Posts Tagged "Bread"

Big Things Are Exciting Too!

Fed Ex just rang my doorbell and left this:

The AQS people all sign the first copy and send it to the author and I cherish these forever!

The copies for me to order will not be in til mid-February so those who pre-ordered will be shipped as soon as I get them.  And, they’ll probably be sent from Louisiana!  :)    What?  You haven’t pre-ordered yet?  You can still do that here.

I haven’t even had time to look at the book because this is what’s happening in my kitchen:

Soup, bread and cinnamon rolls!

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The Smaller Loaf

My bread recipe makes 2 loaves.  Two big loaves.  With Chad gone, two loaves weren’t getting used before they grew weird fuzzy stuff!  I started freezing one ball of dough before I baked it but even then, half the time, the end of the one loaf was drying out before we used it, or worse . . getting moldy.

So, I ordered smaller bread pans and instead of making 2 loaves from the batch of bread dough, I now make 3 loaves.  They’re about 18 ounces each so they’re till plenty big enough.

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See the difference in length of the two pans?  The width is the same . . though I think the one with the bread in it looks wider, but it isn’t.

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A close to perfect loaf . . if I say so myself!  :)

To freeze the unbaked dough, here’s what I do.

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My countertop kinda matches my bread dough, doesn’t it?  First step is to divide the dough into three close to equal sections.  If baking one loaf, that ball will be shaped into a log and placed in the greased pan to let rise and bake.  But for the sections going into the freezer, pull off a section of plastic wrap.  I don’t tear it yet because then it gets all stuck to itself and I hate it when that happens.

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Spray the plastic wrap with cooking spray.  Stick a ball of dough on there.

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Wrap the dough as much as you can and then tear the plastic wrap from the roll and complete the wrapping process.

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I’m using a FoodSaver bag but whatever you’re using, label it.

DSC09151Instead of putting the dough in two separate bags, I put it in one.  When it’s time to take one out, I’ll cut the bag, remove one ball of dough and then re-seal the bag.

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Vacuumed and sealed.  Ready for the freezer.  Bread making will be easy this week!  Just take out a ball of dough, let it thaw and rise.  Bake.  Slather with butter and jam! :)

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Bread Obsession

It’s truly not an obsession . . I don’t think.  I’ll tell you next time I get brave enough to see how much weight I’ve gained! I’ve been having fun playing with my bread recipes.  So far, things have turned out great.  One day, I’m sure things won’t turn out so well and the chickens will get lots of fresh bread!

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Sourdough sounds like fun so I searched the internet and combined a bit of one recipe, a bit of another and came up with a plan.  Sometime next week I should be able to try it in a batch of bread.

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Popovers!  The recipe said this batch makes 12 popovers.  It will easily make 24.  I made 12 big ones and I think I used half the batter.  Not sure how well the batter keeps but I’ll know in a few days!

Another experiment was Cranberry Walnut Bread.

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It was great but I forgot to take a picture after it was baked.

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White Bread

Not everyone loves homemade bread.  That’s what I’ve heard anyway!  And, there are those who have allergies and can’t have homemade bread.  Our family falls into that category that loves homemade bread and we have no allergies.   I enjoy hand kneading bread dough . . except for whole wheat bread.  That dough has to be sticky and I can hardly stand to touch it.  Oiling my hands before dealing with it helps but I’m always real happy to get that dough in the pan.  Thank goodness the mixer can do almost all the work.  But when making white bread, the mixer never touches it.  My white bread is stirred and kneaded completely by hand.

For those who want to make homemade bread but haven’t, or have and had a less than exemplary result, it’s so worth it to try again til you get it right.  Making bread is really quite simple and doesn’t take nearly as long as we often think.  Start to finish usually takes less than 3 hours and about 2 hours and 45 minutes of that time is just letting the dough sit and rise or bake.  It certainly doesn’t take 3 hours of your time, though you need to be around the house for those 3 hours.  It’s a bit different with a bread machine, though I don’t use a bread machine.

This morning I made white bread.  Since the recipe makes 2 loaves, I decided to add some extra ingredients in one loaf.  I added chopped garlic, chopped rosemary, fresh black pepper and grated asiago cheese.

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Adding the garlic, rosemary, cheese and pepper made the whole house smell like a yummy restaurant!

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Chad and Vince both commented that it tasted like the bread from Great Harvest Bread in Owensboro where we loved getting different breads.  Chad said “Think how good this would be if you’d added it to whole wheat bread!”  And, I thought they would appreciate some white bread.

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I’m not so sure about Chad’s combination.  One slice has jelly, one slice has cheese, he added a fried egg and bacon . . maybe it’s the jelly/rosemary/garlic combination . . maybe not.  He said it was delicious though!

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The Kitchen Smells So Good!

We’ve gotten a bit spoiled around here with our homemade hamburger buns.  Tonight I’m grilling burgers and wanted to make buns so I made a triple loaf of dough and here’s the result:

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If that’s not enough to make you drool, I’ll give you a closer view!  :)

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Cinnamon rolls (from the bread dough).  Some to stay home and some for the road trip.

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Two loaves of bread and 5 hamburger buns (from the bread dough).

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While I was at it, I made gingersnaps, pumpkin gingerbread and almond butter leaf loaves.

Now I must go sew or I’ll have an empty design wall to show you tomorrow!  :(

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Wheat to Bread

It doesn’t take much to entertain me but when I can go from this:

Rinsed Wheat

Rinsed Wheat

to this:

Fresh Whole Wheat Flour

Fresh Whole Wheat Flour

and then to this in just a bit over an hour,

Fresh Whole Wheat Bread

Fresh Whole Wheat Bread

I’m amazed!  Well, it did take a bit of help from these guys:

Honey, Oil, Yeast, Gluten, Dough Enhancer, Salt and Water

Honey, Oil, Yeast, Gluten, Dough Enhancer, Salt and Water

The most amazing thing is . . I took a picture before slicing off a hunk of that bread.  You know how it is . . I have to make sure it’s fit to feed my family! :)

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