Have I mentioned that I don't enjoy cooking? Oh. I used to. Before I had kids. With picky palates. I used to love making exotic food, mostly East Indian and anything requiring lots of prep work, lots of spices, and lots of vegetables. I do love simple directions and easy to find ingredients, though, but I like my tastebuds to be excited, not just comforted. I've never been much of a meat n potatoes or casserole gal.
I do love a good soup or stew, though. And I adore any meal that focuses on vegetables. My favorite cookbook is The Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Molly Katzen. There is nothing in that cookbook I don't like. And I'd recommend any cookbook by Mollie Katzen. She's just that good.
But I digress.
I've been cautious about making bread the old fashioned way because of the cost of flour. I like to buy my whole wheat flour freshly ground from Great Harvest Bakery or I buy King Arther brand. I love their silky textured bread flour. I think the quality of your flour makes all the difference in the finished product.
Another reason I haven't done much handmade bread baking is that I've been confused about baking in altitude. You see we're right at 7,000 ft. But most recipes only include high altitude directions up to 5,000 ft above sea level.
So, after ruining a few loaves(as well as dealing with disastrous results in other baking and cooking projects) and doing alot of experimenting, I've finally figured out what works at this altitude for the items I bake.
And while my family seems to enjoy the bread I bake in my breadmaker, it leaves much to be desired in the aesthetics department...and well, the loaves tend to be small.
A loaf of breadmaker produced bread doesn't make a very good homemade gift for neighbors or friends because of it's wonkiness.
And the bottom, with it's indentation made from the mixing blade, looks like it's been nibbled by mice.
The bulbous top looks like the end of a pool stick. While the bottom is flat as a board.
But the bread itself is dense, chewy, moist, wholesome and filling...and very yummy. A little loaf never lasts more than an hour while it's still warm and the butter melts so rich and creamy. Fresh bread is almost as good as a pan full of brownies. Almost.
14 comments :
Hi!
I always sit back and read your blog which is a great read :) But
I had to come foreward and tell you that I used to bake my bread in a bread machine and felt the same way about the end product. I now mix my bread on the dough setting and when it is finished I take it out knead it lightly and put it in a greased bread tin and sit it in a warm place to rise for about half an hour, when it has risen quiet a bit I put it in a hot oven 200' for about half an hour. The bread turns out in a much better shape, it has a more softer texture inside and taste much better and you dont get that unsitely hole made from the blade at the bottom. It gets the thumbs up all round. Try it you will be pleasantly surprised.
Sue
LOL!! I am right there with you on the cooking and kids thing!
I had no idea that you were at a 7000 ft. elevation...and here I always wondered why they put the directions for high altitude baking on the back of cake mixes!!!
Just joking!!
In answer to your comment, I'll eat brownies with you anytime, and Jinx got treats just for sitting there and looking cute :)
Oh this reminds me of my mother. She used to make us homemade bread just like that. Our sandwitches all were funny shaped. While growing up we would beg her to buy Wonder Bred, now I wish i had a bread maker so I could eat some of that delicious bread. She would make a hawaiian bread and then make french toast with it, yum!!
Thank You for "sharing the love" with me. You are very kind and I was remiss in not including you in my comment on childreninthecorn, but I really intended to send this thank you the same day. However, between my senility and my wife's "honey-do" list, it never got done. I have spent very little time on the computer this week as we have been very busy. Angie was the one who got me started blogging and that was why I was thanking her so much. I think she is a very special woman and I am so proud that she is my daughter.
I have read a little of your site and I am sorry to hear of your severe poison ivy reaction. I don't have a reaction that bad but I do know what its like to have the normal reaction and that is bad enough. Your bread looks delish and I can almost smell it.
Don't be afraid of giving it as gifts if it tastes as good as it looks. My attempts at whole wheat bread in a machine usually turn out HEAVY. But they make good door-stops if the dogs don't eat them. And speaking of dogs, Zuni looks fantastic. She must have great bloodlines. Once I saw her I had to read all of her blogs. How about an update with more pics and some stories? I love German Shepherds(in case you missed my post) and yesterday I went with my son Eric to get his first one. His name is Kane and is a 1 yr. old from an animal shelter. He is a very impressive animal and will make a great pet if my son takes the time to train him right. We took him to Angie's and he fell in love with Aden and wouldn't take his eyes off her and was so gentle towards her he reminded me of my shepherd Rebel and Angie when she was little. Which reminds me, I still have more to write about him. Soon hopefully, if I don't forget. DUH. Thanks Again.
That bread looks delish to mem butter me up a slice!
My mom had that Mollie Katzen cook book when I was a kid! I swear, she had it forever. I will have to ask her if she still does. She made all kinds of stuff from it.
I, on the other hand, did NOT get her cooking genes. I just don't have the interest or energy to do it, especially for one. Maybe when I have a family to feed! ;)
My copy of the Moosewood Cookbook is totally goobered up from overuse, but it still sits on my shelf. But I totally gave up baking when I made my first cake from scratch in New Mexico and literally blew up the oven...two weeks before Christmas. It was not pretty.
There is nothing like homemade bread, I'll bet it smells great when cooking too. I was born without the cooking gene, but I do appreciate other people's cooking talents and would be delighted to get a loaf from a neighbor and wouldn't give a darn what it looked like.
Nibbled by mice, too funny! I use my machine when I will be out all day, usually when something is in the crockpot too.
Lately though I have been making the easy bread from utube. Just go to utube and type easy bread. I use it for everything from pizza crusts, breadsticks, cinnamon buns (kind of chewy but we like it) or just bread. I like adding grains and flaxseed and it turns out great.
I can't swear it will work with your altitude, I had that problem when I lived in Flagstaff, you'll have to test that.
It is so easy that your kids could make it too.
Oooo, looks really yummy-I would eat it that fast, too! :)
Must taste really yummy with jam, too.
Ok, that bread looks really scrumptious, no matter what its shape! When I had a breadmaker I'd do as suggested above and just remove it after it was processed but before it began baking. I'd shape it and plop it into buttered loaf pans, let it rise a tad, and put it right into a hot oven...voila, more dishes to wash! ;-) Ok, now I'm ready for one of those brownies...
Yum, I'd come eat some of you wonky bread! My dear helpful husband accidentally threw my bread machine paddle away when he was cleaning a bread-gone-wrong mess out of the machine. I need to get on the stick and call the manufacturer for a new one.
I stopped using my bread machine a few years ago because I didn't really like the outcome much. I've been making bread by hand for a little over a year and it isn't much more work than using the bread machine. And turns out so much better.
I gave up on my bread machine too (and to think I begged my hubby to give it to me for Christmas a few years ago)! Now our favorite bread is the no-knead bread baked in a dutch oven. So easy! So good!
Oh, we have the same favorite cookbook and cookbook author! My "Enchanted Broccoli Forest" is looking pretty tattered.
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