I have posted about the 5 Minute-a-Day artisan bread before. You can check out the cookbook about this bread here. Despite having written about baking bread before, I feel compelled to write about it again. OK, I just want to wax poetic about it. One of my high school friends has a blog in which she writes about her cooking experiences. She writes with such passion that some might find it overwhelming. Yet I had an experience like hers today with the most recent batch of bread.
After a hodge-podge of lunch with Ellie, I decided to have a piece of the bread I made for the soup we had for dinner last night. For the curious, the soup from last night was butternut squash. And for the really curious, the hodge-podge lunch for me was leftover pea soup and a chicken drumstick. Ellie had food nearly non-stop from about 10:30 through noontime - fruit leather, grape tomatoes, granola bar, breaded cod fillet (from TJ's), broccoli, 1-2 slices of apple, and I'm probably forgetting something before the bread.
ANYWAY...
I made this batch of bread with all-purpose flour, rosemary and thyme for herbs. The shape ended up less than ideal, but the texture and taste has been phenomenal. I sliced some of the roundish loaf for me and Ellie, buttered our pieces, and decided to sit with Ellie to keep her company. Little did I realize that I would *need* to sit down while eating the bread.
First I found myself amused at Ellie's attempts to eat the inside separate from the crust. Then I noticed that she actually was enjoying the crust. Next she told Tigger the Wonder Beast that he could not have her bread. Ha ha - Tiggers don't like bread. Or do they? He started begging from me too, so I gave him a crumb which he promptly devoured. I remembered reading somewhere about how you can tell real food from not-so-real-food by whether another animal desires and will eat the food item in question. So on to my bread experience now that the human and feline beasties were content.
I took a bite and just felt complete comfort and peace. The crusty exterior opened to a soft yet wonderfully chewy inside. The air pockets allowed space for the flavor to spread. The flour and cornmeal dusting added interesting texture and perhaps depth is the word I'm looking for. With each bite, I enjoyed the aroma of the rosemary and thyme, feeling as though I was in some idyllic outdoor setting like a quiet thick forest with a gentle breeze and old trees. I actually found myself closing my eyes and just smiling as though I knew some deep significant secret.
I know anyone reading this will think that I've gone off the deep end. I feel as sane as I've ever felt. I merely had one of my most amazing food experiences ever with something as simple as a piece of home-baked bread.
You simply must try to make your own. You owe it to yourself.
Showing posts with label bread. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bread. Show all posts
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
More Comfort Food
Just a quick post to acknowledge a mighty fine meal!
Before I left to teach this morning, Aaron reminded me that he would prefer not to make the bread dough. Fortunately making bread dough is much easier than many people think. Until about a year ago, I was one of those people who thought bread was complicated. Bread CAN be complicated, but it doesn't have to be. At 8AM, I started to mix the ingredients for bread.
Ingredients:
3 c lukewarm/tepid water
1.5 Tbsp. coarse salt
1.5 Tbsp. yeast
6.5 c. flour
Today's bread had a mix of all-purpose flour (recommended by the bread book I use) and white whole wheat flour. I didn't feel like opening a new bag of all-purpose flour when I had plenty of flour open already. I also decided to add some herbs to the water, salt, yeast mixture before adding flour. The same bread book suggests 1 tsp. of thyme and 1/2 tsp. of rosemary, if using dried herbs.
Aaron made my lunch and breakfast as well as worked on getting pancakes started for the kids while I set the ingredients in my stand mixer (love that appliance!). At 8:15AM, I was ready to leave for work, and the bread dough was sitting in the mixer bowl with a towel over it, ready to rise.
Now bread is a comfort food for many, but that isn't the only yummy thing I came home to. Dear Aaron set up split pea soup in the slow-cooker, as we planned. When I opened the door after what had been a VERY long day, I smelled a most delicious soup burbling happily in the kitchen.
After a few hours at home, catching up with the kids and Aaron, playing some video games to unwind from the aforementioned VERY long day, I realized I should put the dough in the oven. 5PM - preheated oven to 450 with pizza stone on one rack and broiler pan beneath. 5:30PM - put shaped dough on stone and in oven, poured 1 cup of cold water on broiler pan and quickly shut the door.
6PM - Homemade split pea soup with freshly baked bread.
Caleb ate 3 bowls of soup and at least 2 pieces of bread. Aaron and I both agreed we ate 1 piece too many of the bread. Ellie happily ate her soup (yay! veggies into dear daughter!!) and politely requested bread with butter. All was right with the world.
Before I left to teach this morning, Aaron reminded me that he would prefer not to make the bread dough. Fortunately making bread dough is much easier than many people think. Until about a year ago, I was one of those people who thought bread was complicated. Bread CAN be complicated, but it doesn't have to be. At 8AM, I started to mix the ingredients for bread.
