Bread mystery

So I made some bread, and it turned out like this:

WTH??  It was a short and squat loaf and it just wouldn't rise.  Seriously, I gave it OVERNIGHT to rise, and it did nothing.  The obvious theory would be that I forgot to put in the yeast, but that's always my first step I do, just so I don't forget to put in the yeast.  A reasonable follow-up theory might be that the yeast was old, but that wasn't the case either. 

My current working theory:  I might be cursed.

Even though it was quite dense, the bread tasted okay once it was toasted and smothered with butter and honey. 

I made another batch of bread a few days later, and everything turned out fine.  So, no verified curse, but there's still a mystery afoot.  What happened to make the bread so flat?

I welcome your theories, conspiracy and otherwise, as to why and how this happened. 

In other news, it might be time for a new toaster.

Welcome back basket

Good friends and neighbors Yogita and Adithi are returning home from a very long trip today.  Yogita is my closest friend in this neighborhood, and Adithi is a great playmate to the Little Guy so we are very happy to have them back.  To welcome them home, I made a fun little St. Patrick's basket for them.

On top is a loaf of fresh-out-of-my-oven white bread. Yum!

Below that is a round of Irish soda bread. It is St. Patrick's Day, after all!

I have some treat in there for Adithi: a writing pad, fun spring-themed pencils and sunglasses.  I put bath gel and lotion in there for Yogita.  After a 24 hour trip, I'm guessing she'll need some pampering.  I know I would!

To expand on the St. Patrick's Day theme, I got out my Wilton candy molds and made some shamrock pops.  The dark chocolate (behind the green) is mint-flavored.  Mmmmmm...mint.

These chocolate covered pretzels are hard to make out, but the designs are shamrocks and top hats.  You can see the pretzel mold here. 

These are just fun little candy cups I made with the remaining chocolate. This way, there's plenty of chocolate for everyone! Which is also something one would need after a 24 hour trip.  I know I would.

Welcome back, Yogita and Adithi!  And happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!

Branching out

Once I mastered regular white bread, I tried to make raisin bread and dinner rolls based on the recipes found in the bread machine instruction manual.

The raisin bread was tasty, but the machine didn't get all the raisins mixed in and many were clinging to the outside. 

I tried again, but instead of letting the machine mix the raisins in I tried to do that step by hand. I rolled out the dough, sprinkled more cinnamon on, and tried to evenly distribute the raisins.  Then I rolled up the loaf, let it rise and baked that sucker.

Can you see the cinnamon swirl pattern in the bread?  This method didn't really work--not enough raisins.  I'm going to keep trying, though, because we have some true raisin bread fans in this house.

Then I got really crazy and decided to make dinner rolls.  Again, I let the bread machine do the majority of the work.  The recipe instructions called for rolling the dough into special "dinner roll" shapes, but that sounded like a lot of extra time and effort to me, so instead I just plopped balls of dough on the cookie sheet and called it a day.

My laziness paid off though--the rolls were fine in their blobby shapes and tasted delicious!  Making the leap from bread to rolls was a cinch.  A tad messier, perhaps, but completely a cinch!

With the help of the bread machine, I can see myself making rolls at least once a week.  Each recipe yielded 16-18 rolls, and that is enough to get us through the week. 

No more dough out of a tube for me!  Now that I've mastered bread baking, I really feel so Martha-ish.  Martha-like?  Marthalicious?

Yes, that's it...I feel Marthalicious!  Happy Friday, everyone!

And on the third day...

...I created bread!  After attempt #1, I got new yeast.  After attempt #2, I got actual bread flour.  By attempt #3, these efforts paid off...I made an honest-to-goodness delicious loaf of homemade bread.  Woohoo!

I let the bread machine do all the work except the actual baking.  Because I was tired of that crazy round bread shape (which totally does not fit in my toaster, by the way) I took the dough out after the second rising and baked it in my traditional bread pans.  Ta da!

It was delicious!  The Big Guy and I ate an entire loaf that night--that's how good it was. 

I was so happy that I danced around for a while claiming to have invented bread, but the Big Guy informed me that no, I didn't, that I just finally managed to bake it in my own home.  Excuse me?  I informed him that I did so invent bread, and then reminded him that the floor is not a comfortable place to sleep. 

The Big Guy then stated that this "bread" is my best invention yet, and he thinks it's really going to catch on. 

Isn't that a great story? 

Keep trying!

Even though my first attempt at baking my own bread was a disappointment, I was more determined than ever to conquer yeast and DO THIS THING.  So I got some fresh yeast and tried again.

