Here's the simplest bread, and perhaps the best bread, I've ever tried. That is, if one likes a chewy bread with a hard crisp crust. One can find no knead bread on Youtube, etc. But I've "perfected it" to the utmost simplicity. Here's how I do it. I've been making a loaf, about every other day, since November. This is a major part of what I carry to work for break time and lunch. I can whip this bread up in moments, though, it then sits for about 18 hours before I do anything else with it. More often than not, I substitute a tablespoon of sourdough starter and 1/3 teaspoon of baking soda, for the yeast. It always comes out great. 1) To a nonmetal bowl add 1 1/2 cups of water: temperature is unimportant. 2) To this, add 1/4 teaspoon of dry active yeast and 1 teaspoon of salt. 3) Now, with a rubber spatula, mix in approximately 3 cups of flour. I often use 1/2 cup of corn meal or even one cup of rye, in place of some of the white flour.. 4) Mix until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. It will be too sticky to knead, even if you wanted to. But it should be "dough," not "batter." 5) Put a lid on this and let sit for 12 to 24 hours. I was originally told 18 hours. But 12 to 24 seems to be exact enough. After this waiting period: 1) Flour your counter and scrape this dough onto the counter. 2) Flour your hands and fold this blob of dough by thirds. 3) Lightly flour the bowl, from which the dough was taken. 4) Quickly (or it will really stick to your hands) plop it back into the bowl. 5) Cover and let sit for 1 1/2 hours. At end of 1 1/2 hour wait: 1) Place a covered glass casserole dish in the oven, set at 500 F., for 15 minutes. 2) Carefully remove the dish and plop your dough into it. Replace the cover and put the whole thing in the oven. 3) Wait 40-45 minutes 4) Remove the lid from the casserole dish, decrease the temperature in the oven, to 400 F. 5) Wait 15 minutes more and remove from the oven. You can let it cool in the dish, though I usually get it out before it's cold. This bread is HEAVENLY when sliced hot and eaten with butter. But it does make good toast and sandwiches. \ Give it a try and enjoy! George

the problem is adding the material in clumps which makes it less likely that the usual bacteria present can do much with it, so fungi, which do better on lower oxygen wet materials, colonize the surface - worms will eat fungi as well as bacteria, but things will go faster if you break everything up and mix it around a bit there's no real need to freeze things, especially bread and coffee grounds, and breads can easily be crumbled between your hands Bill

Does anyone know how much oatmeal is in "two packets of instant oatmeal?" I have some instant I bought by mistake in a the big round container and I'd like to use it up so this would be a good recipe. Plus I'm always trying to find a way to use up applesauce. Even the smallest store bought jars go bad on me before I can eat them. I can't bring myself to pay all the extra money to buy the little individual plastic container sizes. When I manage to find the time, I make my own and can it in the 1/2 pint jars. Those I can finish before they go bad.

Looks good to me....does it taste good? Well that's all that matters. I'll bet it gets eaten! Linda C