I can't quit baking...I have some OCD thing going on with it just now. Maybe it's the tightening our belts thing, dunno, but I tried a new recipe for basic bread...still trying basic bread recipes to see which ones are our faves.
This time it was Suzanne McMinn's Grandmother Bread, a family bread recipe handed down through her generations...and so easy, too!
I'm not sure what I did, but after mixing up the basic ingredients I got to the kneading stage, and it was like I was new at making bread again. The dough stuck to my hands, kept getting slaggy, I added what seemed like way too much flour to get it under control and then worried if I'd added too much and if it would dry it out or make it heavy. The kneading was Bread Vs Baker, but I eventually won, though it never quite got to that "soft as a baby's behind" stage...not satiny, but still nice. I think my kitchen was too damp and humid just then because I had a lot of things going on the stovetop only inches away.
And so goes my learning curve! But lemme tell you, the bread is a genius and was good despite my amateurish attempts. I had to take a pic, but couldn't quite wait till it cooled...it was good hot with butter.If you like a good basic loaf that's good for about anything, this one would work...sandwich bread, sweet rolls, any number of things. We'll use it for different things this week (it made two large loaves), and it seems to hold up really well. Thanks, Suzanne, for posting your family's heritage recipe!
6 comments:
Your bread is beautiful, I can almost taste it! I'm supposed to be doing the carb free thing but it's sooo haaarrrrddd! I love bread and pasta and... carbs! Oh well, I'm sneaking a few here and there and not doing too badly.
Ohhhh, that looks delicious!!! I'll have to try that recipe!
Yummy.... I will have to try that recipe. We always do homemade bread now! Too spoiled for store bought. (we do have a bread machine though!)
Tina, so do I...it's so hard to bypass carbs when trying to stretch the budget. I'm using a lot of cabbage right now as a substitute in some dishes. But bread sure helps round some things out. Havent quite decided what our longterm habit will be with that...have to be healthy no matter what.
Maria, it's really simple, and frankly, it's one of my favorites of the ones I've tried so far.
Christina, what's your favorite homemade bread...is it the oatmeal one you posted some time back? I've still got that on my list to try!
I love the Grandmother Bread recipe. It has become our "go to" recipe. It's nice because I can get home at 4:30 and have two loaves of fresh bread before I go to bed at 9. With very, very little effort in between. Except I do cheat and use my kitchenaid. ;) I would be lost without it. My bread doesn't look quite as "fluffy" as yours... I'll have to keep working on it.
Meadowlark, one of my loaves over-rose because I was snuggling with Jack in front of a movie and sort of forgot about the final rise. They both had risen a LOT. This loaf turned out best...it was at that Almost Risen Too High stage when I put it into the oven. The other one I had to punch down and rise again, but it still was the problem child...but it still "ate real good"! :)
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