Belly-warming Bread

I'm sure you've all noticed - winter is upon us. With cold weather comes the excuse to cook up warm and hearty comfort foods. When I went to make calzone a little while ago (a calzone post will soon follow), I couldn't find any pizza dough in the store, so I set out to make my own. I was very pleased with how it came out, obviously better than store bought dough. So a few Sundays ago I decided to make a nice pot of butternut squash soup (which was so delicious I forgot to even take a picture of it) and a few loaves of homemade bread to accompany it.

Ingredients:
1 packet rapid rise yeast
4-5 Cups all-purpose flour
1 tblsp Brown sugar
1 tblsp white sugar
2 tblsp olive oil
pinch of salt
2 Cups warm water

First I added the yeast to the warm water and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then I added the white sugar, salt, and olive oil and mixed well. Once this was done I added the flour one cup at a time until a nice consistency was met. Once the dough had formed into a ball I kneaded it for about 10 minutes adding flour when I thought necessary. Once that was done, I placed it back into the bowl and covered until it doubled in size (about an hour or so).



Once the dough had risen, I kneaded it some more and formed it into a nice loaf shape ( I did not use a loaf pan). Once it had the shape I wanted, I drizzled just a tad bit more olive oil on top and sprinkled with some brown sugar for a nice glaze (I think this is what really made the crust).
I let it rise again before putting it into a 425 degree oven for 20-25 minutes (until a nice golden brown crust was achieved).

I was a bit nervous since this was my first time making real bread, but I ended up very very pleased with the result. The crust was crispy and the inside was fluffy and rich. It was the perfect combination for the soup, which I really wish I had taken a picture of. You can find that recipe at Williams Sonoma, it was from a jar of their butternut squash puree. Anywho, this bread was perfect, warming and hit the spot!