Some Bread Recipes We Love
One of our many readers (ha, ha) requested that we post the aforementioned white bread recipe we loved so much. I am embarrassed to say that I thought I would remember which cookbook I got the recipe from, but, of course, I forgot. After a search, I believe I have determined which recipe I used. I hope it turns out well! We decided we would also post other bread recipes we like just for fun (or the links to them). Enjoy!
Bread--White or Half Whole Wheat--from Valonne Freeman, the mother of one of our neighbors when we were first married
2 cups warm water
1 pkg (or 1 Tb) yeast
1/3 cup sugar or honey
2 Tb butter
1/4 cup powdered milk
2 tsp. salt
6 cups flour
Mix first 4 ingredients and let stand 5 min. Add milk, salt, and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in rest of flour. Knead. Let raise double. Shape into 2 loaves. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.
West's note: We used instant yeast, so we didn't let the first four ingredients sit for 5 minutes. We used honey. We also used powdered buttermilk in the place of the powdered plain milk because that's what we had on hand (odd, we know). The bread tasted so good!
Basic White Bread For the Breadmaker--from Jaymie Brierley Reynolds
1 1/3 C. water
2 T. butter
2 t. salt
1 T. plus 2 t. sugar
4 C. bread flour
2 T. nonfat dry milk
1 1/2 t. active dry yeast
Place all ingredients in bread pan. Add the powdered milk either before the flour or in the middle so that it isn't floating around. :) Add the yeast last. Use the basic, light cycle. Makes a 2 lb. loaf.
Honey Whole Wheat Bread- Bread Machine--from Jaymie
1 1/8 C. Warm water
1/4 C. honey
1 t. salt
2 T. vegetable oil
2 C. Wheat flour
1 C. Bread flour
1 1/2 t. dry active yeast
Add ingredients according to manufacturer's directions. Use wheat bread cycle and light color setting. Add flour second to last and yeast on top of that.
Grandma West's Amazing Sourdough Biscuits--Justin's Grandma West lives in Diamond Springs, California, just west of Placerville. She uses sourdough starter in lots of things, and is an amazing cook! She loves to enter her original recipes in the local fair, and she always wins a prize!
2 cups sourdough starter (see recipe below)
1 cup flour
1 Tb. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Mix well. Turn out onto a well-floured board and knead to a soft dough, adding more flour if necessary. Let rest for 20-30 minutes. Roll out to 1/2" thickness and cut with cookie/biscuit cutter. Dip each biscuit in oil and place on greased cookie sheet. Let rise until double--about 15 minutes. Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.
Sourdough Starter: Put 1 cup milk in glass container and leave at room temperature until clabbered. It may take a week. Add 1 cup flour. Stir well. Let sit on the kitchen counter--uncovered--for at least 24 hours until bubbly and double in bulk. Grandma says: "I keep my starter in a 3-lb. peanut butter jar. I use 2 1/2 c. milk and 2 1/2 c. flour. After (the starter) is bubbly you can use it in recipes. Replenish with equal amounts of milk and flour. Each time let it sit out for 24 hours, then cover and store in the fridge." Grandma makes wonderful bread, french bread, pancakes, the biscuits above, and even puts the starter in cakes and quick breads. Yum!
And last, but not least, the recipe for whole wheat bread we love and use. . .
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/recipe.jsp?recipe_id=R428
The recipe is long, and this post is getting huge, so I included the link here. Some personal notes: we have used both powdered buttermilk and regular dry milk when baking the bread. The buttermilk adds a nice buttery taste to the bread. Both ways are good. I also use my Bosch mixer when making the bread. I add the first half of the flour with the other ingredients and mix well. Then, with the mixer going, I add the rest of the flour, making sure to add the last couple of cups gradually. I stop when the dough starts to clean the sides of the bowl. Sometimes I don't end up using all the flour the recipe calls for. But it's important to pay attention, otherwise it'll be too dry--yuck! Once the dough is the right consistency, I cover it and let the mixer do the work for 5-6 minutes. Then I remove the hook and let it rise in the bowl, covered. I also double and triple the recipe regularly.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Slackin' On The Blog: Some Updates
Sorry about no posts for a while! This blog is one of things that has to go by the wayside when life gets so hectic we cut back to the basics. I was afraid this would happen, but we just have to get back on the horse and try again! I hope to work things out so that I can post regularly once or twice a week, but we'll see how it goes. Life sometimes throws you curve balls.
