And yes, I’m still playing with bread recipes that include sourdough discard. And yes, I have been focusing on sandwich breads, because sandwich breads are so very versatile. They can be used to build sandwiches. (In a former life, I was the head of the Department of Redundancy Department in the city of Jersey City! Just kidding! I just always wanted to use that statement on a job resume, but never got the opportunity.) And sandwich breads makes great toast. (They fit in a toaster as if they were built just for that purpose.) And their square shape make griddle frying French toast easy peasy. But best of all – sandwich breads are stinkin’ easy to build. Especially this sandwich bread.

No fancy ingredients. And no special handling required. Just pat the dough into a regular old loaf pan. So, no fancy clay bakers or pizza stones required. (Not that I don’t advocate making breads that are a bit more difficult to make, and require a bit more trouble in the shaping and baking department. It’s just that everyone needs a simple bread recipe in their repertoire for busy days.) And this is definitely a busy day loaf.

This is also a loaf of bread that everyone in your family will enjoy. Not a lot of tang from the sourdough, just a soft crumb absolutely crying out to be spread with mayonnaise, mustard, deli meat, cheese, lettuce, and tomato. Or baked chicken or turkey. Or toasted and spread with butter and jam, or peanut butter and honey, or just buttered and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

So do yourself and your family a favor, and bake up a loaf at your earliest convenience. It really is a quick and easy bread to produce. And the taste is wonderful.

As always, keep baking, keep learning, and keep growing as a person.

And although I started this as a food blog, I simply can’t refrain once in a while (actually it’s becoming more and more often) from sharing inspirational tidbits with you all. And yesterday, after working on a new recipe and writing a post for this site, I decided to watch the video of Michelle Obama’s speech from the democratic national convention.

The speech was so well prepared, so relevant, and so humble, that for the first time in a long time, I actually felt some hope. Because Michelle was speaking for most of us. Just regular people who believe in kindness, compassion, empathy, and for whom a social conscience has been ingrained from birth. I definitely needed to hear the words coming out of her mouth. I needed to know that someone else understood exactly how I was feeling. Because I’ve been sad. Sad because I know that we Americans are so much better than we are being portrayed. We are not being fairly represented in Washington DC. We are not all racist, or bigots, or greedy. We don’t all lie, cheat, and steal to get ahead. We care about others and genuinely want them to have as good a life as we wish for ourselves.

Even if we were not experiencing this horrific pandemic, and as much as I love to travel, I don’t think I would want to travel overseas right now. I’m embarrassed for America, even if I have done nothing personally to feel embarrassed about. But that’s not what is being propagandized. We are all being painted with the same brush. So why would I want to expose myself to some other nation’s ridicule? And frankly, I truly resent that.

And finally, I don’t want to be divided from others because of my political beliefs. I truly don’t give a flying fig if a person is a republican or a democrat. But I am sick and tired of watching our current political leader demonstrating daily, the worst possible traits of humanity. Greed, cheating, racist rhetoric, demeaning comments about fellow politicians, strong women, and verbal assaults aimed at anyone who is unwilling to bow and scrape to his every whim or thinks differently than he does on any subject. What kind of political leadership does this represent to other nations? What kind of leadership example is this for our youth? What kind of adult acts this way? So I’ve had it. And know that many of you feel exactly the same way.

I sincerely hope you will forgive me if I have in any way offended you. Or at the very least understand why I felt compelled to express myself through this rant. But sometimes it’s just better to set your feelings free rather than let them stay inside and fester. Peace and love to all.    

1 c. sourdough starter discard 

2 tsp. active dry yeast

2 tsp. granulated sugar

¾ c. slightly warm whole milk

⅓ c. instant potato flakes

1 tsp. kosher salt

1¾ – 2 c. bread flour, or as much bread as needed

cooking spray

Combine the sourdough starter discard, yeast, sugar, milk, potato flakes, and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add 1½ cups of the flour and knead for several minutes until the dough is silky smooth. Add additional flour as required. (The dough should be slightly tacky, and there should be a bit of dough that sticks to the bottom and a couple of inches up the side of the bowl.)