Ingredients:
3 c lukewarm/tepid water
1.5 Tbsp. coarse salt
1.5 Tbsp. yeast
6.5 c. flour
Today's bread had a mix of all-purpose flour (recommended by the bread book I use) and white whole wheat flour. I didn't feel like opening a new bag of all-purpose flour when I had plenty of flour open already. I also decided to add some herbs to the water, salt, yeast mixture before adding flour. The same bread book suggests 1 tsp. of thyme and 1/2 tsp. of rosemary, if using dried herbs.
Aaron made my lunch and breakfast as well as worked on getting pancakes started for the kids while I set the ingredients in my stand mixer (love that appliance!). At 8:15AM, I was ready to leave for work, and the bread dough was sitting in the mixer bowl with a towel over it, ready to rise.
Now bread is a comfort food for many, but that isn't the only yummy thing I came home to. Dear Aaron set up split pea soup in the slow-cooker, as we planned. When I opened the door after what had been a VERY long day, I smelled a most delicious soup burbling happily in the kitchen.
After a few hours at home, catching up with the kids and Aaron, playing some video games to unwind from the aforementioned VERY long day, I realized I should put the dough in the oven. 5PM - preheated oven to 450 with pizza stone on one rack and broiler pan beneath. 5:30PM - put shaped dough on stone and in oven, poured 1 cup of cold water on broiler pan and quickly shut the door.
6PM - Homemade split pea soup with freshly baked bread.
Caleb ate 3 bowls of soup and at least 2 pieces of bread. Aaron and I both agreed we ate 1 piece too many of the bread. Ellie happily ate her soup (yay! veggies into dear daughter!!) and politely requested bread with butter. All was right with the world.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Thanksgiving - Dinner Rolls
Aaron reminded me that most people have some kind of bread or dinner roll with Thanksgiving dinner. I decided to make the "5 minute artisan bread" into dinner rolls. It's a super easy recipe and gets better as it sits.
5 Minute Artisan Bread - Basic Recipe with Herbs
Ingredients:
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tbsp. yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp. coarse salt (I use kosher salt)
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
6 1/2 cups flour (I use either all purpose or white wheat or a combination)
Instructions:
Add yeast, salt and herbs to water. In large mixing bowl or stand mixer, add flour to water mixtures. I usually add 2 cups of flour at a time to prevent a huge flour cloud. Mix until dough is evenly moist/wet. This dough will be quite wet.
Cover loosely and let dough rise about 2 hours, until doubled and top has flattened.
After dough has doubled, you can shape it into loaves or rolls. I sprinkle cornmeal on a thick plastic cutting board and place the shaped dough on the cornmeal. Do NOT knead bread. Shape it quickly. Let it rise for another 20 minutes if you are making it the same day. If you have refrigerated the dough, you'll need to let it rise about 40 minutes.
While dough is rising a second time, preheat your oven to 450. Place your pizza stone and a broiler pan in the oven at same time. Once oven is heated, take the pizza stone out and place your shaped loaves on the stone. When you put them in the oven, pour 1 cup of cold water on the broiler pan and close the oven door quickly. This is what makes the hard crust.
Bake 30 minutes. More yum!
NOTE: Pictures will be forthcoming. Making rolls was a VERY messy process.
5 Minute Artisan Bread - Basic Recipe with Herbs
Ingredients:
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tbsp. yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp. coarse salt (I use kosher salt)
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
6 1/2 cups flour (I use either all purpose or white wheat or a combination)
Instructions:
Add yeast, salt and herbs to water. In large mixing bowl or stand mixer, add flour to water mixtures. I usually add 2 cups of flour at a time to prevent a huge flour cloud. Mix until dough is evenly moist/wet. This dough will be quite wet.
Cover loosely and let dough rise about 2 hours, until doubled and top has flattened.
After dough has doubled, you can shape it into loaves or rolls. I sprinkle cornmeal on a thick plastic cutting board and place the shaped dough on the cornmeal. Do NOT knead bread. Shape it quickly. Let it rise for another 20 minutes if you are making it the same day. If you have refrigerated the dough, you'll need to let it rise about 40 minutes.
While dough is rising a second time, preheat your oven to 450. Place your pizza stone and a broiler pan in the oven at same time. Once oven is heated, take the pizza stone out and place your shaped loaves on the stone. When you put them in the oven, pour 1 cup of cold water on the broiler pan and close the oven door quickly. This is what makes the hard crust.
Bake 30 minutes. More yum!
NOTE: Pictures will be forthcoming. Making rolls was a VERY messy process.
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