Home Baked Bread

Cheesecake

2012-01-22T22:50:00.000-05:00

It's just too easy to make a cheesecake! One of the guys at work told me that oe can buy premade cheesecake filling. Why bother, when it is easy to make cheesecake from readily pronounceable ingredients?

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 cups sour cream
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 pound cream cheese, broken into small pieces

Blend the cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and the 1/4 cup of melted butter, and line the bottom of a 9 inch ungreased springform pan.
Blend the sour cream, 1/2 cup of the sugar, the eggs, and vanilla in a food blender for 1 minute. Add the cream cheese. Blend until smooth.
Blend in the remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Pour into springform pan.
Bake in the lower third of a 325 degree oven for 45 minutes.
when the baking is finished, remove the cake from the oven and turn on the broiler. Broil the cheesecake, watching carefully, until the top shows little spots of brown.
Refrigerate at least four hours before cutting.

Macaroni and Cheese

2008-09-21T11:38:00.002-04:00

This is the home made kind that we eat on special occasions.

2 T finely chopped onion
2 T butter
2 T flour
2 cups milk
a bay leaf
pepper
1/2 t salt (or to taste)
1 lb pasta
2 cups grated cheddar
bread crumbs

In a heavy fry pan, melt butter and saute onion until golden.
Add flour and stir to coat flour with fat.
Remove pan from heat. Scald milk in microwave. (If you add cold milk to a hot pan you will have lumpy sauce.)
Slowly add hot milk to flour and butter in fry pan, stirring to avoid lumps. Salt to taste, and season with pepper and a bay leaf. Cook on low heat, stirring often to avoid sticking, for 20 minutes or until thickened.
Cook pasta al dente, then drain.
Layer a greased baking dish with pasta, shredded cheese, and a ladle of sauce. Repeat layers. ending with sauce. You can add a little more milk if it seems dry. Top with breadcrumbs.
Bake at 350 degrees until it is browned and bubbling.

Basil Pesto

2008-07-31T12:46:00.002-04:00

This is fast to make. Grind up the pesto while the water for the pasta is coming to a boil.

2 cups tightly packed fresh basil
2 Tablespoons pine nuts or shelled walnuts
2 large cloves garlic, peeled
Salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 pound Fettucine or Spaghetti

Start heating the pasta water
Place the basil, nuts, garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a blender or food processor, or chop these ingredients by hand with a sharp knife. If you are using a machine, pour in the olive oil and process until you have a smooth paste. If you are using a knife, chop as finely as possible, then transfer to a bowl and blend in the olive oil. (If you want to freeze pesto, stop here and put your pesto into small jars, coat the top with a little more oil, and then put it in the freezer.)
Transfer to a bowl and blend in the cheese.
When the water comes to a boil, salt it and then add the pasta. Heat a serving dish. When the pasta is cooked, transfer it to the serving dish. Blend a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water into the basil mixture, and then toss the pasta with the basil pesto.

We also use pesto as a sauce on "Green Pizza".

Grandma Bunny's Cucumber Salad

2008-07-24T14:49:00.004-04:00

Cucumbers ready for dressing
I made a big batch of this today, for my brother Chris's wedding.

4 fresh cucumbers, peeled or scored with a fork. then sliced thin.
1 Tablespoon salt
1 cup sour cream, plain yogurt, or a mix of the two
fresh ground pepper

As you slice the cucumbers, lay them in a glass bowl and salt each layer. (Don't worry, you'll rinse the salt off later.)
Once the cucumbers are sliced and salted, lay a clean plate on top of them with a weight on top of the plate. Let sit for an hour or so.
Drain brine from the cucumbers and rinse in a colander.
Thin sour cream with a little milk, whip until smooth, and then use sour cream to dress the salad.
Grind fresh pepper over the top, chill and serve.

Richard's dad makes the same salad, but dresses it with cider vinegar and sugar and calls it "fresh pickles".

Fresh Summer Salsa

2008-07-18T12:39:00.002-04:00

We make this all summer, varying the ingredients and amounts according to what is ripe.