Pour a bit of veggie oil alongside the dough. Using a stiff rubber spatula and your hands, shape the dough into a ball, making sure the entire ball is lightly coated with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for about an hour or until doubled in size.  

Place the dough in a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan. Pat the dough into the corners of the pan and flat on top. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap that has been lightly coated with cooking spray, (spray side down over the pan), and allow the dough to rise for another 30 minutes or so. (Dough should be just at the level of the pan rim.) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  

Spray the top of the dough with cooking spray. Bake for 38-45 minutes or until the top is a light golden brown and the internal temperature reaches at least 200 degrees.

Remove from oven and turn bread out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. (Do not be tempted to slice the bread when it is still warm. It will turn to mush.) Store in an airtight container.

OK, there are just some breads that I can hardly wait for you to try. And this is one of them. Why, you ask? Because this has got to be my new favorite sandwich bread. And I know, I say that about all the sandwich breads I bake. And it’s true each time I say it. I just happen to be the world’s most devoted fan of homemade bread. And when the bread is as easy to prepare as this one, why the heck wouldn’t I be excited to share the recipe with you? (That was a rhetorical question, BTW!)

So, if there was just one word to describe this bread, it would be OMG! OK, that’s three words, but I am not kidding when I say I could eat a piece of this bread every day for the rest of my life. This bread is JUST THAT GOOD! (Oh, and the crumb is soft and tender, and it makes really yummy toast when liberally spread with room temperature unsalted butter. But then, what doesn’t taste good slathered with butter? But I digress….)

Anyway, this recipe started from a post I read on the bakefromscratch.com site. I messed with the original recipe for Rye Sandwich Bread a bit (actually a whole hell of a lot) and came up with this variation. But it started with bakefromscratch.com. So a big thank you to those fine folks for the inspiration for this recipe.

Now I know what you’re thinking. Sure it’s easy for you Patti, because you’re crazy enough to bake bread at least once a week. OK, that’s true. I do bake bread often, and I am certifiably crazy, so you win that round. But, I have never lied to you when I state that a “whatever”, be it bread, cookies, marinara sauce, etc. is easy to prepare. And this bread is definitely easy to prepare. And absolutely worth every second put into its production. So much so, that if I were younger (much younger), I would mass produce this bread, which I’m positive would allow us to live part of each year in our very own Italian villa. This bread is JUST THAT GOOD! (Dang, I hate it when I repeat myself! But I simply must in this case! Plus I’m getting older. And repeating one’s self is part of the aging process. Simply goes with the territory!) So dear readers, I have nothing much more to say on the subject.

If you love rye bread, and you bake bread, just bake a loaf and taste for yourself what a truly delightful rye sandwich bread can taste like. IT IS JUST THAT GOOD! As always, peace and love to all.

Oh, and please don’t leave out the caraway and dill seeds. They are in the recipe for a reason. I promise their flavor is in no way overpowering. They simply make all the difference to the overall taste of the bread.

½ c. sourdough starter discard

1½ tsp. active dry yeast

¾ c. slightly warm whole milk

2 T. unsalted butter, room temperature

¼ c. regular molasses (not blackstrap)

2 tsp. kosher salt

1¼ tsp. caraway seeds, plus more for sprinkling

1¼ tsp. dill seeds

¾ c. light rye flour

1¾ – 2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

vegetable oil

1 egg

1 T. water

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine the sourdough starter, yeast, milk, butter, molasses, salt, caraway seeds, dill seeds, and rye flour. Let sit for 20 minutes to let the yeast develop and the rye flour absorb some of the liquid and begin to soften a bit.

Add about a cup and a half of the unbleached all-purpose flour and knead for about 8 minutes or until the dough is smooth and only a bit is clinging to the bottom of the mixing bowl. Add additional flour as needed. (Please note: every sourdough starter is unique. Some contain more liquid than others. So each baker must decide how much flour to add. Sorry folks, I would give you a precise amount if I could.)  

Pour a bit of veggie oil alongside the dough. Using your hands, roll the dough into a ball, making sure the entire ball of dough is lightly coated with oil.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, 1½ to 2 hours. (Mine took an hour and a half.)

