Bread Making: A Tutorial

I have been a bread making machine lately. I seem to be somewhat addicted to fresh, homemade bread, right out of the oven, slathered with butter. It is like the ultimate comfort food.

I have had people rave over my bread and while I’m still debating posting the recipe I thought I would share some of my tips and tricks. I use 100% whole wheat bread with honey and flax seed.

Most recipes call for 1 tablespoon of yeast, but because I use all whole wheat flour and have trouble getting the bread to rise nicely; I double the amount of yeast.  The water you want warm, but not too warm.  Use water between 90-110 degrees F. I usually just hold my hand in the stream of water until it starts to sting a little.

Two Tablespoons Yeast

Sponging

That is 2 tablespoons yeast, 2.5 cups whole wheat flour, and 2.5 cups of warm water. You will need to mix it well. Make sure there are no lumps of flour. The more you mix/stir the more the yeast mixes in and the more the yeast mixes in the more your bread rises.

The Best flour for bread making!

You will need to cover (I use paper towels) and leave this mixture alone for 20 minutes. While you’re waiting, in a different bowl put 2 teaspoons salt, 3.5 cups whole wheat flour, 1/3 cup oil, 1/4 cup flax seed, and 1/2 cup of honey.  I use melted butter in place of oil and I grind the flax seeds.

Mixing, Mixing

When you have mixed it as much as you can  in the bowl, turn out on to a lightly floured surface and need until it is no longer sticky. (Or knead for at least 5 minutes again the more you knead the more the yeast likes it.)

Next you will invert the bowl over the dough and let sit for 20 minutes.

Lightly floured

Done kneading.

Inverted bowl

While you’re waiting again, butter a large bowl and set aside. When the 20 minutes are up, knead dough for 5 minutes and put in large buttered bowl. Cover with saran wrap (and towel but that is optional).

Clean up is a snap if you clean as you go.

Make sure the bowl is well buttered, You've got honey in the dough.

Covered with saran wrap

Rising in a warm, sunny spot.

You will let it rise for 90 minutes. It should at least double in size.  During this time you can waste time on facebook, twitter, or playing games.

Next you turn it out onto a floured surface, I usually leave the flour on the counter until after this step. Divide in half. I use the dull side of a butter knife.

Ready for dividing

Place divided dough in two well buttered loaf pans and allow to rise for 45 minutes.

Well buttered loaf pan

One done, one ready

I failed to mention you will need to shape it into a loaf.

When it is done rising, bake in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. While baking, add ice cubes to bottom of oven or squirt with water. After 10 minutes, reduce the oven to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 25 minutes.

Immediately remove from pans onto wire cooling rack and allow to cool.

All that is left is your enjoyment and pride in a job well done. You might want to not cut into it right away, allow it to cool a little before cutting.

Feasting to Fasting

Or maybe the other way around.

I have long had a love affair with American Fast Food. (Why oh why did Randy Stonehill‘s famous burp just run through my mind?) One of my early jobs was at a fast food restaurant. I learned not to seat the food there because I saw how they made the food and how those who prepared the food acted around food and whatnot. I would often leave work and make a pass through McDonald’s drive thru for their french fries. That’s when McDonald’s fries were the best in the land.

My love affair continued. I would often dine twice a day on fast food. And I only ate two meals a day.  After I met Mr. FullCup, we would only consume fast food once or twice a week. He tried to make me learn to cook. I’m not sure it worked.  Then we moved to only once a week eat out.

But I still would have fast food for lunch more often than was truly necessary. Because I was hopelessly addicted.

Now I eat fast food only a time or 5 a week. Because it is convenient for the days I forget my lunch. And my town has a plethora of fast food places to dine.

Today though I decided to make a drastic change in my eating habits. I have decided to cut out all fast food products for the month of September.   This means no french fries,  no burgers, no shakes.  Now, of course, when we at home grill burgers I can eat those but not fast food ones. (are they really even food?)

I’ll try and post once a week on Friday how my week of no fast food has gone. I welcome you to join me in the fast or at least leave me comments with your encouragement.

And now for your viewing pleasure….

What’s the scoop?

We all know about my slight obsession with coffee. And coffee cups. And coffee makers. I have a 12 cup maker in my office and no fewer than 5 coffee makers at home. I have 2 twelve cup pots, an espresso maker, a french press and a single cup coffee maker. (it sits on top of the cup and brews into it. Most cool.)

I have a plethora of coffee cups. I have taken stock out in coffee filters. I have all things coffee related except a coffee scoop. Do they even make those things?

