Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Fresh Bread, Anyone?

I want my spring and summer weather back!  Yesterday morning we had snow, an icy rain, and sleet. The sun sort of comes through the clouds every once in a while just enough to melt everything in time for the next blast.

We had company over the weekend. Three of my sisters came for a visit, so we took them on a tour of the countryside. We ended it at Grindstone Lake where we played in the water. It was actually comfortable where it was shallow. Laura found a live mussel or something, so we all inspected it. She poked at it, and it looked so gross. I really can't believe that people eat those things, but then I suppose shrimp with their legs on yet don't look all that attractive either. And I like shrimp.

We have a June wedding to go to in Canada. Kathryn has an all white dress to wear. Its got a kind of belt, and three off-set flowers on the  waist. We want to get some colour in there by painting just the edges of the flower. Has anybody done this before and found a method that worked well? Would I use paint, or a chalk like thing so it would fade into the flower?

Lately I have been making 100% Whole Wheat Bread instead of white bread when I bake. I looked around for a little while till I found a recipe that I thought would be what I needed it to be. Its called Honey Whole Wheat Bread. Most ww bread recipes called for added gluten, or lecithin granules, but I didn't want to use that. The trick to making bread that is not crumbly, or dry is to work the dough, and work the dough, and work the dough. Then when you bake it, set your oven at a lower temperature, and don't leave it in there forever either. I often baked everything at 350*, and had dry bread, but not anymore!

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

3 1/2 cups warm water                                                  1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup honey                                                                1 Tbsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp yeast                                                            10 cups whole wheat flour, freshly ground
   Mix water, honey, yeast, oil, and salt in KitchenAid mixer. Add flour, one cup at a time. Wait until flour is fully incorporated before adding the next cup.  I often only need to use 9 cups of flour. Work dough until the sides of the bowl come clean. Don't add the last bit of flour too fast, let the dough work itself for a while to get gluten active. Mix dough for a few minutes after adding the last flour. Turn out onto a greased surface and form the dough into a nice smooth ball ( this is purely for cosmetic purposes), then place in bowl to rise. When doubled, form into 3 large, or 4 small loaves. Let rise. Bake at 325* for 25-30 min.

1 comment:

  1. Yes, over baking is a worse mistake than under baking, I think.

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