Hell, I would've inhaled the entire loaf!

Enjoy!

It's extremely simple and very cost effective.....Most of all aromatic and delicious...

Simple ingredients...3 cups flour, teaspoon salt, 1/2 or 1/4 tsp instant yeast, 1 1/2 to 2 cups water...just stir together and it needs to be tacky/ sticky like wet mudpies....cover in bowl...let sit on counter 12 to 18 hours.....then drop onto parchment paper and fold into oval shape adding a tad of flour...pre-heat oven a good 30 minutes at 450...I use a simple cheap Lodge cast iron dutch oven with lid/ 5 qt. size....preheat that too til it is screaming hot.... Next, plop in the bread dough with the parchment paper cover with lid ...bake 30-35 minute, then remove lid say 5 minutes to brown top....DONE! You get crusty, artisanal bread.

There are other recipes similar but faster and uses more yeast...YouTube has good ones ...

more satisfying that having your house smell like bread baking.

The OP is on a tight budget as many of us are so I shared one of my home tips. I use this dough also for making pizza and can use to make sub sandwich crusty rolls.... very versatile...

The recipe was just off the top of my head..

.I can post here a really good teaching video ... it's long but this lady in video covers every question and she really cares too...

You can also google "No Knead Bread"... I have done this since the 90's and a Jim Lahey made it popular via the NY times...


link below.

cost is $5 or $6......for just one loaf.... Now, realize a 5 pound bag of good ,King Arthur Flour is about $6..... you can get say 5 loaves of bread from that....the instant yeast , I buy is in a jar...that too is about $6 but you can get say 30 loaves or more from that....So the savings is obvious...

The delicious healthy bread is worth the developing of a home routine...

Baking bread is cost effective, delicious and most of all...logical... It just takes a little lifestyle habit adjusting... It's easier than all the pet care we add into our lives...

I also roast a whole chicken almost weekly. or every other week...make chicken salad, noodle soup, chicken stock, etc......another cost savings delicious food tip...

Soups from scratch re another favorite of mine....Tomato soup bisque with grilled cheese...Yummo!

My spouse's inherited diabetes is off the rails - finally bad enough that she now needs insulin. She has no clue what foods have carbs in them - her idea of "being good" is eating a large slice of no-sugar-added pie (on top of mashed potatoes, noodles, etc.). After all, it has no sugar added, so it must be OK. So I'm cooking things that are relatively low carb . . . she's still spiking nearly dangerously high every day then crashing to dangerously low. But it's better than having her fend for herself.

I'm an RN....but the carb education is hard enough let alone adjusting food selections that one just didn't consume pre-diabetes....Cooking meals adds to the understanding of the diet needs....There are some good tools out there...the 24/7 glucose monitor helps....one can follow thru on checking glucose pre and post meal and see what foods spike the glucose...

(((HUG))) for the lifestyle changes your family face....Cooking at home, it is a valuable skill now...

So her family doctor just kept throwing more meds at her (while her A1C was bouncing around between 10 and 11 for a year). Medicare won't cover CGMs unless you have a history of lows (which she probably had - but we'll never know since she wasn't testing) or are on insulin.

Markers for diabetic ketoacidosis (as a result of unrelated tests - blood glucose around 400, high ketones, and acidic urine (they didn't order a blood test since they weren't looking for it)) sent me into a tizzy. She refused to go to the ER since her doctor wasn't ordering her to go. The doctor who ordered the tests said, "not my problem" and the family doctor didn't know the tests were coming so he didn't bother to respond to her message until Monday (tests were Friday). When he finally looked at the tests he told her to come in immediately . . . 3 days too late.

So NOW she is on long-acting insulin and has a CGM - and is actually learning. The instant feedback is really helping her. She also now has an endocrinologist who all but rolled his eyes at her family doctor's incompetence. Unfortunately, it is a question of when, not if, she'll need not only long-acting but short-acting insulin. Her nephew (25 years younger) is already on an insulin pump. Her grandmother was on the full range of insulin for most of her adult life. Nearly all of her siblings have it. It's a pretty nasty version for something that at least starts out looking like T2. It's a rare day she doesn't hit both above 350 and below 70. (She's had diabetes for at least 30 years, but wasn't diagnosed until about 20 years - so it's not new - but it finally hit the point at which I stepped in and insisted on an endocrinologist.)

See...cooking/ baking options adds a hole new adventure and is a valuable skill...I just feel better avoiding all the salt/ sugar laden store bough foods....plus, the cost savings is the bonus. Stores sell smaller portions, added preservatives, and some unknown ingredients..

I am an avid Costoc gal...

about a week later and -- gone.

Bread rising as we speak. I used to make tons of it when I lived in the US, but I’ve struggled with getting it right here in England.

Where is the Effingham?

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

It's like giving your son a name like G. D. Bratt

Honestly, who wouldn't make fun of that?

and then there is the gravy...
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xNdfQkHDN1Q

I went to the Amtrak station to pick up someone. Also, in younger days, I listened to a radio station that I could pick up occasionally when the atmosphere cooperated. Pretty good source for prog rock which the big stations overlooked.

i missed their hard rolls + bread + lots of bakery. the lemon meringue pies.

lo + behold, my mom's close little grocery has a bakery + they have sesame hard rolls. AWESOME! + decent rye bread.

i found bread etc at several bakeries so i could bring bread to grandparents. but wish i could get my italian bread i used to get.

sigh. of course the italian bread i found in denmark i can't find.

So twice a month if possible, I will indulge.

I was spoiled with some amazing bakeries in St. Paul MN, Wuollets bakery on Grand Ave near Lexington ave and I can't for the life of me remember the name of the one that was/is on Cleveland Ave near Ford Pkwy in St. Paul.
But OMG, I swear, in the early aughts, there was a wonderful Bread store on virtually every major intersection. I exaggerate only slightly lol.

Those were the days

at least i can make by own tarts. + i gotta start making cookies again. ooh. last year i made peppermint 'shortbreads'. using accidental milk chocolate bars. this year melting shortbreads. 1 1/2 c flour, 1/2 c corn starch. put chocolate squars on hot shortbread add peppermint frosting after.

.... It's where you connect onto 70 driving from Chicago to St. Louis! Where the giant God forsaken cross is located. I stopped at the cross once to take a look around. Other than the monstrosity of it, it's pretty boring.

just kidding, couldn't say what they do at bingo lol.

.... I'll visit the grocery store instead, and pick up a loaf!

I used to walk home for lunch every day with my friend Marthe. Marthe was from the Netherlands. She got me into the habit of stopping at the local bakery. We would stop in and buy a loaf of fresh bread. I think the bakery reminded her of something in her native country.

We would split the loaf in half and eat it on the way to our houses, which were about a block apart. On the days we bought bread, of course we did not eat much of the lunch our mothers provided. They did not seem to mind. We could have bought cookies or donuts or other goodies at the bakery, but we never did. We only bought that wonderful bread. It cost twenty-six cents a loaf. That was lunch, at least it was on the days when we had twenty-six cents between the two of us.

I swear, I was walking with you, smelling that bread.

I think I am smelling that bread myself.

Lifelong Chicagoland resident, I went to school at SIU Carbondale, and have returned many times for hiking in Shawnee National Forest.

What's the name of the grocery store? Next time, maybe I'll stop.

also would get a load of automotive paint at a place in Effingham, and bring back to Danville.