Day 25 - No-Knead Bread

     I guess for the past 24 days I've had a HUGE brain fart.  I neglected to use spell check with each of my posts and there were a few mistakes that I'm sure you all picked up on.  I'm not a horrible speller, but one of my high school English teachers, Mrs. Fleming, would have killed me!  I can see her red pen marks all over my paper and hear her berating me in her English accent.  Ooh, a chill just went up my spine.  Now, words are fixed and you can bet that from here on in that spell check button will be the last thing I hit before I post.
     It's a very rainy day here in the desert.  Those days are few and far between and it rained yesterday, too.  So, for all you people in New England, I hear that unfortunately, it's headed your way.  Just what you need - more snow.  I looked at the webcams of the Rhode Island roads this morning and can actually see a lot of grass.  So, since it is a bit chilly, some nice hot soup and freshly baked bread would warm us up for dinner - potato soup and no-knead bread.  The bread recipe comes from a high school friend, Tamme Mellenthin.  I'm looking forward to this because my last go-round with the whole wheat oatmeal bread wasn't so hot.  Thank you, Tamme for sharing!
     No-Knead Bread

     5 cups white flour
     2 cups wheat flour
     2 heaping tablespoons buttermilk powder
     2 tablespoons yeast
     ¼ cup vegetable oil
     ¼ cup honey (or anything gooey. ie., maple syrup/agave/brown rice syrup or molasses)
     salt
     3 cups warm water

     Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.  Cover with a towel.  Let rise at least 2 hours.  Will double/triple in size.

When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 450ºF.  This batch will make at least 3 medium loaves or even more round boules.  Shape loaves using plenty of flour to prevent sticking.  You do not need to knead, just shape loaves.  Cover for 30 minutes.
     Tamme said she uses a pizza stone in the oven to bake them, but a large sheet lined with parchment paper will also work.  She also sprinkles cornmeal to prevent sticking and puts a broiler pan in the oven filled with water to give the bread a crispy exterior.  Bake for 30 minutes.

     The bread was so easy to make and was really yummy!  I had thought about adding herbs to it, but I'm really glad I didn't because we really enjoyed the taste as it was.  Next time I'll add the herbs.  It was delicious! I sliced it soon after it came out of the oven and the butter melted into it so wonderfully.  Tamme, I am so glad you sent this to me, thank you!
     The rating:  4 rolling pins!
     Just a moment tonight that I couldn't resist sharing...We were watching the Saturday Night Live Specials tonight and there was a scene with two people on a see-saw.  Remember those?  I don't even know if they're around anymore.  When I saw it I remembered being up at the top of the thing and the person at the bottom would get off as fast as they could.  Yes, you know what happened next.  Good ol' gravity.  Wow, I hadn't thought about that in years - it makes me shudder, and my butt hurts.
     Happy baking!

Day 10 - Whole-Wheat Oatmeal Bread

     OH MY GOSH!!!  Can I just tell you that I was in heaven this morning?!  I walked in and the smell just completely overtook me, as it usually does.  But this morning,...man!  Over the years I've come to learn that some people are auditory, some are visual, but I am DEFINTIELY olfactory which is why pizza crust sniffing is a big thing for me.  When I visit this establishment, some days the smell is much stronger than others (or maybe I'm just more sensitive to it) and today just happened to be one of those days I guess.  So naturally, it energized me and all of my other senses were immediately awakened as well; colors became clearer and more vivid, and the velvety voice of Michael Bublé weaved it's way through my ears and made me want to start moving to the music.  I became extremely happy and couldn't help but to smile.  I had arrived!  I'm sure you can picture it happening in your head and I'm sure you have all, at one time or another, experienced it yourself when you walk into certain places.  I have had a love affair with this place from the first moment I ever stepped across its' threshold many years ago.  I feel completely at home and could spend hours here if given the chance.  Barnes & Noble.  Those three little words that mean so very much.  Maybe it's the love of books I've had ever since I was little or the fact that I love to write and can imagine myself sitting there at one of their brown tables signing a book for the one person who has come to get my autograph (haha).  My hair is standing up on the back of my neck.  What a vision!  Hey, if you don't have your dreams or your sense of humor, what's the point?  So, the next time you step foot in a Barnes & Noble, take a deep breath and lose yourself to your senses, and just experience the being there and everything it brings you.  Then, take it to other places in your life and enjoy!
     I completely lost myself in the cookbook section and surprisingly walked out without buying even one book.  I know if I picked up one that I'd pick up another and another and probably would have come home with at least four.  They were all so very beautiful.  And the recipes in them were absolutely divine.  I'll wait until that gift card comes that I ordered.
     Today it's Whole-Wheat Oatmeal Bread from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook Thirteenth Edition, pg. 516; author, Marion Cunningham; publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; ISBN 0-394-56788-9.
    
     Whole-Wheat Bread
     ½ cup water
     1 cup milk
     ¼ cup sugar
     2 teaspoons salt
     ½ cup warm water
     1 package dry yeast
     2 cups whole-wheat flour
     4 cups white flour approximately

     Bring ½ cup water to a boil, mix it with the milk, sugar and salt in a large bowl, and let cool to lukewarm.  In a separate container, measure ½ cup warm water, stir in the yeast, and let stand for 5 minutes to dissolve.  Add the dissolved yeast, the whole-wheat flour, and 2 cups of the white flour to the mixture.  Beat thoroughly, then turn out on a lightly floured board, adding enough flour so that the dough handles easily.  Knead for a few minutes and let rest for 10 minutes. 

Add as much of the remaining flour as necessary to keep the dough from being sticky.  Resume kneading for 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm spot until double in bulk.  Punch down and shape into two loaves. 

Definitely NOT the way a loaf is supposed to look.  Grrrrrr......

