Midweek Baking Challenge: Experiment, or The Usual?

So tonight with Nancie busy I'll have the kitchen available to do a mid-week bake. Question is, should I do standard white bread baking? Or should I try that "Milk and Water Bread" I found in the cookbook from 1917, the one I put up a recipe for a while ago? I still haven't developed a "formal-style" recipe for that, but I might just go with it and see how it starts off.

I found another book with recipes, this one from 1903. The recipes seem to call for a bit more ingredients than I have on hand, though: "We will take for this process 10st. (1401bs.) of brown meal or flour, 14oz. of compressed yeast, and 11b. 6oz. of salt." Um, I think that's for more than one or two loaves? :-) It turns out this is primarily intended for commercial bakers. But hey, it was worth a look. I'll post again tonight to let you know what I did (and provide pictures!)

God speed, and remember: All sorrows are less with bread.

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The Consistency Of Coarse Meal

I decided to make biscuits this afternoon, and as I was following the recipe, I saw that I needed to mix flour, salt, and baking powder, then cut in shortening (butter is better than mar but marge is what we had). The recipe said to cut the shortening in "to the consistency of coarse meal." Now what the heck is that supposed to mean? I mean, I know what (for example) corn meal looks like; but does the casual baker? How are they supposed to know? It means this. Not that you'd go far wrong with these biscuits, anyway. I mean, it's the Pillsbury cookbook. The only problem I had is that, at some time in the past, I put a note in to myself to use 3 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder instead of the recipe's 2. Well, I'm marking that back down. These are edible, but definitely taste of baking powder. Oh well, live and relearn, I guess. The finished product. Yum! Godspeed, and remember, All things are better with bread .

Banana Bread! Yum!

I was going to make some other kind of bread on Wednesday, but it was pointed out that we had a number of bananas that were ready to go—more than we were going to eat. And we didn't have long to eat them, so could I please do something with them? Four of these—perfect for banana bread. So I looked for a recipe with plenty of bananas, and guess what? Leslie Bilderback came through again! Thanks Leslie! (Note: I think I've described this before? But not with pictures like this.) Banana Bread ¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter ¾ cup granulated sugar 3 ripe bananas 1 egg ¼ cup sour cream (I actually used closer to ½) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour 1½ teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon salt (Optional; I don't usually bother) 1 cup chopped walnuts Preheat oven to 350 °F (175 °C; Gas Mark 4). (Here Leslie gives instructions for prepping a 9" x 5" loaf pan with "pan spray" and parc...

It's Friday!

I may or may not go to get rye flour tonight to make the awesome bread I was talking about the other day. (I don't think I'll be going for long hikes or climbing mountains while waiting for the bread, though. Especially not in near-100 degree heat.) I would like to make sure this is popular with Herself as well, of course. And "raisins and walnuts"—I know we have walnuts, but I'd leave out the raisins; I've never been a fan of raisins in bread. Not even cinnamon bread. The other recipe that got my attention recently was from the same blog, and not even a bread recipe (!): Chilled Peach And Ginger Soup . I've never had a cold soup before; this sounds wonderful. But what bread would go with it? God speed, and remember, All sorrows are less with bread .

Bread Makes The Meal

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