Here's my second attempt at baking homemade bread:

This time I got the height, but the top caved in.  And I'm not wild about this round shape, either, though that's due entirely to the shape of the bread machine.

After cutting off the roof collapse, I had some decent bread remaining.  This could work!

With some butter and Belfry Bees Honey, this actually tasted pretty good.  There is room for improvement, though.  Like getting rid of that round shape--it's really weirding me out!

I'm not giving up though.  After this attempt, I decided to get serious.  Really, really serious. As in, "I went to Sam's Club and bought a 25 pound bag of bread flour" serious.

I am not kidding around about this homemade bread stuff.  I will make delicious homemade bread for my family, so help me Martha.

Keeping my resolutions

For 2011, I made only one resolution:  to bake all cakes and bread from scratch.  Now for cakes, this resolution is not a stretch.  You all know I bake cakes from scratch all the time.  Bread, on the other hand, is a totally different story.  I had no positive yeast experience, and all of my bread (minus the occasional banana bread that requires no yeast) came from the store.

Obviously, I had my work cut out for me.  I do have an old bread machine, so I gave it a whirl. 

I followed the directions in the instruction manual for plain white bread.

I was really excited about this new endeavor, until the machine beeped and I found this inside.  WTF?!

As it turns out, the yeast had expired and didn't have the necessary rising effect on the dough.  This probably explains the weird conehead shape. 

With a little butter the bread tasted okay, but I clearly have my work cut out for me.

Resolutions

As I have done for the past twenty years or so, I'm making my new year's resolutions.  We all make them, don't we?  We vow to get organize, lose weight, learn to snorkel, be a better person and more.  These promises we make to ourselves are done with the best of intentions, but rarely do they account for real-life circumstances.  Work, kids, stubbornness, lack of time...these things and more all get in the way of sticking to our resolutions.  Then, sometime around January 5, we go back to being our slovenly selves. 

At least, I sure do.

But this year is different!

This year, I'm making only one resolution.  It is incredibly specific and will definitely make me more like my idol Martha Stewart. Ready?  Here they are...

In 2011, I will bake all CAKES and BREAD from scratch. 

No mixes, no store-bought loaves, nothing.  Of course, I still have a few cake mixes and one loaf of store-bought bread in the pantry, but after those are gone, THAT'S IT!!!  Making cakes from scratch shouldn't be a problem--I've done it many times before and I actually prefer to do it that way because it produces a much better cake.  Baking bread from scratch will be the challenge...I've never done it before, despite having a bread maker in the basement.  Time to haul that puppy up to the kitchen, dust it off, and figure out if it still works.  If it does...fresh bread for everyone!

I'll be sure to check in with you on January 5 to let you know how this grand experiment is going.  In the meantime, have a fun, happy, healthy and safe new year!  Happy 2011!

Martha's banana bread

Martha's banana bread...moist, delicious and a great fall treat. 

The ingredients are fairly straight-forward.  Instead of using fresh bananas, I used frozen bananas. 

Warning: banana tangent starts now.

Did you know that you can freeze bananas in their skins?  It's true!  This is a great solution for overripe bananas that you don't want to toss, but can't use right away. Simply freeze the bananas, and then use them later for baking. 

Before using, allow the bananas to thaw in the fridge.  To get the banana out, simply cut off the top and squeeze the contents into a measuring cup. 

The bananas do get a bit watery, so it's best to put them in a seperate bowl at first. That way you can pour out some of the liquid before adding the bananas to the larger mixture.  Obviously, bananas stored this way are really only good for baking. I wouldn't recommend trying to peel and eat it like you would a regular banana. 

Banana tangent over. 

As you can see, the Little Guy helped. 

I doubled the recipe, and it made enough for 24 muffins and one loaf of bread.  I added pecans to the muffins.  Bake the muffins for 25-30 minutes.

The bread turned out great, and the muffins were ideal.  I was able to store them in the fridge, toss a few into the microwave for 30 seconds each morning, and take them in the car with me for a quick breakfast. 

Overall, I thought this was a great and easy recipe.  No frills and no fuss.  And when you're baking with the Little Guy, that's always a good thing.

Good Friday

A coworker's grandmother bakes up a storm. Just in time for Easter, I was the grateful recipient of some of that baking. Behold!




It's bread....in the shape of a lamb.





Complete with jellybean eyes and mouth, and a ribbon around it's neck.




If it didn't smell so delicious, I'd almost feel bad cutting into it.



But it does, so I won't.

Happy Friday!