Wave of whimsy

Saturday October 2nd 2010

So one of the many things I like to do/make is bread. Yeast had befuddled me and the resulting breads I made were better door stops than edible, fluffy, tasty loaves. A friend started a bread making class and I thought after all these years I was unteachable. But now I have had many successes. I began, after understanding some basic bread guidelines taught in the classes, using the recipes in Cooks Illustrated. Our family favorite is the Anadama Bread. Then I ventured to The King Arthur Bread Book. And my most recent favorites are both The Bread Bible by Beth Hensberger and The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. For french toast or a yummy white bread, Ms Beranbaum's challah is our 'go to' recipe. While in a used book store with my daughters, I happened upon A Bread for all Seasons by Beth Hensberger. It is an interesting way to present bread recipes. It gives me something to look forward to each season.

A couple of things that I do every time I make bread is I leave a little flour out to produce a more moist loaf of bread and I always wrap the baked loaves in cotton toweling while they cool. This allows for the heat to escape while not drying out the loaf. My husband gave me a Shun serrated knife for Christmas...glides right through a cooled loaf of bread!

Orange Raisin Bagel bread from Beth Hensberger's A Bread For all Seasons July

White potato Oatmeal Bread, September, also from the same book. I also wanted to make the Italian Whole-Wheat Walnut-Raisin bread, also in the section for September, but I think I will just have to move along.

For October I will have to try either the Fresh Apple-Walnut Bread or the Pumpkin Cornmeal Bread. My family is sometimes frustrated that I don't make more sandwich breads but I love to make different kinds...it keeps me interested in the process.

So today we are continuing sewing our pillowcases for Con-Kerr Cancer Pillowcase challenge. I also need to spend some time on the T-shirt quilt. I purchased the backing yesterday. A blue minky fabric. I am going to catch up on all my projects....wishful thinking perhaps.

PS. I am new to blogging and the formating is driving me crazy.  As I am typing and editing it looks one way then when I go to preview it looks somewhat different. So many apologies. I am in the process of trying to figure it out....

Happy October

Ileen