2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped fresh onion or scallions
1 cup diced green pepper
2 cloves minced garlic
2-3 hot peppers, minced
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine in a pretty bowl
Let stand 30 minutes
Serve with chips or on tacos.

More-With-Less Cookbook

2008-03-05T11:53:00.005-05:00

Every winter, when the money gets tight, I reach for this cookbook. Every summer, when I'm trying to figure out how to use way too many zucchini and tomatoes, I reach for this cookbook. In the spring, when I need another recipe for rhubarb, or in the fall, when baked squash is getting boring, I reach for the More with Less Cookbook.

First published in 1976, this book deserves a new look. The last decade's flurry of TV cooking shows and celebrity chefs have left us with the impression that good cooking starts with scouring the world for exotic ingredients. As the carbon crisis challenges us to eat food produced closer to home, as food prices rise along with oil prices, this book shows us how to cook and eat in a cosmopolitan fashion while using the plain ingredients that we find at hand.

Some of it is dated. We no longer think that margarine is automatically more healthy than butter. Eggs are no longer 59 cents a dozen. But the basics are sound in this collection of proven recipes. The ideas are gathered from Mennonite communities worldwide, including farm families and missionaries. The introductions, anecdotes about food and hunger from around the globe, brings perspective and helps us appreciate the bounty that we still enjoy, even with rising food prices. Each chapter ends with advice to "Gather up the fragments", how to use leftovers that might otherwise go to waste.

Cheese Strata

Preheat oven to 350
Lightly butter:

12 slices bread (can be stale)

Arrange six slices in the bottom of a 9x13 pan Cover with:

6 slices cheese or 2 cup shredded cheese

Top with remaining bread. Beat together and pour over:

2 2/3 cup milk
4 eggs
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

Bake 45 minutes or until puffed and golden.

Serves six.

More Bake Sale Advice and Brownies

2008-01-14T20:32:00.001-05:00

Whole wheat bread

Contents: white whole wheat flour,

white flour, water, sugar,

shortening, yeast, salt.
Home Baking by
Susan Och
51 S French Road
Lake Leelanau, MI
256-8876
http://homebaking.blogspot.com

I was interviewed in the Travere City Record Eagle today about bake sales, a topic that I touched on last year. There are a few things I forget to say, so I'll cover them here.

In 4-H, we are required to get permission before we do any fundraiser. We have to fill out the fundraising request form, which includes such questions as: Who will keep track of the money? What will you do if you raise more than you need? How will you handle it if some members do more work on the fundraiser than others? It is good to ask these questions before the fundraiser so as to avoid hard feelings later.

I also think I didn't say enough about labeling, especially of bread. Above is a facsimile of the label I use for whole wheat bread. I just print them out on the computer, cut them apart, and then slip a label into each loaf.

Here's a recipe that needs no label. Cooking with cocoa makes it economical

Brownies

1 stick butter
3/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup oil
4 eggs at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt butter in a double boiler. Add cocoa and oil, mix well. Set this mixture aside and let it cool to room temperature.
Beat eggs and salt until light in color and foamy. There is no other leavening in this recipe, so don't cut corners here.
Gradually add sugar and continue beating. Add vanilla
With a few swift strokes, fold in the cocoa mixture. Do this by hand, so as not to break down the beaten eggs. Before mixture is uniformly blended, fold in flour, again by hand.
If you want to add 1/2 cup chopped nuts, do it now.
Pour batter into a greased 13 by 9 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cut when cool.

Oatmeal Cookie Mix

2007-12-24T13:10:00.000-05:00

To make cookie mix:
Put through a coarse sieve:

3 cups sugar
3 cups brown sugart
6 cups sifted flour
4 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons soda
2 teaspoons baking powder

Cut in:

4 cups shortening

Add:

12 cups rolled oats

Mix well. Store in a cool place.

