Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Seven Dollar Bread


3 cups bread flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour (optional)
1/4 teaspoon fast acting yeast
1 teaspoon salt
big glob of honey or corn syrup (optional)
12 ounces water.
Mix in an 8 cup Pyrex bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature overnight. No kneading required.

Other ingredients that I am currently adding:
sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, oatmeal, raisins sometimes, and of course sesame seeds both white and now black! I'd add almonds if I had some, too.


The next morning while the coffee is brewing and the dawgs are eating their breakfast, I dump out the very wet dough onto the floured countertop and adding more flour, I arrange it into a loaf, pop it into a buttered pan and allow to rest for an hour or so. I take the pups to the doggie park  for our walkies and when I return, preheat the oven to 425F and brush the loaf with water, or half and half or if I'm enthusiastic, beaten egg, slash the surface and top with sesame seeds. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Done-a-roo.

Doncha just hate posts where they have a great thing you want to make and you have to wade through ads, photos, chatty stuff, and finally get to the recipe, only to find it has ingredients like buttermilk or tofu which you don't have in your pantry?

Here's the story:
Dave eats toast  and sandwiches day and night and I got pretty tired of running back and forth to the store to get more bread. And the bread I got was dull white bread. We have an artisan bakery just down the street and I did buy a great loaf there, for $7!!! and decided right then to make my own. Truth to tell, mine is better, because it is not day old which is what the $7 costs if you wait a day. Ha!

Homemade bread is a slippery slope and one can start resembling a loaf if one is not careful. So something had to go. In my case it was wine...or booze altogether. I figure I'd trade the calories for a slice of warm buttery goodness, and then walk extra fast at the doggie park.

The offshoot is that I can now remember what I read last night in bed. And no more four hour naps after a wine-y lunch. Amazing.  I still crave wine, especially while I cook, but it eventually goes away.

Leftover bread makes a great strata, another overnight sensation.
4 eggs
8 ounces milk, or half and half or evaporated milk,
bread chunks.
Mix together and soak overnight in the refrigerator. In the morning stir in cheeses, veggies like sauteed spinach, leftover chopped broccoli or asparagus, green peppers, or cooked sausage or ham. Bake in a buttered dish while bread is baking and top with crispy bacon. Serve to your sister when she miraculously shows up. Yum!








11 comments:

  1. What a yummy post! I'm definitely printing this and trying it. I've been working again on some fused quilts--not so much your style, more pictorial, but I'm definitely using elements from your class and am pumping up the color. I'm thinking I'll try the moon and leaves piece you posted, too. I love that one! Thanks for sharing all your expertise--it's been very helpful!

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  2. Beautiful bread. There's nothing better than the smell of bread baking or cutting off the end and slathering it with butter. The crunch of that first bite, ahhhhhhhh. Thanks for the reminder.

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  3. Oh Melody, I wish I lived next door so I could just "drop in" when I smelled the bread baking.

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  4. Vaguely how long for the strata as you call it. I see you bake it at 425 F

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  5. Way back in the 90's I did the same thing - balked at the price of Artisan bread, so starting make all our bread stuff. It's fun and varied and economical! You get over the 'eating more bread than normal', but I have, like you, a DH who eats lots of bread so I'm baking a few times a week. I'll give up bread before wine!!!!

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  6. Know what you mean about the calories from beverages and not remembering what you read the night before. I always have to go back a few pages :) I gave the beverages up a few days ago, just put on too much weight and I have a greater desire to be healthier. I love bread and baked it for many years but gave it up too because of the calories. I like the idea of trading off the beverages for bread. As much as I love homemade bread that is a great incentive! I will try the recipe, thanks for posting it!

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  7. I'm not just 'salivating' I'm outright DROOLING!! Those recipes sound delicious, and the photos sent me into orbit! We have a iced water dispenser on our fridge, and I bought a cheap carbonated water machine, which "WHOEVER USES THE LAST IN THE BOLLTE MUST REFILL" ... do you get the subtle message to the only other person in this house "Who? Me? Couldn't be?" Hows'ever, back to my point, I've convinced myself that iced water saves all those calories for the stuff I really love.... but just not, I'd kill for a slice of that strata!

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  8. I know what you mean about settling into retirement. Feels good doesn't it.

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  9. Just thought you'd like to know, I tried the bread recipe, and I managed to get one slice of bread for myself the first day, and one the next. My dear husband scarfed it up, and wanted to know when I was going to make more of it. ;-)

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  10. I agree, I hate wading through ads in blog posts! My husband has started baking bread and it is SO much better than what we were getting in the stores. Thanks for sharing your recipes!

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