Actually now that I think about it, I have three coffee scoops..somewhere. I use one when I grind beans when I make espresso (yes, I make and drink espresso..black please).  I just don’t use it every day.

The other day a co-worker entered my office, stood in front of my full 12-cup pot of coffee and said, “Can I bum some coffee off you?” Of course I said yes and wondered why he just stood there and didn’t take any from the full pot right in front of him. Then I saw he had the hopper from the coffee pot in his office in his hand. He didn’t want to get some already made coffee, he wanted some coffee grounds. Which I happen to have a lot of also.

Then he threw me by asking for a scoop. A scoop? Hmmm what does he mean, “a scoop”? I looked at him blankly and said just that, “a scoop?”

“Yeah, a scoop for the coffee.”

“You a scoop for your coffee?”

He does. I don’t. I pour.  No need to measure, one bag of coffee per one pot. Hey, it works for me!

Grillin’ Foo’

And you can take that to mean, “Grilling Food” or “Grilling Fool” whichever you decide.

My girlies and I spent some of my hard-earned money on Mr. FullCup the beginning of this month. His birthday is on the tenth and Father’s Day is always soon after so we combined them and got him an early gift.

Yeah, we got him a large, manly grill. We have needed one for years. Our last grill was a small, rectangular table-top charcoal grill. We received that as a wedding gift 16 years ago and we have used it to death, literally. There is a large hole in the bottom and one of the grates is missing some…well the metal things that make it grate and hold your food. You really had to be careful where you placed your hot dogs or you would find them among the charcoal coals.

So it was time for an upgrade and we did it in style and more importantly..ON THE CHEAP!! Because since Dave Ramsey entered my life, I’m all about the CHEAP!

The man, Mr. FullCup–not Dave Ramsey, has turned into a grilling maniac. He has grilled steaks twice, hamburgers and hot dogs once.  And he only started grilling with it on Sunday, Father’s Day. It is now Wednesday and guess what?

He wants to use it tonight. Which might be interesting because we’re having goulash. He wants to use the extra burner on the side to boil the water and cook the pasta outside.

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The best burgers in the known world.

1 pound hamburger

1 egg

taco seasoning,

Lawry’s Seasoned Salt

Mix together. Form into patties. Grill and add one slice pepper jack cheese, allow to melt.

DELISH!!!

Contemplating.

I never was a very good student. Never. I tried…my teachers something awful. I always seemed too busy looking around or..horrors..talking to get much work done. In my defense, I have a very good excuse..reason but I won’t go into that here.

When I graduated from high school, I was given a job in a dental office and postponed college for a year…or 25.  I did attend college but realized I was being a little crazy, spending money on an education when I already had a great job.

So now I am contemplating a return to school. I’m both excited and fearful at the same time. Excited because I finally know what I want to be when I grow up. And that is always exciting. Fearful because…what if I get caught chewing gum or passing notes…or horror of horrors talking?

Somethings never change.

I want to study nutrition. It fascinates me. When I worked for the dentist I felt so sorry for their children, not only was their dad a dentist, their mom was a dietitian. Can you imagine those poor souls?  At the time I was feeling sorry for them, I was eating out for every meal. And I mean every single meal. My breakfast consisted of a large chocolate, chocolate chip Otis Spunkmeyer cupcake and a can of diet Pepsi.

Oh yeah. I was a health nut.  Lunch and supper were generally consumed at fat..okay that started as a typo but I’m leaving it, fast food place.  I always topped off my meal with a Diet Pepsi. Honestly. It’s not that I really thought it would help with the amount of calories I was consuming because I never thought of calories at all.

Man that sounds so rude and mean. But it’s the truth. I thought only of myself.

At the time I was consuming a case of Diet Pepsi every day or at least every other day. When my sister-in-law (who was a diet coke addict) told me that aspartame made your hips large, I quit. Cold turkey.

Not a good thing. I put myself back on Diet Pepsi and slowly weaned myself off. And I thought I was now eating healthy.

I was so wrong.

Fast forward to the past couple of years. I love the study of nutrition. My diet has drastically changed. I now cook. It started as cooking out of necessity. You see I got married and Mr. FullCup didn’t like eating out every meal. And he certainly didn’t like spending the money to keep me in the food I had become accustomed too.  When we got married, in a show of great “Little Suzy Homemaker-ness” I decided since I was staying at home, I would not ever cook anything from a box again.