Deflate the dough to remove excess air. Form the dough into a loaf shape, and place in a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan. (I simply tuck the dough under to form a loose rectangular shape and then flatten it into the pan with my hands.)

Cover and let rise until it’s about ½-inch above the top of the pan. Mine took 1 hour. (After 45 minutes I realized I should probably start pre-heating my oven. I’m glad I did. Because by the time my oven was hot, the dough was just where it should be. Whew – lucked out again.)  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk the egg and the 1 tablespoon of water together. Just before the loaf is ready to go in the oven, gently brush the egg/water mixture over the top of the loaf. Sprinkle with caraway seeds, if desired. Using a sharp knife or lame, carefully and lightly make 4 diagonal slashes across the top of the loaf. Bake the loaf until golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center of the loaf registers at least 190 degrees. This takes about 30 to 35 minutes. (My bread only took 30 minutes.)

Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 20 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. Store in an airtight container on your counter.

I get really excited when I find another use for sourdough starter discard. But don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with fed sourdough starter either. It’s just that I hardly ever think to feed my starter the night before so that I can use it the next day. I am simply not that well prepared or disciplined. I’m more of a “let’s wait and see what I feel like baking today” kind of gal. OK, I do know how to be terribly efficient and have every aspect of a large dinner party or gathering planned down to a gnat’s eyelash. (I have spreadsheets to prove it.) But I haven’t had to do that recently. Not since we a) stopped hosting JazzVox concerts in January (we held 104 concerts including a full meal over the course of 12 years in our home before we felt it was time to give ourselves a rest) and b) the coronavirus erupted and we along with everyone else were (and still are) restricted to social distancing, limiting exposure, and working hard to stem the spread of this deadly disease. So no dinner parties, cocktail parties, or gathering of any size in our home at all. (Sound familiar?)

Believe me, I am not complaining. Mr. C. and I are truly lucky, and we don’t take our wonderful life for granted. It’s just that life is different now. And so I have really changed my attitude. If something needs to be done, I usually muster up the energy to get it done. (Well most of the time I can.) But if it’s making even a small plan like baking sourdough bread ahead of time, not so much anymore. So using sourdough discard has become almost the norm for me since the old me has gone the way of dodo birds. (I know, all this rhetoric just to explain why I love sourdough discard. You must be yawning in your chair by now. Sorry about that!)

Anyway, I started with a recipe for ciabatta bread I found on-line and changed it so much, that even the original baker wouldn’t recognize it in its current state. So I’m just going to call it my recipe for ciabatta hoagie rolls. And because it’s my recipe now, I need to do a little bragging at this point. This recipe makes really delicious hoagie rolls, or French dip sandwich rolls, or even just wonderful toast to go with your morning eggs.

Anyway you cut them, these simple rolls are easy to build, take very little attention, and can be made in a day. Of course, there’s a bit of waiting for them to rise time involved. But time is what I have plenty of right now. And yes I know, I’m in the lucky minority in that regard.

So if you too have some time on your hands, build yourself and your family some type of bread. Because I tell you true, there is just nothing better than the smell of bread baking away in an oven. Why that is, I don’t know. For me, it’s like being a young child again and walking into my grandparent’s kitchen. There was always bread baking and a grandmother who loved me enough to let me cut both ends off a loaf and smear them with home churned butter and homemade jelly or jam. Sounds idyllic. In many respects it truly was.

So with pleasant reminders of my childhood drifting through my brain, I’m going to bid you adieu for today. Since it’s almost 4:00 pm, perhaps I should start thinking about what to fix for dinner. Yah think?!?!

Peace and love to all.

¾ c. sourdough starter discard

1½ tsp. active dry yeast

¾ c. lukewarm water

1½ tsp. extra virgin olive oil   

1½ tsp. kosher salt

2½ – 3 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

Mix the sourdough starter, yeast, and water in the bowl of your stand mixer. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add the olive oil, salt, and 2 cups flour. Using your dough hook, knead the dough, adding flour as required, to make a slightly tacky, smooth, satiny, elastic dough.  

