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poltr1 ([personal profile] poltr1) wrote2010-01-03 03:59 am
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More adventures in breadmaking....

After cleaning out my kitchen of extraneous stuff, I now feel more inspired to do things in the kitchen. I think I'm a pretty good cook, especially when I follow the recipe. :-)

One of my favorite things to eat in the winter is homemade bread. And so, I took the bread maker out of its box and put it to use.


Allow me to share some of my more recent successes.

I had a herb bread mix that I purchased several years ago. It was time to use it up. It was sitting in my pantry, taking up space. So I made a loaf of bread out of it. It turned out well.

I found an unopened bag of spelt flour that The Ex purchased years ago from a health food store. She had heard that eliminating one's consumption of wheat would reduce or eliminate many symptoms of asthma. I looked online and found a recipe for making spelt bread. I had all but two of the ingredients - dry milk and lecithin. I went to the health food store to buy lecithin. That stuff is sticky! I baked it on the whole wheat cycle and the loaf turned out fine.

I also made two loaves out of the bag of Gold Medal all-purpose flour I had in the pantry, using the recipe in the instruction book. Yummy!

I remember the first loaf I made in that bread maker. It was all gnarled and shriveled up. That was because I didn't give the loaf any TLC while it was originally being kneaded. I now add a little bit more water during the kneading process, and use a spatula to scrape the sides of the pan to mix the dry ingredients into the dough. I know it's going to be a good loaf when the dough ball travels around the edge of the pan.

As far as I know, flour doesn't have a specific shelf life, but yeast does. It's easy and convenient for me to run to the local Kroger and pick up some yeast packets when I need them.

Baking bread gives me good feelings. I'm using up stuff in my pantry, I'm being productive, and I'm not spending any money on store-baked bread, which is mostly air.

[identity profile] zorya-thinks.livejournal.com 2010-01-03 02:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I have some rye flour I need to use up. Not sure if I want to use the bread maker (which is stashed somewhere in the garage) or put the dough hook on the Kitchen Aid mixer.

You've inspired me to get off my tukus and make some bread. :-)

[identity profile] mseuphrates.livejournal.com 2010-01-03 03:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Now you've made me hungry...
:P

[identity profile] ladysoapmaker.livejournal.com 2010-01-03 04:55 pm (UTC)(link)
I need to feed my sourdough starter so I can make a loaf. I'm hoping to make a least a batch a week. I've been averaging about a batch a month.