bread
keep in mind that I have 3 teenaged boys to eat all this.
2 tablespoons dry yeast
-put in about a cup of lukewarm water with 1/4 cup sugar (I use the water in which I cooked the potatoes.)
once it starts to bubble (so I know my bulk yeast is still happy) I add:
-2 cups warm milk with 2 small cooked potatoes added to it (thoroughly mooshed, as in I usually use that hand held beater on the milk and potatoes) and a tad of white vinegar so it's sort of like buttermilk.
-if I remember, non-fat dry milk to add more protein (actually I should add that to the milk because otherwise it stays in little hard particles. I whip it in with a hand held beater. Of course with the vinegar added the milk is more likely to separate but it doesn't seem to affect the bread)
-2 eggs or sometimes 1 egg and a couple of yolks if I'm feeling decadent.
-somewhere between 1/4-1/2 cup butter or oil
-about 1.5 teaspoons of salt.
-other things if I'm feeling in the mood. Almost always some wheat germ. Got some cooked mooshy carrots? You might use them instead of the potatoes. Add cheese bits!
This recipe works fine without the eggs or potatoes or with water instead of milk etc.
Then a ton of flour. At least 6-8 cups. More like ten, even. I add a mix of King Arthur's white and KA's wheat but you go ahead and add whatever you want. I bet it'll work with at least some of that strange stuff you got in your freezer. That rice flour! Sure!
My mixer can't handle this for long but I try for a while, getting batter all over the top of it. Yeesh. I knead by hand eventually. Put it in oiled bowls (takes two) covered with plastic wrap and let rise for about 1.5 hours or less.
Then I divide it into greased loaf pans (it's about 5 loaves) and let it rise again. bake it at somewhere between 360-375 F for about 25-30 minutes or when it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom--which after many years of baking and tapping, I HAVE YET TO FIGURE OUT. So sometimes the bread is undercooked. Sue me.
I don't think it's ever been overcooked. By the time the house smells like bread, the boys have gathered like vultures waiting for a critter to die. No way it's going to be forgotten. Once or twice I've cooked it at 400 and then lowered the heat after about ten minutes. Makes for a crunchy crust.
Eat.
2 tablespoons dry yeast
-put in about a cup of lukewarm water with 1/4 cup sugar (I use the water in which I cooked the potatoes.)
once it starts to bubble (so I know my bulk yeast is still happy) I add:
-2 cups warm milk with 2 small cooked potatoes added to it (thoroughly mooshed, as in I usually use that hand held beater on the milk and potatoes) and a tad of white vinegar so it's sort of like buttermilk.
-if I remember, non-fat dry milk to add more protein (actually I should add that to the milk because otherwise it stays in little hard particles. I whip it in with a hand held beater. Of course with the vinegar added the milk is more likely to separate but it doesn't seem to affect the bread)
-2 eggs or sometimes 1 egg and a couple of yolks if I'm feeling decadent.
-somewhere between 1/4-1/2 cup butter or oil
-about 1.5 teaspoons of salt.
-other things if I'm feeling in the mood. Almost always some wheat germ. Got some cooked mooshy carrots? You might use them instead of the potatoes. Add cheese bits!
This recipe works fine without the eggs or potatoes or with water instead of milk etc.
Then a ton of flour. At least 6-8 cups. More like ten, even. I add a mix of King Arthur's white and KA's wheat but you go ahead and add whatever you want. I bet it'll work with at least some of that strange stuff you got in your freezer. That rice flour! Sure!
My mixer can't handle this for long but I try for a while, getting batter all over the top of it. Yeesh. I knead by hand eventually. Put it in oiled bowls (takes two) covered with plastic wrap and let rise for about 1.5 hours or less.
Then I divide it into greased loaf pans (it's about 5 loaves) and let it rise again. bake it at somewhere between 360-375 F for about 25-30 minutes or when it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom--which after many years of baking and tapping, I HAVE YET TO FIGURE OUT. So sometimes the bread is undercooked. Sue me.
I don't think it's ever been overcooked. By the time the house smells like bread, the boys have gathered like vultures waiting for a critter to die. No way it's going to be forgotten. Once or twice I've cooked it at 400 and then lowered the heat after about ten minutes. Makes for a crunchy crust.
Eat.
Sounds like one of my "recipes."
ReplyDelete"Well, you use some of this and about yay-much of that, and you can throw in some XYZ if you want or anything else you have lying around, and then you cook it until it's done."
I always laugh when the TV cooks caaaaaaarefully level all their measurements. Their food has no soul.