Christina did a great job in her play in March, and we will be posting the pictures we took as soon as we upload the pictures. We can't post any videos of the play, but you'll get an idea of how fun the play was, and what a cutie she was.
Jeremy continues to grow and be cute! He has melted my heart by learning how to say "Ma ma mahmmm. . .", and he also says "Ba ba ba ba." Daddy can't wait until he learns to say "Da da," of course! He's right on average for weight and height, and he loves to roll around on the floor and play. He's working on sitting, and he tries so hard to balance! He likes to test things out by cramming them in his mouth and by banging on them (hard) with his legs or arms! He had his very first sucker on Tuesday (April 22) when we had an unexpected visit. Christopher tried to pull Jeremy up to sit and gave him a nursemaid's elbow. It was so sad--his little arm hung useless, and I had to be so careful with his arm or he just sobbed. I, unfortunately, figured it out after I'd already laid him on it while he nursed. He nursed and cried at the same time, scaring me a bit! I finally determined the problem (Emily's had it twice, one time courtesy of dear Christopher). After the doctor fixed the problem, he brought in a sucker to see if Jeremy would use his arm. Jeremy grabbed the thing (with the opposite hand) and stuck it right in his mouth, sucking furiously. His eyes got big, and he looked at it like, "Whoa; what is this?!" After a few minutes, he started to use his other hand to handle the sucker, so we were satisfied. I was sitting there thinking, "Gee whiz--his first solid food was supposed to be rice cereal, and he's eating a sucker!" He dropped it in his car seat after a few minutes and didn't really protest, so I just let it go. But he sure enjoyed it while it lasted! I'm such a dork--I have to have a video of the kids eating their first solids, but Justin's never home when I am ready to do it. Maybe I'll have to see if I can video and feed at the same time.
Justin's been working insane hours (though my bro-in-law, JT, would probably say "normal hours") lately because he still doesn't have anyone to replace him in his old position, plus they're still working out the bugs in the new rebate database. For a while, he was leaving at 6:30 A.M. and coming home at 11:00-11:30 P.M. But he was a trooper! It's been hard for him to have so many responsibilities and not enough time. We're hoping for a new employee soon, and for this database to finally be ready!
My bread woes are over! As you probably know, wheat prices shot up, and the availability of it plummeted. I sent Justin down to the Dry Pack Cannery to get me a bag of wheat one week after I called for prices, and he came back telling me that we'd been put on a waiting list because it was all gone. Everyone around here heard about the prices going up, I guess, and turned it into the Apocalypse. Suddenly everywhere you went, the flour shelves were as barren as a dusty desert, and nobody had the kind of wheat I wanted to use (hard red spring). I found out later that one of my neighbors had bought 12 25-lb. bags and was on order for 12 more (and her mom did the same thing)! Holy cow! I had been looking forward to buying a Nutrimill and grinding my own wheat into flour, but I had to put that off. I made some white bread (with a way yummy recipe, by the way) so we actually had some bread, then went to the grocery store to see what my options were. The shelves looked like a hurricane was on the way, but tucked up on a higher shelf were some small bags of King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour. I decided that was my only choice, and I bought it. I thought I'd try the recipe on the back because it called for the kind of yeast I had, called for simple ingredients, and could be made by hand or in a mixer (my three main requirements). Plus the recipe spelled out every step, very helpful when you're still learning what things are supposed to look like and how long things should take. It is amazing! I don't have to use gluten or dough conditioner, and it is moist, chewy, and delicious!! (That is as long as I watch the dough consistency very carefully as I add the flour--a big duh. Don't try to make bread when your 1st grader is counting for her math homework, and the other kids are all trying to talk and move around at once!) I really like the flour, too--it's ground fine and has no unground pieces left in it like the off-brand. And it tastes fairly fresh, too. Plus, it costs the same as the off-brand now! I still want to grind my own wheat, but, for now, this will do!
