Crash Course: Making Bread Pt 2

So it's been an hour or so, let's check on the dough...

Hmm, it's looking pretty good, but I want to have a more tender crumb and a more developed flavor. I'll check back in another hour.

Now if you like what your dough is doing in with an hour rise, then by all means, use it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the dough and it will be WONDERFUL!

My house is a bit on the cool side. I let it rise for about 3 hours total. This is what looks like:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Punch that dough DOOOOOOWN!

See how it stays indented? Perfect!

Knead it a little to get the large air bubbles out.

Now it's time to shape it. Here I'm a bit more gentle with the kneading, but at the same time i'm rolling the ends under. This is merely cosmetic as I shape the loaf.

It's log, log. It's big. It's heavy. It's... BREAD! From this point, you could cut it into equal sized pieces and make roll shapes and put it on a cookie sheet, or keep the rustic shape and put it on the pan. You of course can make any shape you want, and mark the top. I put it in a loaf pan.

From here, let it proof til it doubles in size once again.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit...

Because it's close to Samhain/Halloween, I marked it with a pentagram using the tip of a sharp knife. As the bread rises and puffs it will be quite lovely.

Then into the oven it goes for 45 minutes. I use the same time when making rolls from the dough.

Update @ 7:38 PM 10/15/2012: It's almost done. I never get tired of the scent of baking bread, never. Mmmmmmmmmmm. That reminds me, I need to go to the health food store to get local organic pastured (Not Pasteurized) raw cream to make butter for this delicious bread. And yes, I'll show you how to make that too!

Time to get out the cooling racks if you have em. If not a clean dish towel will work just fine.

Take the loaf out. The top should be slightly brown. It should be hard and with almost a hollow thud sound.

Cool it in the pan until it comes out on its own, otherwise it can break apart. The proteins in the wheat flour need to set up a bit.

Once it can come out on its own, cool it the rest of the way on a cooling rack or on the dish towel.

This loaf slices very well, with a nice crunchy crust. It goes nicely with a soup or stew to sop up the broth.

It also freezes and refrigerates excellently. I keep it in the fridge so it lasts longer. It slices better when chilled.

I slice it for sandwiches, toast and use the ends of the bread to make croutons or bread crumbs if I don't eat them first!

It is crusty, crunchy and a lovely chewy texture.

I hope you enjoy this basic bread crash course as much I enjoyed putting it together. And once you get this down, you can experiment with flavors, flours, bread types. The possibilities are endless.

If you have any questions, ask away. I'll be happy to help you.

*I am not a chef professional or otherwise. I'm a home cook, a survivalist and a homesteader. I've been making bread by hand since i was a child at my grandmother's knee. This is what she taught me. This is by no means the only method or recipe.*

Crash Course: Making Bread Pt 1

In this first of a continual series of crash courses, I'll be showing you how to make a basic loaf of bread. Nothing fancy or complex. This is just to get your feet wet. There will be a lot of pictures, and easy instruction. If you want something more complicated or creative, we'll do that in a different entry.

Why make your own bread:

Making your own bread is a great release of stress, especially when you're kneading it. You can get out so much frustration. Regardless of the emotional benefits (lol) you'll be learning how to make something useful, nutritious and delicious.

Regular commercial breads are full of excess salt, sugar, preservatives and yes folks, many times, high fructose corn syrup. Why does bread need HFCS? That's beyond me. When you feed your family, you'll feel good about it's simplistic wholesomeness, and enjoy it.

In another crash course, we'll discuss making your own sourdough starter by 2 simple ingredients and how to capture the wild yeasts floating around in the world.

About this Bread:

This is a basic white bread for slicing/tearing loaves, or rolls, or anything you need a simple bread for. There are a lot of bread recipes out there. You can find any flavor you'd like on the net. But, when shit hits the fan you're going to want to know how to make flour into something edible and nutritious. If you've made bread before, wonderful! If not, this is the crash course for you!

Ingredients:

1 pkg instant dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar (any natural sweetner is good. It is used to feed the yeast. DO NOT USE ARTIFICIAL CHEMICAL SWEETNERS!)
1 C. Warm Water @ 100 - 110 degrees Fahrenheit (More for Kneading)
2 Tbsp. oil (Any liquid cooking oil will work just fine)
1 Tbsp Salt (This is optional, but without it the bread will be very bland)
3 C. A/P Flour (More for kneading)

How To:

I like to clean as I go, so I make a sink of hot soapy water to drop in my utensils until I'm able to wash them.