So we lived on Ramen noodles and bologna sandwiches. Because they didn’t come from a box. One day not long after we were married it dawned on me that now I was going to have to cook every day for the rest of my life. And I spent the afternoon in tears.

A lot has changed in the past almost 16 years. I cook. I cook almost every day. Gone are the times of dining out once a week. Now it might be once a month. I cook every day except Sunday, because Momma has to have a day off.

And I cook healthy meals. No boxes. No ramen noodles. And the subject of nutrition fascinates me.  And so I’m contemplating a return to school in the Fall of 2011. There is a community college in my town I could attend at night, I am also looking at distance learning. I’ve looked at Yale. But they don’t offer nutrition as a distance learning course. I’m contemplating looking at Princeton, Harvard and hey why not Oxford.

 

My Daily Dose of Wisdom

Every so often I stumble on something so miraculous, so profound, so full of wisdom I just have to share it.  I can’t NOT share it. It screams “Share me with someone! Save them from having to discover this brilliancy on their own.”

I love imparting wisdom. Especially when it is hard won wisdom from living life in the trenches. I love living my life in such a way that wisdom is gleaned daily, if not hourly…shoot try every minute/moment/second.

So here I am to impart my hard earned wisdom….

 

Make sure the lid on the CoffeeMate Liquid Creamer (Peppermint Mocha flavored) is COMPETELY closed before shaking.

 

Yup. There you go. That is my wisdom for today.  Now, go and be wise.

Bacon Wrapped Goodness

We love to watch Adam Richman on the Travel Channel. His show “Man v. Food” is simply excellent.  We love it, and it sucks us in so easily.  We are constantly amazed at what the man can eat.

I always get so hungry watching him too. He is always eating things I do not have on hand. It’s quite frustrating really. It is amazing how good a sandwich can look when he holds it.

Adam has pulled me from the comfortable confines of my food life as I knew it. Even with my using Mastering The Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, I was still comfortably ensconced in my typical foodie life.  Because of Adam, now I am no longer afraid to put things together.  To try new things.  ( I refuse to watch Andrew Zimmern…not gonna go there.)

In the last week or so, my daughter, Elizabeth, and I watched an episode of Man V. Food in which Adam was given Bacon wrapped tater tots. Immediately my mind went places it shouldn’t oughta go. Seriously. I love bacon. I dearly love cheese. And tater tots!

What could be better.

I had to try it. I had to. I watched how they made them. I determined I would do it at  home.  I did. Here’s how.

Thick cut bacon and tater tots. I couldn’t find thick cut bacon, and I didn’t want to travel all over town to find it. So I just used regular cut.  I cut the strips in half width wise.

Place one tater tot on the end of a strip of bacon and roll. Place in skillet. (The restaurant used a fryer, but I don’t have one so I just cooked them on the stove.)  I cooked a full skillet , covered,  over med-high heat turning a few times.   Some of them got a little more done than others.  But I didn’t mind, I love crunchy, crispy bacon.

When the bacon wrapped tater tots are done, plate and add shredded cheese. I almost forgot this step, which is very strange because I LOVE cheese.  When the tater tots were done and on the plate, I grated cheddar and piled it on top. It didn’t melt well. But was still so tasty!

I could eat these every day for a month.

Beef Stew

It’s not from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, isn’t from Joy Of Cooking, isn’t even from any cookbook by Julia Child.  Betty Crocker is my friend too.

And I don’t mean a box had her name on it.  I have found food that comes from a box is not food. It might have been food in a former life, but is no longer real food. And who wants to eat fake food?

This is genuine food. Real meat. Real carrots. Real celery. Real onions. Real cheese.

Yes, I said real cheese. And a whole lot of real cheese. Freshly grated cheese. You must make this…this week.

You start with stew meat. I used pork because that’s what I had.  The recipe calls for coating the meat in flour before browning, but I didn’t do that. I’m a rebel.

Brown the stew meat in 2 tablespoons olive oil. I used red pepper flavored olive oil.  It adds a little color and a lot of flavor.

Add some chopped onions, garlic and saute just a few seconds.

Add 3.5 cups of a vegetable juice cocktail. I got mine at the health food store.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1-1.25 hours for beef (and 30 minutes for pork).

While that is simmering, start chopping your veggies, carrots, celery and potatoes.

Put in the pan, cover and simmer for an additional 30 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are tender.  Add a LOT of shredded cheddar cheese. The more the better.

Enjoy!! And follow it up with some…..

Chocolate Mocha Cake.