Sorry about no posts for a while! This blog is one of things that has to go by the wayside when life gets so hectic we cut back to the basics. I was afraid this would happen, but we just have to get back on the horse and try again! I hope to work things out so that I can post regularly once or twice a week, but we'll see how it goes. Life sometimes throws you curve balls.
Christina did a great job in her play in March, and we will be posting the pictures we took as soon as we upload the pictures. We can't post any videos of the play, but you'll get an idea of how fun the play was, and what a cutie she was.
Jeremy continues to grow and be cute! He has melted my heart by learning how to say "Ma ma mahmmm. . .", and he also says "Ba ba ba ba." Daddy can't wait until he learns to say "Da da," of course! He's right on average for weight and height, and he loves to roll around on the floor and play. He's working on sitting, and he tries so hard to balance! He likes to test things out by cramming them in his mouth and by banging on them (hard) with his legs or arms! He had his very first sucker on Tuesday (April 22) when we had an unexpected visit. Christopher tried to pull Jeremy up to sit and gave him a nursemaid's elbow. It was so sad--his little arm hung useless, and I had to be so careful with his arm or he just sobbed. I, unfortunately, figured it out after I'd already laid him on it while he nursed. He nursed and cried at the same time, scaring me a bit! I finally determined the problem (Emily's had it twice, one time courtesy of dear Christopher). After the doctor fixed the problem, he brought in a sucker to see if Jeremy would use his arm. Jeremy grabbed the thing (with the opposite hand) and stuck it right in his mouth, sucking furiously. His eyes got big, and he looked at it like, "Whoa; what is this?!" After a few minutes, he started to use his other hand to handle the sucker, so we were satisfied. I was sitting there thinking, "Gee whiz--his first solid food was supposed to be rice cereal, and he's eating a sucker!" He dropped it in his car seat after a few minutes and didn't really protest, so I just let it go. But he sure enjoyed it while it lasted! I'm such a dork--I have to have a video of the kids eating their first solids, but Justin's never home when I am ready to do it. Maybe I'll have to see if I can video and feed at the same time.
Justin's been working insane hours (though my bro-in-law, JT, would probably say "normal hours") lately because he still doesn't have anyone to replace him in his old position, plus they're still working out the bugs in the new rebate database. For a while, he was leaving at 6:30 A.M. and coming home at 11:00-11:30 P.M. But he was a trooper! It's been hard for him to have so many responsibilities and not enough time. We're hoping for a new employee soon, and for this database to finally be ready!
My bread woes are over! As you probably know, wheat prices shot up, and the availability of it plummeted. I sent Justin down to the Dry Pack Cannery to get me a bag of wheat one week after I called for prices, and he came back telling me that we'd been put on a waiting list because it was all gone. Everyone around here heard about the prices going up, I guess, and turned it into the Apocalypse. Suddenly everywhere you went, the flour shelves were as barren as a dusty desert, and nobody had the kind of wheat I wanted to use (hard red spring). I found out later that one of my neighbors had bought 12 25-lb. bags and was on order for 12 more (and her mom did the same thing)! Holy cow! I had been looking forward to buying a Nutrimill and grinding my own wheat into flour, but I had to put that off. I made some white bread (with a way yummy recipe, by the way) so we actually had some bread, then went to the grocery store to see what my options were. The shelves looked like a hurricane was on the way, but tucked up on a higher shelf were some small bags of King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour. I decided that was my only choice, and I bought it. I thought I'd try the recipe on the back because it called for the kind of yeast I had, called for simple ingredients, and could be made by hand or in a mixer (my three main requirements). Plus the recipe spelled out every step, very helpful when you're still learning what things are supposed to look like and how long things should take. It is amazing! I don't have to use gluten or dough conditioner, and it is moist, chewy, and delicious!! (That is as long as I watch the dough consistency very carefully as I add the flour--a big duh. Don't try to make bread when your 1st grader is counting for her math homework, and the other kids are all trying to talk and move around at once!) I really like the flour, too--it's ground fine and has no unground pieces left in it like the off-brand. And it tastes fairly fresh, too. Plus, it costs the same as the off-brand now! I still want to grind my own wheat, but, for now, this will do!
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