Place in greased loaf pans, cover, and let rise again until almost double.  Preheat oven to 375ºF. 

Bake bread for about 45 minutes.  Remove from pans and cool on racks.

     Whole-Wheat Oatmeal Bread.  Knead in 1 cup of uncooked rolled oats with the whole-wheat flour.  You will need ½-1 cup less of the the white flour if you add the oats.


  The kneading part really got to me!  I literally hurt my left wrist and forearm haha.  I woke up this morning and my wrist was aching, so maybe that had something to do with it.  I think it's growing pains - at least it's my wrist and not my muffin-top.  The second kneading was the one where I overexerted myself.  I was getting a workout!  I was sweating, and I'm sure my arms'll be a little achy tomorrow.  It says in the book to get your whole body into it, and that's certainly what I did!  There's a section in the book before breads that talks about kneading, so when I thought I was finished kneading it and was concerned about over-kneading, I consulted the book.  "Knead the dough for 10 minutes, until the dough holds together, becomes smooth and satiny, and is not longer sticky but elastic to the touch.  Depress the dough with your fingers:  if it springs back, it has been kneaded enough.  SHUCKS!!!  Don't worry about kneading too much-it can never hurt.  If dough is not well kneaded, the resulting loaf may be heavy."  So, back to kneading I went.  At times, I was becoming frustrated because as I kneaded the oats and then more flour into the dough, it wasn't sticking together and was flaking.  Then, after kneading, and kneading, and kneading...SUCCESS!  I poked it, and it sprung!  I was so excited.
     Then I wasn't so excited when I took it out to shape it into loaves and put it into the pans as you can see from the picture.  One of the balls of dough seemed to take the shape ok, the other really pissed me off.  Sorry, I became very frustrated with that second one.  I kept trying to shape it, but it kept ending up like a pita than a loaf of bread.  It had so many cracks in it.  When I rolled it together to put it in the pan I wasn't sure if when I baked it that it would be filled with air.  I remember making wheat bread about 10 years ago, but don't remember it turning out like this.  It tasted ok, actually really good when it was fresh out of the oven with melted butter and wasn't filled with air.  I will definitely be making more breads that require kneading throughout the year to make sure I increase my skills.  I "knead" more practice. Haha Ok, I know, that was bad.  
I have to say that I've made this bread in the past and it turned out wonderfully.  This time, maybe it's from lack of practice.  It was delicious when I made it before.
Happy baking!

Day 6 - Probably not a recipe you were expecting, but your best friend will love it!

      I've been attempting to plan out at least a few days in advance as to what I'll be baking each particular day.  The other day as I was in the bathroom I had a visitor.  It was not the first time I have had company in that small space and I'm sure it won't be the last.  If you're a mother or if you have any pets, you know what I'm talking about.  We no longer have toddlers, they're teenagers and I know if they caught me in the bathroom they'd be... how shall we say it?  Yeah, mortified and probably need years of therapy.  And my visitor was neither my husband or the family cat who has also been an uninvited guest.  The one who joined me was our 6½ year old Golden Retriever named, Brady.

Remember we are from Rhode Island, and are avid Red Sox and Patriots fans, so when we purchased our first family dog in August of '04 he had to have a New England connection.  As you dog lovers know, there is nothing like the unconditional love from your dog.  I never had one growing up, but my husband did.  I had resisted owning one when the kids were little because that was the last thing I felt we needed to add to the mix; three kids under the age of five was a lot for me.

     So, with those big brown eyes looking up at me, I decided that Brady should have something baked for him during this challenge, too.  I have to say that the kids were disappointed they wouldn't be taste testing anything today.  I offered them the treats, but they declined.  Before I became a stay-at-home mom in May I worked at a veterinary clinic for two years as the office manager.  At Christmastime one of my co-workers, Diane Isha, generously brought in some treats for our own personal dogs.  When I brought them home and gave one to Brady, he devoured it and absolutely LOVED them.  Diane has so wonderfully agreed to share her recipe with all of you and I know if you make them, your best friend will be very happy.  They are made with one of their favorites, peanut butter, not with who-knows-what they put in the store bought stuff.  :-/   They were very easy to make and inexpensive.  I didn't have any bone shaped cookie cutters, so I did buy some and found them at Michael's after thinking Petco would be the place.  As you now know, I hate to pay full price for anything and was very excited to be able to use my 40% off coupon that was in this week's Michael's add.  Score!

     Doggie Peanut Butter Treats

     Ingredients

     2 tbs. Corn Oil ( I used Canola Oil and they tasted the same.  Yes, I had one.  They're like a cookie without the sugar.  Hmmm...now there's a thought for another day.)

     1/2 cup Peanut Butter

     1 cup Water

     1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

     2 cups White Flour

     Preheat oven to 350°.  Combine oil, peanut butter and water.  Add flour 1 cup at a time then knead into firm dough.

Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness and cut with small bone shaped cookie cutter.  Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.  Makes 2½ dozen.

     I made 36 cookies from the dough, but I used different shapes.  Brady sat in the kitchen as if he knew that today was his special day.  He scarfed the two that I gave him and was so excited he almost took off my finger even after I told him, "gentle" which he does.  The house smelled like peanut butter, too!

     Now I'm off to watch "Chopped".  Tuesday night at 8 is the one hour during the week I demand the remote.  I love that show!  If you haven't seen it, check it out, it's on the Food Network.  Four chefs compete for $10,000 each week.  They are each given a basket with secret ingredients that they need to use to prepare an appetizer, entree and desert.  With each course the basket changes and it's so neat to see the food they create with the ingredients they're given.  I think I have the rest of the family addicted to it, too.
(Pictures will be uploaded in a little while - waiting to use my husband's laptop.  Now I know what I want for my birthday or Mother's Day!)

     Happy baking!