Today has been sunny with a touch of wind here at Shepherd’s Flock Farm. It’s one of those days that looks warm and inviting until you step outside and realize winter is just around the corner. It’s a good thing we’re almost ready for the snow to start up in earnest. Let’s see…what have we been up to around here…
On Black Friday I let my husband Jhan talk me into going to outlets down in Washington county PA for a shopping trip. We didn’t find amazingly stupendifferous discounts at the outlets, but we did manage to buy some much needed apparel items including snow boots for Khalil. Unfortunately I didn’t find any must-have Christmas gifts for any of the kids (our niece, nephews, and cousins). Jhan is a champion shopper while I am more the type of person who gets hives at even the thought of heading to a mall. Somehow I survived – ah, the things we do for love.
Yesterday was spent in lazy recovery from the day o’shopping, so I’ve made up for it today with cleaning, baking bread, and some much-needed grading of papers. Interim grades are due at the high school on Tuesday by 11PM, so I’ve gotta get cooking on that front. Baking bread is not one of my fortes, but here is the basic bread in 5 minutes a day recipe I followed:
1.5 Tablespoons yeast
1.5 Tablespoons kosher salt
3 Cups warm water (100°F)
6.5 Cups of flour (3C all-purpose white flour and 3.5C whole-wheat flour in my case)
I took the yeast out of the fridge to bring it up to room temperature. I then mixed the yeast and salt into the 3 Cups of 100°F water in a large glass bowl. To that I added the 6.5 cups of flour cup by cup. I had to use a combination of flours on account of not having enough of either kind. I’ve read that a combination of white and whole wheat yields somewhat yummier bread on account of pure whole wheat causing the bread to become too dense. If you (the supposed reader) have tried it some other way, please let me know what advice you have to offer. I mixed the flour and water mixture with a fork initially and then with my hands. It’s a sticky mess by the time you’re done, but I think it’s worth getting your hands into the dough. I then covered the bowl with a damp cotton towel and let it rise for 2.5 hours. I dusted a wooden cutting board with cornmeal and then pulled the dough out of the bowl and smoothed it into a round on the cutting board. I let it rest and rise a bit for 40 minutes.
During the 40 minute rest/rise time, I preheated the oven to 450°F and placed a pizza stone in the oven to warm. I also put hot water in a cast iron skillet into the oven underneath the pizza stone. This provides steam in the oven while the bread is baking. Apparently this helps develop a chewier crust on the bread. When the dough was well-rested, as it were, I sprinkled more cornmeal onto the pizza stone and slid the loaf onto the stone for baking. The recipe I have calls for about 30 minutes of baking. Apparently in this oven I should have maybe let it go a few more minutes. And the fruit of my labor – delicious, homebaked bread!
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