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rise for about 90 minutes, or until doubled in size. Gently deflate the dough and turn it onto a lightly floured work surface. Pat the dough into a rectangle about 7 x 14-inches. Using a dough cutter, sharp knife, or pizza wheel, cut the rectangle into half lengthwise. Then cut each half in half. Your ultimate goal is to have 4 pieces of dough 7×3½ inches. However, don’t make yourself crazy with exact measurements. You simply want 4 rectangular rolls that are all about the same size.  

Place the rolls well apart on a lightly greased or parchment paper lined baking sheet. Cover the rolls with a clean tea towel and let rise for about 60 minutes or until slightly puffy.   

While the rolls rise, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Just before placing in the oven, lightly spray the loaves with water, then sprinkle with a thin layer of flour.

Bake the rolls for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until the rolls are a very light brown. The internal temperature should reach at least 200 degrees. 

Turn off the oven, crack the door a couple of inches, and allow rolls to stay in the cooling oven for about 30 minutes. Then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling. Store in an airtight container or bag. Make great sandwich rolls, French dip buns, and fabulous breakfast toast. This recipe can easily be doubled.

First thing you should know, cheeseburgers are my favorite food. (No gourmet this gal!) But in all honesty, I have never been able to produce a homemade hamburger as good as say Red Robin’s Guacamole Burger. And for the life of me, I don’t know why that is. But I never stop trying and I am always disappointed with the results. Maybe disappointed is too heavy. Maybe I just wish my burgers were as good as the rockin’ robin can make them! And maybe the real reason I can’t duplicate a restaurant burger is because someone else did the cookin’ of that burger! (Believe me, I’ve gone down that dead end road more than I care to admit.) But even making homemade hamburger buns, using top quality ground beef, and making homemade sauce for the burgers, the overall product is simply not as delectable.

So yesterday when I tried once again to make a superior burger at home, I produced a good imitation, but it still wasn’t as good as the “real” thing. However, the buns were outrageous. There isn’t a restaurant anywhere around that has anything on my buns! Just sayin’!

And even though I seasoned the meat, cut up lettuce, tomatoes, onion, and made perfectly wonderful hamburger sauce and homemade guacamole, I’m still not close to enjoying my own burgers as much as a good old fashioned, fat and sauce dripping off your elbows, much too salty burger that comes from a restaurant or burger stand.

Now I know what you’re thinking. Why keep trying? Why not just go out for a burger once in a while? Well, you’re right. That’s exactly what I should and undoubtedly will do. But darn – I hate when I can’t prepare something at home that’s as simple as a decent cheeseburger. What kind of a cook does that make me? Waaah (pity party happenin’ here folks)

So being the stubborn critter I know myself to be, I will probably just keep trying until either I find perfection or I lose every one of the few remaining wits I still have at my disposal! But now with this recipe, I at least have a really good and simple recipe for delicious hamburger buns. As do you now!

But dang, if you have the secret to homemade hamburger perfection, please share. I am but a “reply” away and would love to hear from you. Or you can email me at chezcarrcuisine@wavecable.com.  

As always, love and peace to all.

BTW – I cut one of the buns in half this morning, toasted each half on the bagel setting, spread them with peanut butter and marionberry jelly, and served them alongside our easy over eggs. Loved every bite. Perfect use for leftover buns.

¾ c. sourdough starter discard

¾ c. lukewarm water

1½ tsp. active dry yeast

1 T. granulated sugar

1 egg, divided

2 T. nonfat dry milk

1½ tsp. kosher salt

4 T. (½ stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 T. potato flour (not potato starch)

¼ c. whole wheat pastry flour or regular whole wheat flour

2½ c. unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp. water

sesame seeds or Everything Seasoning (recipe below), opt.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the sourdough starter, water, active dry yeast, and sugar. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Using your dough hook, mix in the white of the egg (reserve the yolk for brushing the buns before they go in the oven), dry milk, salt, butter, potato flour, whole wheat pastry flour, and just 2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour.  Mix all the ingredients together for 2 to 3 minutes to make a sticky, cohesive dough. Then knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5-6 more minutes. Add the rest of the flour or additional flour as needed. The dough should not feel sticky, but there might be a bit that sticks to the bottom of your mixer.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place for about 90 minutes or until about doubled in bulk.  