To make cookies:
Combine in a bowl:

2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups oatmeal cookie mix

Mix well. Drop teaspoonsful onto a greased baking sheet, flatten with fork, and bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.

from the More with Less Cookbook

Coffee Cake

2007-12-23T22:57:00.000-05:00

Another Master Mix recipe

Beat together in a bowl:

1/3 cup milk
1 egg

Add:

1/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 cup Master Mix

Stir until well blended, about 1 minute.Pour into a greased 8 inch square pan. Combine and sprinkle over:

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 Tablespoons butter or margarine

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cups chopped nuts (optional)

Bake 25 minutes, serve warm.

from The More with Less Cookbook.

Master Baking Mix

2007-12-23T22:23:00.000-05:00

Use this master mix to make biscuits, pancakes, coffee cake, or muffins

Sift together 3 times:

10 cups flour
6 Tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 Tablespoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar

Cut in to the consistency of cornmeal:

2 cups vegetable shortening

Stir in:

2 cups dry milk powder

Store in a covered container at room temperature.To measure baking mix, pile lightly into a cup and level off with a spatula.

from the More With Less Cookbook

Biscuits

2007-12-23T21:51:00.000-05:00

A Master Mix recipe

Makes 8 biscuits

450 degrees

10 min

1 1/2 cup of Master Mix

1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Combine in bowl Master Mix and milk

Add milk at once. stirring 25 strokes

Knead gently on floured board

Roll 1/2 inch thick , cut, and place on ungreased baking sheet

Bake 10 min

Eat but do not burn thyself

adapted from the More With Less Cookbook.

Pancakes or Waffles

2007-12-23T21:38:00.000-05:00

Another Master Mix recipe.
Serves 4

1 cup milk

1 egg

1 1/2 cup Master Mix

Beat together the milk and egg

Stir in Master mix

Bake on hot griddle or waffle iron (for softer waffles separate the egg and add yolk with milk beat egg white till stiff, then fold into batter before baking)

Increase milk for thinner batter if thou desire

adapted from the More With Less Cookbook.

Cocoa No Bake Cookies

2007-12-18T13:03:00.000-05:00

This is a favorite for school bake sales. Liz is the master of this recipe; she tells me that she likes to use half quick oats and half old-fashioned oats, if they are available. She doesn't necessarily use the whole 3 cups if it already looks stiff enough.

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1 stick butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dash of salt

In a 3 quart saucepan, blend sugar and cocoa. Add milk and blend. Heat and stir, using low heat at first and then turning up to medium.
Add butter as the mixture approaches boiling, stirring constantly.
Boil one full minute, until sugar is dissolved.
Remove from heat and mix in peanut butter, vanilla, salt, and oatmeal. Mix well.
Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper. cool to room temperature, then eat some and pack some up for your bake sale.

Chicken Hidden in Rice

2007-10-15T20:57:00.002-04:00

A family favorite.

2 pounds chicken pieces, still on bone.
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 Tablespoon yellow curry powder
6 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups long grain rice, divided

Combine chicken, coconut milk, sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, curry powder, salt, and bay leaves together in a medium pot or sauce pan. Cover and bring to a simmer over low heat
Reduce heat to low and simmer until chicken is cooked and falling off the bone
Remove chicken pieces and discard bones and bay leaves.
Measure cooking liquid and add enough water to make six cups.
Put 1 1/2 cups of rice in a large pot. Arrange chicken pieces on top of the rice, then add remaining 1 1/2 cups of rice on top of the chicken. Add the six cups of liquid to the pot, cover, and bring to a boil over medium heat.
When the liquid boils, immediately reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until rice is done, about 30 minutes.

Green sauce

1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
2 tablespoons chopped mild onion
3 small red hot peppers, chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon salt

Puree all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Serve with chicken as a condiment

Rhubarb Crumb Cake

2006-04-16T12:12:00.001-04:00

It looks like a Martian fungus, but it's really just the rhubarb poking up in the garden. When it looks like this here in the north, I know that other people are already making rhubarb pies in Kansas and Indiana.

Rhubarb is the kids' pocket money crop. They recommend Grama Alice's Rhubarb Crumb Cake recipe:

2 cups flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp soda
i tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
2 cups coarsely chopped rhubarb

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Sift together dry ingredients
Add shortening, eggs and milk
Add rhubarb and mix slightly
Pour into a buttered 9 x 13 inch pan
Sprinkle topping over batter, pat it down with hand.
Bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Topping:

2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
4 Tbsp butter or margarine
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Mix flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in butter, add nuts.