GO MAD Monday.

I’ve been thinking about my grandma this afternoon. The other day I cooked a fairly large roast and I had to use her roaster.  I just finished washing the lid and it made me think of her.

I thought it was kind of strange that she would have a big roaster, as she was not one to enjoy cooking a good hearty meal. Her idea of cooking was Kentucky Fried Chicken’s take-out window.  And back then it was Kentucky Fried Chicken and we liked it. I remember her cooking on big holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  She alone knew how to make the best stuffing in the world. It beats Stove Top hands down. For many years I was not a fan of stuffing at all, unless she made it. I remember it had apples in it, which is odd because I don’t care for apples in things other than my hand and apple pie or apple crisp.

Every summer I would spend two glorious weeks at her house. As a middle child…middle girl of three girls born 2.5 years apart (from oldest to youngest) this was heaven on earth. I had no older sister to boss me around and no younger sister with a decided bent on tattling.

I will never forget one day drinking some orange juice she had in the back of the refrigerator. When she arrived home from work and saw the empty juice pitcher in the sink, she looked positively ill. But had the wherewithal to ask if  I was feeling okay. I assured I was right as rain and she went on to tell me she had no idea how long the juice had been in the refrigerator.

Man did I have a nasty headache the next day.

Every day I spent with her that she worked, I would walk over with our lunch. She worked at the Arvada Public library, a treasure trove of books. Some afternoons I would spend the afternoon browsing the books and losing myself in one.

Those were my favorite days. I always hated when it was time to make the return trip and I had to live in reality once more. One year my uncle switched places with me. He spent the time at my house while I was at his house. I’m not sure I’ve ever really believed he did not come down with appendicitis on purpose. He cut my visit short.

My grandma passed away almost 7 years ago.  I still can’t believe it. There are so many things I want to ask her, so much I want to know.

The recipe for her stuffing is only the beginning.

Who has made a difference in your life? How have you made a difference in someone’s life?

The Coffee Queen.

My coffee and I.

My dad drank coffee like a fish drinks water (do fish really drink water?).  He would start our old percolator first thing in the morning, fill his cup and his thermos and drink it on the way to work. As soon as he arrived at work he would make another pot and he kept ‘em coming until he left for the day.

I remember him being very angry with me when I started drinking coffee at age 18. I’m not sure why since I was drinking very little coffee with my cream and sugar.  Maybe that is why…I wasn’t drinking it right. He always drank it black–blacker than a thousand midnights down in a cypress swamp.

Over the years I have managed to not only drink it black, but I love a straight espresso.

Hold your applause, please.

I know the difference between a drip coffee pot, a french press and a percolator. I myself own no fewer than 4 coffee makers.

But I’m not addicted. I could quit and I would quit, but I’m no quitter.

One of the best gifts Mr. Full Cup ever gave to me was my first Mr. Coffee espresso maker.  A great gift made even better when you realize he hates coffee.  Which made it even funnier when at Culvers one night when we had to ask a few times if the decaf coffee was almost done because we were still waiting. When it finally was done, they brought two cups to the table.

I digress.

The second best gift he gave me was my coffee grinder. I will never go back to pre-ground coffee again. Well as soon as the pre-ground coffee I have stashed around the house is gone. It’s not that I don’t like Folgers and other pre-ground coffee, I just don’t like them.  They are ground centuries before they ever get packaged and sent to the stores.

Now, just so you know, the gifts mentioned above are only first and second because that is the order he gave them. I use my coffee grinder far more than I used my first Mr. Coffee Espresso machine.  In fact, I donated the original espresso maker when Mr. FullCup gave me a combination coffee pot/espresso maker.

I have become quite adept at making a good cappuccino, latte, mocha.  ”Steamed milk, lotsa froth, makes a moustache and I love to lick it off.”  (Michael O’Brien in Low Fat Latte)

If it’s true that “a pictures worth a thousand words”, I should seriously shush right now.

But how fun would that be?

You know there is something seriously wrong with someone who knows for two days, 2 DAYS, she is out of milk and can’t remember to go to the store and get some. Seriously, there is something very wrong about that.  So God made me crave a mocha on this blustery cold Autumn day. (Doesn’t Autumn sound so much better than Fall? So much more sophisticated? I digress…again.) In case you were wondering it is incredibly difficult, nigh on to impossible to make a mocha without milk.

 

The only thing that could make this day more perfect, is a maid, and a cook.   But I’ll settle for a good cup of coffee.

 

Yup. That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout!