February 2011

Let's see what February brings.  Hopefully I don't forget to take pictures and report again.
Week One
Pizza
This is just a regular recipe for using leftovers and making a quick meal on a busy night.

all mixed up and kneeded

covered up

30 minutes later

spread out and pricked

covered with toppings

baked then promptly enjoyed.

such a small piece of dough can be kneeded by a 5 year old.

Week Two

Bread was on order for week two

White Bread again.  This time I would like to share the recipe.  It is a very simple one which I have been perfecting for over 30 years.  I make this bread every week.

If using dry yeast otherwise put directly into flour.  I like this method though:

1/2 cup warm water

1 tsp sugar

1 T yeast

put into a small bowl until it softens and froths up, about 10 minutes.

In a larger bowl:

2 cups water

1/4 cup butter

microwave for a minute or until butter is almost melted, stir butter around to melt it

add:  1 tsp sugar and 1 T sea salt stir to dissolve

add: 1 cup cold water

Put yeast mixture into it and whisk it together.

Whisk in 3 cups of white bread flour (I use King Arthur)

I also use the mixer with the whisk attachment.  I whisk for about 5 minutes and then let is rest for about 5.

Change the attachment to a dough hook and add 3 more cups of flour.  Start mixing slowly and after flour gets into it mix a little faster.  It is still slow, if you are using the Kitchenaid you can't go very fast with a dough hook anyway.  Gradually add 3 more cups of flour until all is in then take it out of the mixer and kneed the dough for 5 or 10 mins adding whatever flour you didn't manage to incorporate in in the mixer.

lightly grease the bowl with olive oil and place the dough in and turn it over to grease the other side.

I know they always say "cover with plastic wrap"  but I don't.  One: plastic is wasteful ,  Two: plastic doesn't breathe.  It is important to let the dough get air without it drying out.

I cover the dough with wax paper and a clean cloth and place the bowl in the oven for: 1 1/2 hours or till double.

(when the wax paper is done, I put it in the compost)

Punch the dough down gently after the first rise.  Let it rest again for 20 minutes.  Divide it into 3 portions and shape for well greased pans.  about 10 oz per loaf.  Cover pans with clean towel and let rise for one hour or til double.

Bake 30 minutes at 375 F high in the oven.

Test doneness by tapping.  It should sound hollow.  Remove immediately from pans onto cooling rack.  Turn occasionally on the rack until loaves are cold.  Slice and wrap and freeze.  I freeze because we don't eat it fast enough and this bread has no preservatives in it and will lose it's freshness within the first day.  So we freeze it and take out daily the number of slices we need.  This bread is great for sandwiches and so many other things and also great crumbs.  I make it especially for my daughter who is on a special diet due to her chemotherapy.  She is not allowed to have any fiber.  This bread is fiberless.  I would not normally make it like this if it were not for her because I believe in bread being the substance of our life, after God's Word of course, and therefore it should be packed full of nutrition.

Brown Bread

So I don't know why I call it brown bread, it's real Whole Grain Bread.  It is definitely not white bread though.  Each time it turns out different.  Here is a picture of February's.  Then I will share what I do to it to make it not white.

 I make this bread just like the white except:
In the larger bowl that I put water and butter in, after the butter has melted I put the salt but not the sugar.  Instead I use up to a 1/4 cup of either honey or some kind of molasses.  Cooking molasses is fairly light and that's what I used this time. (I'm trying to use it up)  Black strap molasses is much darker.  I buy it by the gallon at Gordon foods and use it for my chickens.  When I use this it does make the bread much darker.

I also trade the first cup of flour for any whole grains I may have in my cupboards.   Oats (prefer to use cooked oats because they soak up a lot of moisture), if I use a whole cup cooked oats then I don't add much else.  I usually use 1/2 cup and then the rest of the cup I fill up with wheatgerm, bran, flax seeds, cracked wheat, soaked barley, you can just see what you've got and when you're shopping get stuff which would be nice.  Broken unsalted shelled sunflower seeds would be great too.

For the second cup of flour I substitute rye and the third whole wheat.  Sometimes the fourth cup will be white whole wheat.  Then the rest will be King Arthur's white bread flour.  Mix the same way I did the white bread.  This bread may be more sticky but not too bad.  I try to keep it light and 9 cups total including grains is just about the right amount.  I rolled these loaves in sesame seeds when I shaped them.  This was the best batch I ever remember making, but then I say that a lot.

I love this bread because it is soft but healthy and it goes good with so much.  It is even good for sandwiches.  My husband does like it too which is important.