Wheat bread Wednesday

After yesterday's fairly successful foray into making wheat bread I decided to give it another try today...I searched for wheat bread recipes on Google and found a winner. This. Bread. Is. Awesome.

I found it on cdkitchen. com - and thanks to a few rave reviews and helpful hints from reviewers, I decided to give it a go. I changed a few of the original ingredients and amounts(sorry, I'm not putting instant coffee into bread).

Outback Steakhouse Honey Wheat Bushman Bread (Bread Machine)

1/2 cup water
1 cup evaporated milk (or combine liquids to 1 1/2 cups water and add 1/4 cup powdered milk)
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon molasses
2 1/4 cup bread flour
2 1/4 cup wheat flour
4 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
cornmeal for dusting

Place all ingredients into the bread machine and process on dough setting. I opened it up after a few minutes and scraped down the sides. Let rise for 1 hour (I just let the dough cycle run its course). I then turned the bread machine back on to let it knead for a minute.

Remove from pan and divide into 8 portion. Form portions into tubular shaped loaves. Place on two cookie sheets (I have silicone mats that I use on my cookie sheets). Spray lightly with Pam, then sprinkle cornmeal on loaves. Cover and let rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Bake at 350' for 25-30 minutes. Be prepared for some pretty awesome aromas emanating from your oven. Makes 8 small loaves (about the equivalent of 3 dinner rolls each).

Verdict:

Nathan: 8.8 out of 10. A solid B+. "It looks like Artisan bread".
Alex: 8.5.
Danny: 11. Yes, 11.
Steve: 9.5
Me: I'm going with Steve on this one - 9.5. I didn't even have to make honey butter - you could taste the honey in it. The loaves were easy to cut - Danny was able to cut fairly thin slices with a steak knife. Dense texture without being heavy. This is a great, slightly sweet, wheat bread. Next week: I'm going to try and adapt my garlic-herb bread. Mmmm.

Wonder Bread

Okay, okay, it's not "Wonder Bread"...but it wasn't half bad either.

We tried out our wheat grinder last night for FHE - it works just fine - especially with kids turning the handle. I used a recipe from my bread machine cookbook:

Multigrain Bread

(it says it makes a large loaf - but I made 3 small loaves)

1 1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons softened butter
1 1/3 cup bread flour
1 1/3 cup wheat flour
1 cup 7-grain cereal
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons yeast

After it had gone through the "dough" cycle on the bread machine I turned it back on to knead again for a few minutes - then divided it into 3 and put into greased (Pam) loaf pans. After it rose for 1 1/2 hours (longer than I planned - I was late getting back from physical therapy) I cooked it at 375' for 30 minutes. We tried it out while it was warm - with honey butter...mmmm.

Verdict (out of 10 with 10 being the best):

Steve: he gave it an 8...after raving about it. I think his lowish score might be a ploy to get me to try it again.
Nathan: 7. It was good.
Alex: 7.5.
Danny: 10. He also gave the honey butter a 10.
Me: I think 7 or 8 would be fair. I found the 7 grain cereal to be a little crunchier than I really wanted - it was a little too coarse. I would like to try this recipe again, but use some 10 grain cereal that I picked up - it has a finer texture. Besides, if 7 grain is good, 10 should be better, right?

Tradition

So, because I can't figure out how to post on my blog anymore, you get this here. I am reminded of The Fiddler on the Roof anytime I do perform a "Tradition". So, here is to you Mom and your Easter Bunny.

Hard Boiled, Scrambled, Over Easy, and Sunny Side Up

Now that we have the eggs hard boiled, what do you do with them?

My kids are going to have egg salad sandwiches and deviled eggs. I thought that it'd be a good cooking lesson. If they make it, they will eat it.

Doilies

What does a box of food coloring have to do with doilies? Among the seminary teachers at my building we refer to any lesson extras (handouts, treats, rewards, etc...) as "doilies". It's a nice reminder to keep it real...but that doesn't mean we don't use them from time to time. The same is true for food storage. It's great to have all the staples, but it makes life more fun in the bunker if we can tart things up a bit at times. Food colors are an example of something pretty unnecessary - but fun. I was nearly out - and since this is what I use to dye Easter eggs I picked some up, plus one extra for storage. That's my food storage doily for the week.

What "doilies" would you put in your bunker?

To My Peeps

I have yet to buy Easter candy to put in baskets. What are your favorite things to put in your baskets?

A Day To Dig In

So, Friday was my day to dig in and accomplish everything before everything got out of hand. I had one final playgroup with 6 rowdy 4-5 yr old boys. I had one birthday party to get through before August. And I one day to prep before a crew of 10 inexperienced elders quorum members descended on our home to help with the siding.
I took Dad's method of make a list and check it off. Playgroup went well. When in doubt, have them build with sugar. We built igloos with big and little marshmallows and I was definately a big hit. Check!
Ana's party included 6 other girls and a movie party. My hubby had his doubts, but was pleasantly surprised that they remained thoroughly entertained and relatively calm for 3 hours. (a small tip: never exceed the 2 1/2 hr party limit) Check!
And fianlly I have learned that you only get to what you can get to. The prep had to wait until 8am on Sat. It did get done and I was able to Check it off my list.