In a large bowl, add 1 package of yeast.

To the yeast add 1 cup of warm water between 100 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit. You may need more water for kneading if it's too dry, so put some in a cup to have on hand.

• Too cool - yeast will be slow to bloom if at all
• Too warm - yeast will die

Add 1 tsp of sugar. Yeast eats sugar. The yeasts have been dormant and probably kept in the refrigerator (or at least it should be), so they're hungry. This will give them a good head start, so they'll burp and make the carbon dioxide gas that lets the bread rise and gives it its yeasty flavor. You won't taste the sugar.

Let the yeast nom on the sugar for about 10-15 minutes. The longer you let it chill the more developed the flavor will be. As long as the yeast stays at room temperature, you can keep this going for a while. The yeast will be foamy and fragrant. I start drooling at this point. Mmm so good!

Now, we'll start building the rest of the dough. Add 1 Tbsp of salt. Feel free to add more or less depending on how you like it. I do add some, because it can be terribly bland otherwise.

Add 3 Cups of flour. You may need more for as you knead if it's too sticky to keep some out in a dish to have on hand.

I start mixing it with a wooden spoon, until it tightens up, and starts forming a mass.

Add 1 tablespoon of oil. I add the oil after I have stirred a little well in the flour. This adds a little more moisture and helps with the sticky factor. You'll knead less, require less water/flour adjustments, resulting in a more tender texture.

It's BREAD HAAAAANNNND! No, but really. Once it starts looking like this from stirring, it's time to get your hands in there. Start working it in the bowl some, and let it come together a little more.

It's still going to be floury and flaky at this point. Turn it out onto your counter, or other kneading surface. Make sure that it is clean and dry before you start. Now knead my lil' breadsticks, KNEAD!!

Weather, and moisture content of ingredients can differ from batch to batch. But don't panic! This is easy to fix.

IF IT'S TOO DRY: Knead for a couple of minutes. If it is still too dry and not coming together any more and is just crumbling apart, you can add a little more water at this point. Only add 1 tablespoon at a time, and knead for a little bit before you add any more. It takes a few minutes for the flour to absorb the water. It will be a bit sticky to your hands while you knead it, but don't add more flour just yet. You'll see it will come together more and more. 

IF IT'S TOO WET: If it's too wet still, and sticks to the counter and your hands, sprinkle some flour on the counter, your hands and the dough. Knead it in. Keep repeating this until it is no longer sticky. Do this a little at a time. No more than a tablespoon or two. Let the flour absorb the moisture and combine itself.

Keep adjusting little by little and you'll get it. I promise. Bread making is very much a "feel" thing. Trust your instincts and take your time!

You can see from these pictures that the rough looking dough becomes smoother and smoother. It will also become more elastic as the gluten forms strings. This is what gives bread its texture, the gluten proteins. The more you work it the more chewy your bread will be.

Work your dough until it becomes smooth and consistent.

In a new clean bowl, or the same bowl you used to make the dough, add another tablespoon of oil. 

Coat the bowl and and dough ball with the oil. This will help it from forming a skin which would give you a tougher crust, and keep it from sticking to the bowl, too much as it rises.

Now cover the bowl with a clean dish cloth and keep in a warm place where it won't be bothered for no less than 1 hour. The longer it rises the more developed the flavor will become

.In Part 2: Punching down, 2nd rise, shaping, baking, finished product!

So you want to build a solar oven. Pt 1

So you want to build a solar oven? Good Luck!

There are kits you can buy, or you can buy more heavy duty materials to make it last longer. Well I'm broke as balls; you know "welfare budget" and all, so I wanted to figure out how to do it with found objects, things I had around the house, and minimal purchase, but from things only found at the local dollar store. Information about the benefits and blah dee blah of solar ovens will come in a different post.

Pictures will come as I make it happen, and so I'll write this sort of like a diary...

Day 1: 10/7/2012

Dear Diary,
   Today I want to build a solar oven. I've seen examples and web pages and want to see about building one of my own.

I have a lot of cardboard boxes around here, let's see what i can come up with.

I made from parts of 1 box, a 15" x 15" with 6" sides. I taped it with duct tape, just to hold it together, so i could have my hands free.