Potato Broccoli Soup

2006-03-30T10:12:00.000-05:00

I feel a little foolish posting such a simple recipe, but I've realized lately how many people just don't know how to cook simple things from scratch. This goes great with homemade bread.

1/2 onion, chopped
two stalks celery, chopped
one carrot, peeled and diced
the stalks from one bunch broccoli, chopped fine
three bay leaves
two potatoes, peeled, and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
one can chicken stock (or 1 cup water)
2 cups milk
about one cup of broccoli flowerets (use the rest for stir fry)

Saute the onion, celery, and carrot, and broccoli stalks in a heavy saucepan with a little butter, cooking oil, or bacon grease.
When the onion looks transparent, add the potatoes, bay leaves, and chicken broth or water
Let the vegis simmer for about 1/2 hour, then let them cool slightly.
Remove the bay leaves, and lightly puree the mixture in a blender or food processor. IMPORTANT! Don't overdo this or your soup will be sticky. If you don't have a blender or food processor, you can mash everything with a potato masher.
Return soup to pot, and add the milk and broccoli flowerets.
Gently reheat until warm. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Potato soup need a fair amount of salt, since potatoes are high in potassium, which replaces sodium in chemical reactions. (Remember the periodic chart?) This is useful if you oversalt a soup: you can correct the taste by simmering a potato in the soup for a while. (pull the potato out before serving.

Bread Baking Fundraiser

2006-03-07T09:40:00.000-05:00

Bread baking is a good fundraiser, or a good way to make a bake sale more profitable. Bread baking ingredients are inexpensive, especially if you buy them in bulk. Fresh home baked bread is in high demand and can fetch $3 or $4 a loaf, depending on your market. I started baking for fundraisers last year when we were trying to get to Odyssey of the Mind World Competition. Last week I baked for a school family fundraiser; I managed to turn out 18 loaves of bread between 7 am and 4 pm. I left the three lumpy looking ones for home use and sold 15. I estimate that I used about $6 worth of ingredients.

That said, you need to have some experience under your belt before you attempt to bake large quantities of bread. It is harder to cross the batter to dough threshold when you are working with double quantities. A double recipe takes more muscle and more time to knead. It takes both planning and an ability to improvise.

When I first started baking larger quantities, I kept finding myself stuck with not enough bread pans. My standard size oven will bake six loaves at a time, so I bought two extra pans and multiplied the recipe by one and a half. It seemed that I could just start a second batch as soon as the first batch was put into pans, but it didn't work out that way -- the loaves need to be in the pans for both the second rise and the baking, which is about twice as long as it takes to mix and knead the next batch. I kept having doubletake moments; I actually shaped loaves before I realized I had no pans for them.

Necessity is still the mother of invention. I solved my immediate problem by shaping the extra dough into one inch balls, rolling them in cinnamon sugar, and putting them into all of my 8 and 9 inch pans, greased, both the square ones and the round ones. The resulting "cinnamon rolls" sold for $2 each and sold out fast. Rolls can bake after bread loaves, both because they need a longer rise and because, being small, they can stand a longer rise without collapsing. Kids could help with rolling the balls and coating them with cinnamon. It doesn't matter if the balls are even, or whether they are round, the dough will rise and cover all sorts of anomalies.

SO....Here is the optimum setup if you want to bake large quantities of bread using a standard size oven:

Acquire 12 bread pans. It helps if they are all about 5" by 8", both for uniform baking times and uniform pricing.

Bake six loaves at a time. Yes, you could bake more by using two racks, but the loaves will not brown evenly. Use one rack, bake six loaves, and leave a little room between loaves.

Either make the master recipe times 1 1/2 or double the master recipe. If you double it, you will have extra dough after you shape six loaves, but you can use the extra for rolls. If you don't double, you may find that a few of your loaves are small. I think big loaves sell better, so I go for the extra.

Start mixing the next batch as soon as the first batch is in pans.

