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Inspired by Amy over at the Mother Load trying out breads from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, I checked out a copy from the library and tried my hand at it too.  I’ve made bread and enjoy it.  But who can resist the “5 minutes a day” part of that title?  It’s not really 5 minutes a day.  (Five minutes doesn’t include mixing the dough, rising and cooking).  But still there’s some great short cuts and tips.

First bread from the book that I tried, of course, is the chocolate bread.   This was a bit less work than my usual staple of white bread.   Though it took longer to rise.  I started just before supper (~4pm) and when the kids went to bed (~8pm) the bread didn’t have the rise description in the book yet.  I ended up baking it in the morning.

I had halved the recipe and still should have separated the dough into 2 sections.  In my new oven the bread took an hour, instead of 35 minutes to be done because the loaf was large.  I also used chocolate chips and Hershy’s Special Dark Cocoa - since I had those on hand.  But it turned out well and VERY tasty.  If you like making bread, check out the book.

Made another go with oat flour (substututing 1/2 cup oat flour from the regular flour amount) in my favorite bread recipe today.  Turned out fabulous.   Will play with larger substitutes.

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On a different note, spent the afternoon learning more about actions for the last of the photoshop classes I’ll be teaching. Tinkered what I learned by creating drawing and halftone effects for photos.   Need to test them more - but they are coming along nicely.

I had a gooey mess yesterday (think oatmeal) with the usual amount of “flour” when using oat flour in my bread recipe.  Added more and it ended up being too much and too dry.  Will have to try again to give the stuff a fair shake.  Maybe mixing it with other flour types might help too.

I have been digging into photography and doing more for my family at home, almost to the exclusion of other things. I thought, perhaps I could combine these two things and work up a few blog posts ta-boot, so the poor little blog isn’t so lonely anymore.

I think I’ve perfected a white bread recipe I found. The original recipe is Fluffy White Sandwich Bread from Mom’s Big Book of Baking. Before I would get inconsistent results with how much the bread would rise. Now I’ve had several loaves in a row turn out rising well above the pan edge.

What I changed:

1. I chose to use water in the recipe, because milk is darned expensive lately.
2. proof the yeast and I keep mine in the cupboard instead of the refrigerator.
3. Added gluten.
4. (Simplified the directions GREATLY.)

See! It’s rising nicely.

A few tips:

• I let the kitchen-aid mixer knead the bread for a good minute after the dough ingredients are mixed.
• I set my rising dough on my stove (which is running at 150-200 degrees).
• The original recipe said to cover the bread with plastic wrap. That has always been a disaster for me. I just get sticky plastic wrap and the dough falls when I take it off. Instead, I use a dish towel to cover the dough. If the dough is particularly sticky, I grease or flour the top the top of the bread.

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Fluffy White Sandwich Bread II

Makes one 9-inch loaf

1 1/3 cups WARM water (should be hot to the touch)*
1 envelope (2 1/2 teaspoons) rapid-rise yeast
1 tablespoon sugar

Combine and mix these ingredients and let the yeast proof for 5 minutes (look for the yeast to bubble or you know the yeast is old). *

3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more if necessary
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten *
nonstick cooking spray

Combine and mix the remaining ingredients (except the cooking spray).

Slowly pour the yeast mixture into the dry ingredients. (Keep mixer running while doing this.) The dough should start to clean up the sides of the bowl. (If not add a bit more flour.)

Spray the inside of a large bowl with cooking spray, put dough in, cover it and let it rise in a warm place for at least an hour, until doubled. Punch down and place in greased pan, cover it, and let rise again until doubled (1 1/2 -2 hours). Bake for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Bread is done when you get a hollow sound after thumping it.