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and form into a round ball. Using a dough scraper or large bladed knife, cut the ball in half, then each half into 4 equal sized pieces. Let dough triangles rest for 10 minutes. Shape each piece into a tight ball and place them on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, or into the lightly greased wells of a hamburger bun pan. (If you use a silicone hamburger bun mold like I do, (see picture) no greasing required.)  

Press the balls gently to flatten them slightly. If you are using a bun pan, the dough should come close to filling the wells of the bun pan.

Loosely cover the buns with a clean tea towel, and let them rise until puffy, about 90 minutes in a warm place.

Twenty minutes before you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Whisk the egg yolk and water together.

Uncover the buns and gently brush them with the egg yolk mixture. (Brush lightly because you don’t want to deflate the dough.) Sprinkle with sesame seeds, Everything Seasoning, or topping of choice.

Bake the buns for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown and a digital thermometer inserted into the side of one bun reads at least 190 degrees.

Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack before serving. Buns can be stored at room temperature for several days in an airtight container. Freeze for longer storage.

“EVERYTHING” SEASONING

2 T. poppy seeds

2 T. sesame seeds

1 T. dried finely minced onion (I semi-crush the dehydrated onion in my mortar and pestle before adding it to the other ingredients)

1 tsp. granulated garlic

1 tsp. kosher salt

Mix all ingredients together and store in an air-tight container.

Even though I have more bread recipes than any one person can reasonably hope to bake, I’m always trying new combinations of ingredients to up the nutrition and flavor for that one slice of bread I allow myself to eat every day. Now please understand, if my body would allow it, I would eat some type of bread with each of my meals. Because I love bread. Matters not if it’s in the form of a loaf, or English muffin, or bagel, or cornbread, etc. etc., I love them all. But as I’m aging, or should I say, as both Mr. C. and I are accumulating years, we absolutely need to cut down on carbs. Wahhh. But carbs are what make everything taste good. So how to handle this predicament? (It really is an unpleasant reality of growing older.)

Well, the first thing to consider is the nutritional value of the carbs that we do eat. Because truly, you can’t get away from carbs. For example, we both love sweet potatoes, brown rice, and lentils. Yes they are high in carbs, but they are none the less very, very good for us. We just need to learn to enthusiastically embrace portion control. (Like that’s ever going to happen!)

So this bread contains oats. Oats may be one of the healthiest whole grain foods on this planet. It also contains some whole wheat flour and whole milk. (BTW, since we use very little milk, we always buy whole milk.) An interesting fact about milk from the Guardian:

“Low-fat milks may contain 1% or 2% fat, while whole milk contains 3.25% fat. Cup for cup, whole fat milk contains fewer carbohydrates than low-fat or skim because more of its volume is made up of fat, which does not contain lactose. It also has slightly less protein.”

So bottom line. Yes this bread contains carbohydrates. But it has some redeeming qualities too. Besides being full blown, in your face, really and truly delectable. And undeniably easy to build.

So if there is one bread recipe I would advise a novice sourdough bread baker to try from the plethora of bread recipes that grace this site, it would be this one.

As always, stay safe, stay savvy, and stay happy. Peace and love to all.

Combine the sourdough starter, yeast, honey, olive oil, salt, and milk in the bowl of your stand mixer. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Using your dough hook, stir until combined. Stir in the oats, whole wheat flour, and enough of the all-purpose flour to form a rough, shaggy dough.

Knead the dough for about 5 minutes or until the dough comes together into a smooth ball. (There probably will still be a bit of dough languishing on the bottom of the bowl. Ignore it.) The finished dough should still be sticky, but should easily form a ball and feel elastic.

Pour a bit of olive oil over the dough, and using your hands, roll the dough (even the recalcitrant dough from the bottom of the bowl) into a ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for about 1½ hours. (It won’t quite double in bulk, but it should look larger and puffy.)

Roughly shape the dough into a loaf, then place in a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan. Pat the dough into the corners of the pan and flatten the top as much as possible.