Don't forget that you will need extra space for cooling loaves, and extra time for them to cool. Don't bag loaves until they're completely cool, or they will sweat inside the bag and be mushy. Bread sells with the smell, so you may want to line a box or basket with clean tea towels, bring warm bread to your venue, then bag it once it's cool.

I package my bread in plastic bags that measure 10" by 14". They are kind of hard to find (I get them at Meijer). You could also use new brown paper lunch bags. You can bag bread sooner when you use paper bags, but it doesn't store as long.

Figure on making two or three batches of six loaves each in an 8 hour day.

Last Rise and Baking

2006-02-07T17:12:00.000-05:00

I used to let my loaves rise on the counter under a damp dishtowel, but I found that the dishtowel often stuck to the dough, causing it to fall again before I got it into the oven. Now I set all four loves side by side on the middle oven rack and let them rise in the cold oven.
If you have kneaded well, they will rise for quite a while. When you have more experience you can try for giant loaves. The first time just get wait until they have filled the sides of the pan and rounded an inch or two over the top of the pan.
After about an hour, I check them. If they look nice and plump, I turn the oven on to 350 degrees and set the timer for 40 minutes. (If they are going into a preheated oven they only need 35 minutes.)	>
Lately I have been using the timed cook feature on my oven to start the bread after I have left the house. This is only a good idea if there is going to be someone home at the end of the cook time to take the bread out of the pans, as it will sweat and turn mushy if it is left to cool in the pans. My teenagers love it when they are home alone and suddenly smell bread baking.
Bread is done when you turn it out of the pan and the bottom of the loaf looks golden and sounds a little hollow when you tap it with your knuckles. If you have an instant read probe thermometer the internal temp should be about 190 degrees.

Cut bread with a bread knife, that is a serrated knife. The serrations make the knife rip instead of crushing. Cooled bread is easier to cut, but everyone wants to eat fresh bread out of the oven, even if the loaves get mashed in the process.When the bread has completely cooled, you can put it into plastic bags for storage.

Shaping Loaves

2006-02-01T10:21:00.000-05:00

The last steps of baking bread are to shape the loaves, let them rise a final time, bake, and eat.

When the dough has risen in the bowl about 45 minutes it will look like the classic description “doubled in bulk”. That 45 minute figure is a flexible, of course, but if you let it rise too long, the yeast will exhaust itself and your loaves won’t rise so well. In a hurry, I have started shaping loaves as soon as there was an observable rise and that works out OK, too.

Take the whole pile of dough and lay it out on a floured bowl. Flour your rolling pin and then roll the dough out flat, being sure to pop the air bubbles that turn up at the edges.

You don’t need to roll it paper thin, but you need to eliminate those big bubbles because they will end up as voids in the finished loaves.

After the bubbles are gone, fold the whole thing in half, fold it in half again, then one more time into a wedge shape.

Roll the dough up starting at the point, and then let it rest while you grease your pans.

This recipe fills four 5 by 8 inch bread pans or you can use three 5 by 8 and two 3 by 5 inch pans. Cut the lump of dough into fourths and then cut one of the fourths into two hunks of dough for the kiddy pans. If you are baking with kids, let them grease their pans and then let them take turns rolling out their dough and putting it in their pans. Kids will do what they do and be happy with the results; adults will want to take a more methodical approach.

Roll out one piece of dough at a time into an irregular rectangle, still looking to get rid of bubbles.

Roll the rectangle up tightly from the narrow end, and then fold the ends of the roll under so that the cylinder you have left is the same length as the pan. Lay the loaf into the pan with the seams down. Shape your other loaves the same way.

Next: Last Rise and Baking

Kneading

2006-01-27T12:13:00.000-05:00

For most people, the most mysterious part of baking bread is kneading. Somehow, you must use your hands to transform a sticky or stiff pile of batter into a smooth ball of dough. It is easy, until you get the hang of it, to find yourself either up to your elbows in sticky dough or arm wrestling with a stiff dough that is destined to rise no higher than a doorstep.

