nearly knocked her off her chair. Bless her. She’s barely four, folks, and this bread recipe of Sonia’s is so easy that she nearly made it by herself.

stir2

Sonia originally got this recipe from a friend of hers who writes this amazing blog, and then she changed it up a bit, of course, as is her wont. And then I changed it up a bit, of course, as is mine. It turned out lovely. So if you need a super-simple bread to make with your evening soup or salad, or just really want some hot bread but feel a bit intimidated by homemade bread-making and kneading and rising and whatnot, try this recipe.

This is how it looks when it's properly mixed.

This is how the bread dough looks when it’s properly mixed.

And you can even change it up a bit, of course, if that’s your wont. 🙂

stir6

This recipe makes two nice-sized loaves. 🙂

Which, as it happens, it probably is.

stir7

Yum! Does anybody want some hot bread with butter??

Here’s the recipe:

Easy Stir-and-Pour Bread
Author: Sonia’s recipe, adapted from Heavenly Homemakers
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 2 loaves
The easiest bread you can imagine is stirred together, poured into pans and then baked until golden and everybody is fighting indecorously to get at it. This is it, folks.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour (I prefer white whole wheat, but it’s a free country, of course)
  • 2 cups unbleached white flour
  • 2 tsp yeast
  • 2 Tb honey
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups warm water
  • a bit of butter, for schmearing on top while it’s hot
Instructions
  1. Grease two bread loaf pans.
  2. Pour water into big bowl, then stir yeast, honey and salt in with a whisk.
  3. Beat eggs slightly and add to the yeast mixture.
  4. Stir in flour with a wooden spoon until well incorporated.
  5. Let sit until batter rises and gets slightly bubbly, 20 minutes or so.
  6. Pour into prepared bread pans.
  7. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for 30 minutes in a warm, draft-free place.
  8. Bake at 375 degrees, for 20 to 25 minutes or until top of loaves are golden brown.
  9. Schmear soft butter on top of loaves.
  10. Cool for 5 minutes in pans, and then remove carefully from pans and cool on racks.
  11. Conversely: throw caution to the wind, slice and eat hot. With copious amounts of butter, natch’.
  12. Great with butter and jam, butter and honey, or just butter. Good toasted, too!

See how easy?

Even more fun if you make it with somebody you love.

Even more fun if you make it with somebody you love.

stir8

Yum. Yum. Yum.

and *hugs*

11 thoughts on “Easy-peasy Stir-‘n’-Pour Bread made by Princess Anee and me

  1. Nathana Clay

    I think this might be the same recipe we use from Laura’s site. I love it because it can make rolls, sandwich bread, or regular bread. Even my in-laws like it and my step-father-in-law can be picky!

  2. Chef William

    Sounds like a wonderful time being shared with family. And bread making. I think Bread making and growing tomatoes are your addictions. I wish at times that we could make bread but alas, both wheat and white flour are off limits for us at this time – but maybe someday…….It is great when you build there memories in your grandchildren….they will last a lifetime for both of you.

  3. Claudia

    Oh, four is such a wonderful age and to have two grandmothers at your beck is most delicious. Such a blessing to see everyone delighting in the anticipation of the newest little one.

  4. Alana

    I used to make something like this, many years ago. But I haven’t made bread in many, many years. It’s such a wonderful thing, smelling bread baking in the oven. Hope your new grandchild arrives soon and healthily (if that’s a word).

      1. rose

        PS…made your bread and it was easy, as you said, and delish! Made a single loaf instead of two. Had it with my stew from the garden of kale, carrots, leeks etc. Sooo good! Definitely found a home in my recipe box!

        1. dramamamafive Post author

          Good, Rose! I’m so happy that you liked it. That is a very plain Jane recipe, but it would be fun and very easy to dress it up!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.