I wish I was writing a post about all of the things I accomplished today. If I did, I'd be lying. In truth I've done little or nothing today. Seems I just couldn't get myself motivated to do much more than watch a marathon of "The Secret Life of the American Teenager." I should be ashamed of myself, but I really am not. I should have repainted the wall in the kitchen. I should have organized my basket of receipts. I should have taken a walk. Maybe I should have at least finished my resolution list. But I did none of the above.
I did manage to tidy up a bit. I did harvest some crops on my Facebook farm and I did a load of laundry. Perhaps my biggest accomplishment (outside of the aforementioned marathon) was making dinner, such as it was. Just some steamed asparagus, baked and marinated pork chops, and garlic-parsley potatoes. I was quite satisfied with myself, particularly in that everything was actually pretty good and done at about the same time. This from a girl who grew up with her mom rewarming foods repeatedly in an attempt to keep them warm.
As for the rest of my evening, there are a few more episodes of this show still to go and Cynical baked some cookies. I'm not sure what has captivated me with this show, except maybe I was able to watch it, not think much and get to see Molly Ringwold all grown up. And it made me realize all the more that I never want to relive high school whether in my mind or in reality.
Off to search for some easy online yeast bread recipes. Any of you have one to share?
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Anybody baking bread?
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3 comments:
Ooh, thanks for the reminder of bread. I was supposed to make banana bread today!
Sorry no yeast bread recipes here.
Do you like dense whole wheat bread? Do you use the dough cycle on a breadmaker, or are you doing it yourself? I use the dough cycle and then knead/shape it once by hand and put it in a pan in my oven after the second rise because I like the shape and texture better. Anyway, this recipe will work if you use the breadmaker, but I can't make any guarantees about doing it by hand. Here's my recipe, though I hear American bread flour makes the recipe change by a quarter cup. I'll note that below. And if you can't find Red River cereal in the States, just use another hot cereal that includes various grains like Rye, Barley, and Wheat Germ, or just leave it out. We like it because it adds chewiness and heartiness. Also, we are really picky about our flour and will only use flour that says "whole wheat flour" in the ingredients, with no added preservatives. Okay, here goes.....
For a 1.5 lb. loaf.....
INGREDIENTS:
1 egg, beaten with fork in 2 c. glass measuring cup
1% milk added to egg to equal 1.25 c. of liquid
1 tsp. salt added to milk and egg mixture
2 T. margarine or butter (we use Becel margarine)
1 T. honey
1 T. Molasses
3 c. whole wheat flour (that's the American amount - increase by 1/4 c. if using Canadian flour)
***(On the last cup of flour, I make it a scant cup and fill the rest of it with Red River cereal. Then I sprinkle in maybe 3 T. more of the cereal on top of the mixture in my machine.)
1 tsp. traditional active dry yeast
Instructions:
1. Measure ingredients in order listed into bread machine, making sure that the egg/milk/salt mixture has been stirred in the measuring glass first.
2. After adding the flour and cereal, I make a little indentation on top with my thumb. Then I carefully pour the yeast into that so it doesn't hit the liquid until the right time.
3. Set on dough cycle (mine runs 1 hour and 50 minutes)
4. Grease metal bread pan with margarine or butter, making sure to get the corners.
5. On a lightly floured surface (I use cheaper all-purpose to sprinkle on my counter), turn out the dough and shape into a loaf, taking care to get rid of any air bubbles.
6. Set into greased pan. Cover with clean towel (not a terry cloth one, but smooth cotton sheeting) and allow to rise in a somewhat warm place for 30 minutes.
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. King Arthur Flour's baking book says a perfect loaf of bread is finished when an internal temperature of 200 F registers. So that's how I check my bread. That means that sometimes it takes a wee bit longer than 30 minutes. It just depends on your oven.
8. Using gloves or hot pads, turn out bread from pan onto cooling rack. Cover with the same towel you used for the rise time, and allow to completely cool before cutting into it.
9. Store at room temperature in plastic bag or plastic container. Refrigerating bread actually promotes staleness. We slice this as we use it to keep it fresher longer, and one loaf stays good for about 5 days, depending on the house temperature....not that it usually stays around that long with my sandwich loving husband.
Hope this makes sense and that it works for you. My friend uses the same recipe, only she uses a different type of whole wheat flour, and our loaves look different. Mine is always more dense and darker than hers.
Sounds to me like you had a lovely day! Don't feel bad... I am sure you have worked very hard these last few weeks and deserve a "me" day.Good luck with the bread... and I think your meal that you described sounds yummy. If only I didn't live thousands of miles away across an ocean I'd be round like a shot !! Sarah
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