Loosely cover the dough with plastic wrap that has been lightly coated with cooking spray (greased side down). Let loaf rise for 60-75 minutes or until the dough has just cleared the top of the pan.  

When you see the dome of the loaf just starting to peek over the top of the pan, pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. (This should give the oven time to pre-heat before the loaf is ready to bake.)

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the loaf is dark brown and registers at least 190 degrees on an instant read thermometer.

Remove from oven and tip the loaf out onto a cooling rack. Let cool completely before slicing. Store in an airtight container. 

OK, I’ve baked a lot of bread in the last 50 some years. But I have never, ever baked a loaf of sourdough sandwich bread that compares with this simple recipe I found on the tastesoflizzyt.com site. Easy? OMG! It could not be easier to prepare. Delicious? Truly, could not be better tasting. (I did make a couple of changes, but nothing significant.)

Even the crumb on this bread is perfect. If there hadn’t been a Papa Murphy’s thin crust pizza already in the oven baking away to perfection, we probably would have devoured the whole flaming loaf last evening. (I just had to cut off a piece, spread it with soft butter, and give the bread a taste test. And yes, I cut the piece in half and Mr. C. got to pick which half he wanted.) (And yes, we do buy a “to be baked at home” pizza every once in a while, especially since fear of contracting the coronavirus is preventing us from frequenting fine dining establishments in our area.)

We also do takeout most Friday evenings when our dear friends Mark and Vicki come over to check the progress on their new home that’s being built right next to ours. We remain very adamant about social distancing during their visits however. But truly look forward to our Friday evenings enjoying an adult beverage and eating take out with our good buddies. The fun will really begin when they can actually move into their new digs. (And yes, one of the reasons we do take out is to support the businesses in our community. It might sound corny, but it’s never-the-less a fact.) But back to this bread.

I couldn’t believe how quickly this bread dough came together. And what a beautiful dough this recipe produced. Smooth and silky to the touch and very easy to shape. And I know that sounds strange. But some bread dough just looks and feels better than others. (Perhaps I’ve been making too much bread lately. Or maybe my lack of awareness of how being house bound has actually affected me, and its resulting in my exhibiting undue attention to bread dough pageantry. Regardless, I’m sticking to my original pronouncement. This bread dough is beautiful! And yes I will seek professional help if I become concerned that I’m approaching a bend which I should refrain from going around!)

So if you too find yourself with a sourdough starter that needs to be fed, but don’t relish the idea of discarding the discard, I truly recommend that you bake a loaf of this bread. This luscious loaf is really a thing of beauty and a joy forever. OK, maybe not forever. Maybe not even for a day. But while it lasts, this bread is truly a culinary delight.

As always, peace, love, and understanding to all.

¾ c. slightly warm milk 

1¼ tsp. active dry yeast

1½ tsp. granulated sugar

½ c. sourdough starter discard, room temperature

2 T. vegetable oil, plus more to grease the bowl  

½ tsp. kosher salt

¼ tsp. baking soda

2½ – 2¾ c. bread flour, or more as needed (depends on the thickness of your sourdough starter)

cooking spray

Pour the warmed milk into the bowl of your stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the milk. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add the sourdough starter, 2 tablespoons veggie oil, salt, baking soda, and 2 cups of the flour.

Using the dough hook, mix the ingredients on medium speed until they are combined. Then set the mixer to medium speed and knead for 4-5 minutes. The dough should be slightly tacky to the touch. If you feel the dough is too wet, add additional flour, being careful not to add too much. 

Pour a wee bit of vegetable oil in the bowl, and using your hands, form the dough into a ball lightly coated with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise in a warm place for 45-60 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Form the dough into a loaf shape and place in a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan. Pat the dough into the corners of the pan and flat on top. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap that has been lightly coated with cooking spray, (spray side down over the pan), and allow the dough to rise for another 30 minutes or so. (Dough should just barely be higher than the rim of the pan.)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray the top of the dough with cooking spray. Bake the bread for about 30 minutes. The top should be golden brown and the internal temperature should read at least 200 degrees.

Remove from oven and turn bread out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. (Do not be tempted to slice the bread when it is still warm. It will turn to mush.) Store in an airtight container.