Easy White Bread

I’m finally off the low iodine diet (LID). Yay! I had my whole body scan last Friday and as soon as I was finished with my scan, I was allowed to go back to eating normally. I went straight to the closest Thai restaurant. Extra iodine please. Now I’m patiently waiting for my oncologist to call with the results of the scan. Actually, I’m not patient, I’m a nervous wreck. It’s been 4 whole (business) days. I’m a mess. The waiting is hard, harder than ingesting the nuclear waste.

I made this bread while I was on LID. I don’t actually use my bread machine often, but I used it several times while I was on LID. I used it to mix and knead bread dough, so I didn’t have to do it by hand. I was tired. I guess I could have baked the bread in it too, but there is something unappealing about the shape of bread baked in a machine. I like the funky, organic shapes of the loaves I shape by hand. You could put the dough in a bread pan, if you like a more traditional shape.

For years I have just been following the recipe in the booklet that came with my bread machine. I was never thrilled with the results. I’ve been playing with my own recipe and I think I have finally got a version I’m happy with. It’s soft and stays that way for a couple of days. It’s great for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (which is what I had a couple of times on LID). This recipe doesn’t make a very big loaf, but it’s easy enough to make another loaf.

Easy White Bread

3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Put the ingredients into a bread machine in the order given. The yeast should be the last ingredient going into the bread machine. Set the machine to the dough setting and press start. Let the machine do the mixing and kneading for you. Once the machine is finished. turn the dough out into an oiled bowl. Let the dough rise for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Punch the dough down and turn out on a floured surface. Shape the dough into a loaf. Place on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 35 or until golden brown. Let cool completely before slicing.

If you do not have a bread machine, just mix the ingredients together by hand. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead by hand for 10 minutes, adding more flour as necessary. Place the kneaded dough into an oiled bowl and let rise 1 hour. Shape into a loaf. Bake at 350°F. for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool completely before slicing.