You can probably figure out that the cause of the first condition is too much liquid and the cause of the second condition is too much flour. So why don't recipes just tell you exactly how much flour to use? Because they can't. If your flour is older, it will absorb more liquid. If the weather is humid, it will absorb less. How you store your flour, whether you shake the cup as you measure, even the variety of wheat your flour was ground from, it all makes the process too unpredictable. Although it is initially hard to master, the skill of turning a wet batter into kneadable dough is one that you never lose.

We have already seen several tricks of the trade:
---The glob of shortening that we added to the batter will help make the bread fine grained and tender, but it will also make the dough less likely to stick to your hands. As you get more experienced, you can cut down the fat in the recipe.
---Use bread flour for at least some of the flour. A cup of semolina flour (also called pasta flour) used as part of the 3 cups of flour in the batter will help make the dough kneadable.
---Take your time while adding flour to give it time to absorb the liquid. If you have small children around you have guaranteed interruptions. If not, take a break to put laundry in the dryer or check your email.

I usually use about 4-5 cups total whole wheat flour and then switch to white flour. The white flour absorbs less liquid so I am less apt to use too much. Stirring thoroughly after each cup of flour, I find that as the dough gets stiffer I am stirring less and folding more. With a strong wooden spoon I can turn the dough in the bowl and fold it over on itself, sort of like kneading without getting my hands into it yet. Already there are drier looking bits of dough on the sides of the bowl; I scrape these down and into the wetter center of the dough. Eventually I am just turning the dough over on itself and only occasionally adding flour. This is a good time to take one more short break and let the dough get used to itself again.

When I come back to the dough after 5 or 10 minutes it is ready for hands-on kneading. Whether I knead on the table or in the bowl, the action is the same: flatten the dough with the heels of my hands, then fold it over on itself, turn it a little, then flatten, fold and turn again. At first I need to keep putting flour on my hand to keep the dough from sticking, later it gets to be moist, not sticky so my bare hands are fine.

It is impossible to hand knead standard bread dough too long. I usually look at the clock once the dough stops sticking and then try to keep up a good rhythm for 5 or ten minutes. Time spent kneading is very much like time spent in deep thinking. You stretch thoughts and fold them over on themselves until myriad elements take on a new identity of their own. If I am pressed for time I will knead for less time, but I know I'm gambling. Kneading develops the gluten that will make the loaves rise with strength; insufficient kneading makes loaves that tend to fall if you sneeze at them.

After kneading it is time to let the dough rise. If I am kneading on the table, I just invert the bowl over the dough and leave it alone. If I am kneading in the bowl, I leave it in the bowl, but cover the bowl with my Corian board or a cookie sheet to keep the dough from drying out.

Next: Shaping Loaves

Mixing Bread

2006-01-22T12:00:00.000-05:00

The number of eggs is quite variable. I often use no eggs. Sometimes I cut back to 2 cups of water and use as much as six eggs. This makes a dough that is like bagel dough or sweet bread dough if you add a little more sugar.

I use a long handled wooden spoon for mixing and for measuring the shortening, which doesn’t need to be measured precisely. A ¼ cup size dollop from the mixing spoon is fine.

The directive to “200 times without reversing direction. Let sit 20 minutes.” might be the most mysterious part of the recipe. During this time the flour is absorbing water and forming long strands of protein called gluten. Later we will want this gluten since it will stretch and contain the bubbles of carbon dioxide produced by the yeast. More bubbles mean lighter bread. Stirring back and forth would break up the strands of yeast. (At least that is what I was taught but as I write these words they look like a theory begging to be proved or disproved.)

Letting the dough sit for 20 minutes gives the flour time to thoroughly absorb the liquid and makes it harder to add too much flour in the final phase of the recipe. This is easily observed; after the rest the batter looks thicker and gloppier.

After letting the dough rest, you continue to add flour, sprinkling it on a little at a time and mixing. It soon starts to look less like a blob and more like a ball; this is your cue to switch from a mixing motion to kneading.