The great thing with this is that I can always build the sides up by gluing and taping more cardboard. Perfection and beauty not required.

I want to essentially paper mache the cardboard to make it more durable. So I made home made Mod Podge like this:

1 Pint Mason Jar
1 Bottle All-Purpose White Glue (Like Elmer's, but a generic brand will be just fine. It needs to be non-toxic. This type of glue does not release under heat.)

Into the jar, I poured the bottle of glue, which a typical bottle will be just a little less than half of the jar. I filled the rest with water, put on the lid, shook, a voila; home made mod podge for a fraction of the price. I think I paid 37 cents for mine from the clearance shelf at Walmart.

I used brown paper shopping & lunch bags, because that's what I have at the moment, and pasted on a layer on the box and I'm letting that dry tonight.

I also am using a cooling rack with a piece of cardboard cut to the size of the top, duct taped it in place, and have the bottom pasted with brown paper too. I'm letting that dry tonight as well. That will be the base of the "cooking" part of the oven, where I'll be pasting aluminum foil.

The Outside box is larger than the inside box. I'll be crumpling newspapers to put in between the two. The air between them as well as the newspaper will insulate allowing the cooker to be more efficient with less heat loss.

That's all I've done for tonight. I'll check back tomorrow.

*Disclaimer* There are fantastic free plans, and kits out there available over the internet. This is not the ONLY right method. This is an experiment. If it works, great. If it doesn't, well, we'll try something else.

Cake Baking Tip #2

Also from a friend:

Not motivated or just don't have time to frost the cake? Use marshmallows. One large marshmallow per cupcake or half a bag of minis for a 9x13 pan. Just plop one on top of each cupcake or spread the minis out evenly on the bigger cake. (remember, marshmallow really expands when it melts). Put it back in the oven til the marshmallow is nice & melty. If you like, after it melts you can turn the broiler on for a minute to toast it. If I make a chocolate cake, after it comes out, I like to sprinkle it with a little espresso powder and/or cocoa powder. You can use candy sprinkles or depending on the flavor of your cake, a little pre-sweetened Kool aid or Jello powder. (My granddaughter LOVE white cupcakes with marshmallow topping sprinkled with a little pink lemonade powder) do this AFTER the cake is done.

Hump day? Not for my cake!

Courtesy of my friend Eve Lynn:

I just wanted to share a little cake baking tip. You know that dome you sometimes get in the middle of a cake? It is caused by the sides baking faster than the middle.....well, you can prevent that.
Someone gave me a set of these things put out by Wilton, called, "Bake Even Strips" and they were wonderful. So wonderful, I wanted to buy more, but was put off by the cost.
I went online to see if there were a less expensive knock-off & came across a DIY site that shows how to make them. So easy! Just an old towel, some scissors and a couple pins. (I use big safety pins)...if you really want to get fancy, you can hem & surge the edges of the fabric.
http://www.cakeswebake.com/video/make-you-own-bake-even-strips

** 

Portuguese Soup

This is a great recipe. My mom used to make it all the time. Despite the name, this is a very inexpensive, delicious and filling soup that is VERY easy to make. You can make it on the stove top or in the crock pot. Matter of fact, I have a batch in the crock pot right now.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb ground beef (Substitute other ground protein if you wish)
• 2 C. chopped onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil (I used 80/20 ground beef and omitted the extra oil)
• 1 lg can whole stewed tomatoes
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper (I also added some cayenne for some heat)
• 2 qt. water
•  1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. dried basil
• 1/4 head of cabbage, shredded
• 1 C. broken vermicelli
• 1 pkg keilbasa (chorizo would also be very very good if you have it)

CROCKPOT: Dump it all in, turn onto highest setting, let cook for at least 4 hours. (Or until you get home)

STOVE TOP: brown mean, onion and garlic in oil. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, sausage and water. Bring to boil. Cover, Simmer for about 20 minutes. Add thyme, basil, cabbage and pasta. Bring to boil. Cook until cabbage and pasta are soft.

YEP that's it. It freezes well and is even better eaten the next day, if it sticks around that long. 

Try it out. Let me know what you think and how you changed it to your liking.

My recipes are merely guidelines. I change stuff all the time depending on what's in season and/or on sale, and to my taste. I like more heat than my mom, so I add cayenne. You can too. Try it as is, then change it up :D

Have fun with it. Yum Yum.