Baking Time

Our favorite breads at the grocery are $4.00 per loaf now. They're the "Artisan" types because I don't eat soy products. The mass produced loaves have soybean oil and occasionally soy flour included.

After one more time putting the bread back, I decided to bake some. Years ago I was on the fringes of hippidom and back to the earth types. I climbed mountains, grew vegetables and fruits, canned and dried foods, and lived out of the pantry most of the year.

By and by, work and school and other hobbies led me to buy most of the groceries. Well, now, since I graduated, then retired I have more time for such homebody things again. (Yes, I know it's been years but some things just take time to change ;-)

Wednesday I knew I'd be home most of the day (because the furnace was getting replaced - another story). I got out the mixer, the yeast, flour and pans. I have a wonderful cook book - The New York Times Bread and Soup Cookbook by Yvonne Young Tarr, that has great recipes in it, organized by country of origin. So many times when I cook I take a basic recipe, then adjust as sounds good. Not with bread. I stick pretty close to most bread recipes, with just a little ad lib.

First was French Bread. I love a great crusty French bread. The recipe (and I) made two loaves of wonderous, crusty French bread. (The key is to put a pan of hot water on the lower rack in the oven.) It didn't take too long to get the dough mixed, kneaded and rising. There was still a lot of time to "kill".

Another recipe I'd been wanting to try is "Anadama" bread. It's a white flour bread augmented with yellow cornmeal and molasses. We had the ingredients, so it went into the mixer next. Again, it got to rising fairly quickly, and I still had time after shaping the French loaves.

On the next page there was a whole wheat recipe with sunflower seeds and coconut (!). Dave doesn't like coconut, so I left it out and added a few more sunflower seeds. This recipe produced a wonderfully light, soft dough.

I juggled the rising, shaping, rising and baking so that there was no conflict in the oven, and kept constantly busy. By dinnertime, we had 2 loaves of French bread, 2 loaves of Anadama bread, 3 dozen whole wheat rolls and 2 mini-loaves. I froze them all except one loaf of French. We've been feasting on bread, French toast and toast.

I froze it quicker than pulling out the camera, so sorry no photos. You'll just have to imagine the look and smell. Yum, yum, yum!!!

I didn't price it out, but 10 lb of flour was just over $4, and it's about 3/4 gone.

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Paying it forward.

I was the fifth lucky person on Michelle's Pay it Forward post! So now, it's my turn. What fun to think of possible goodies to pay forward. I have several patterns and recipes rolling around in my head just waiting for an excuse to put into reality :-)

Now, the first five people to respond to this post will receive surprise goodies from me. You all can expect them before my birthday, June 30th. I will try to make something tailored for each of you five people in some way or another. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
- You will have no clue what it’s going to be. However, it will be something homemade from my stash and/or larder.

Wanna know the catch before you respond? The catch is that you have to make the same offer on your blog! And I'll appreciate some hints from you on your likes and dislikes.

...on a rare sunny winter day in Auburn, Washington
- Franna