This year has been unofficially declared "The Year of the Bread" in my kitchen. I am not sure what muse has come upon me, but I have been drawn to bread recipes with an undeniable force. Bread, as I have found, is that happy medium of being somewhat healthy, baking fun, and not sugar-rich. It all started when I was reorganizing my recipe binders (cue the cloudy dream fade)...
Generally, if I print, clip or jot down a recipe, I am going to use it in the next week. However, there are a few recipes that have made their way i
nto my binder that have not been tested for real world success at my hands. One of these recipes happened to be one on bread. Since I had an extra amount of time on my hands earlier this year (thanks economy!), I decided I needed a way to use up some daytime hours, bake something, and do it on the cheap. Little did I know how cheap I would get, and how excellently it would turn out. Behold, no knead bread!
Later on this year, I got a craving for raisin bread. Maybe a Food Network personality made a loaf and I wanted one too. I honestly cannot recall why this came about, but it did and strongly. How strong? I made two batches in 3 days. Yeah. That strong. And I should note the recipe I used makes 3 loaves each. Yes, the amount is bananas....errr...raisins. And before you think I ate them all, I shared with people - Aaron, my small group, my pastors' families, and a couple others enjoyed the benefits of my obsesssion. This bread turns out so very good. Toasted with a little butter on it, makes my mouth happy. It is the perfect morning munch, or afternoon munch...or after dinner dessert munch. The only things I did differently from recipe is I used a half and half mix of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour, which made it a little heartier, I guess. After the dough had risen, I divided the dough in thirds rather than try roll one huge piece of dough on my limited workspace.
I now realize I am quickly becoming my own Loaves of Love lady. (For those not familiar with my Austin church/former workplace, Loaves of Love is a ministry where a group of ladies from the church bakes bread and a team delivers the bread to first time visitors as a way to connect with them more personally and say hello in a nice, friendly neighborly way. I suppose it is not a bad title to have.)
What's up next on the bread making radar? I have a few recipes begging to be made, but I am waiting for a good event or gathering to make it. Mainly so I do not eat it all myself.
3 comments:
I nominate Allison for Fellowship Raleigh's Loaves of Love ministry!
Yumm! I nominate my life a life of bread...however, I haven't made any recently. I did make a batch of no-knead cinnamon rolls earlier this year though and they were awesome! I so wish we still lived near each other and could go over to each others homes and cook...and eat...and talk about books...and history...and life!
I wish I was closer too. Fortunately, there is a very good chance I will be in your area for a weekend or two over the next couple months. I will definitely let you know more details once I have them. Then we can do all those great things we miss doing together.
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