When my kids were little they loved to help with making bread. I let them measure the ingredients and help me count to 200 as we stirred. When I put the dough up to rest before kneading I would often wait quite a long time to add the rest of the flour and then knead the dough, as the kids were only in the way during the kneading process. I would “sneak” a little kneading here and there while they were diverted with other things, but the bread didn’t suffer. They were invited back after the dough rose and they would happily shape dough into two half-size loaf pans.

Next: Kneading

Bread Baking Equipment

2006-01-19T11:17:00.000-05:00

There is a danger here of making things sound unnecessarily complicated. You don't have to go out and buy a whole new kitchen to bake a loaf of bread, but when you are going to be doing a job over and over again for years to come, you might want to work towards collecting the sort of equipment that makes the job less frustrating and more rewarding.

A word about time. Yes, it takes time to make bread, but mixing and kneading and rising can be done in small chunks interspersed with other chores, like laundry or caring for small kids. In fact the bread turns out better when you are not worrying it or rushing it along. You will also find that the yeast has something of its own schedule. On hot days your dough will rise fast, but on cooler days you can choose to be more leisurely. This is my first favorite piece of equipment: a 2 cup clear Pyrex measuring cup. I sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of yeast on top of the ½ cup warm water and wait for the yeast to dissolve.

Old time recipes call for "proving" yeast like this every time you bake. Modern recipes skip this step, but I find it useful as I still on rare occasions find that my yeast is not as robust as I would like.

My mixing bowl is large, about 14 inch in diameter, and heavy enough that I can knead the dough right in in. It is stoneware so it holds heat or cold; on these cold winter days I fill it with warm water in the sink to warm it before I start baking. I actually chose my kitchen sink with this bowl in mind -- I wanted to be able to wash my bread bowl easily.

While I love my bread bowl, it was expensive. I have also made this recipe in the 32 cup Tupperware bowl and found the lid to be handy for covering the dough while it rose.
My final essential piece of equipment could be called "someplace to knead". I am 5'4"; I find that the kitchen counter is just too high comfortable kneading. My kitchen table is the right height, but it is ridiculously rustic. My husband cut and sanded a 17" by 24" piece of Corian that I can lay down on top of a dish towel. This serves for kneading, but also for rolling out all kinds of dough. The dish towel keeps it from sliding all over. If I had a Formica table top, I would use it for kneading.

I either do the first rise in the bowl with the board covering the bowl, or on the board with the bowl covering the dough. Many bread recipes tell you to "cover the dough with a damp cloth", I have always found that the dough sticks to the cloth and makes a big mess. Next: Mixing Bread

Same Bread Every Week

2006-01-18T10:17:00.000-05:00

One thing I do at least once a week is make bread. It is always the same recipe, but the job and the bread differ with time of year. With five people in the family, I make four loaves at a time. The recipe is simple:

2 tablespoons dry yeast dissolved in ½ cup warm water
3 cups warm water
¼ cup shortening
1 tablespoon salt
½ cup sugar
1 to 4 eggs (optional)
Flour

Dissolve yeast in water.

Combine yeast, water, sugar, salt, shortening, and eggs. Add 3 cups of flour, then stir 200 times without reversing direction. Let sit 20 minutes.

Add flour one cup at a time until dough kneadable. Do this slowly; the flour needs time to absorb water and if you add too much flour too fast your bread will be dry. Knead the bread for 10 minutes, and then let it rise for an hour.

Shape the dough into four loaves and let rise until they are large.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Test one loaf with a probe-type thermometer; done is 190 degrees in the middle of a loaf that was in the middle of the oven. Turn out of the pans to cool.

My standard flour is a combination of whole wheat bread flour and white flour. I use 3 or 4 cups of whole wheat to start the recipe and white flour to finish. (My usual plot is to use as much whole grain flour as my family will eat without thinking that I am serving them "health food".)

Substituting one cup of semolina flour in the beginning makes the dough easier to knead. Stone-Ground Whole Wheat Bread Flour from Great River Milling is a nice choice. Semolina flour can be found at Bob's Red Mill.

Using the same recipe every week means that bread baking is routine and relaxing. I don't need to make big decisions or keep referring back to the cookbook. Since yeast, and therefore bread dough, is a live organism, it is helpful to be dealing with the same animal every time.

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