Baguette Bread

I posted on Facebook Sunday that I was out of bread and needed to make some for our dinners this week.  I had a request for the recipe.  I thought I would share how I make my bread.  

I have been using the French Bread in the Kitchenaid booklet.  

I warm my bowl by running hot water on the outside of the bowl.  I add 2 1/2 cups warm water with 2 packages or 4 1/2 teaspons of yeast.  To this I also add 1 teaspoon of sugar, using a whisk to dissolve.  I let this  sit for about 5 minutes or until it is bubbly.  While this is happening, I put in a small dish 1 tablespoon kosher salt and melt 1 tablespoon unsalted butter.  I premeasure 7 cups of unbleached flour in a seprate bnowl.  

I add about half the flour to the mixing bowl with the yeast in it.  I then add my salt and butter.  I start my mixer at the lowest speed and mix until it is coming off the side of the bowl.  Then I start adding a little flour to the bowl and continue mixing.  Most days, I end up using all the 7 cups of flour.  It depends on the weather and humidity. I then time my mixing for about 5 minutes.  

Take the dough out of the bowl and work in a little flour if the dough is sticky.  I knead for a minute or so, shaping into a ball.

Place it in a greased bowl and spray some oil on the top of the dough.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 60 minutes.

After the dough has risen for 60 minutes, take out of bowl and punch down.

  Since I am making baguettes, I divide the dough in 1 pound portions.  

Start flattening out the one of the dough balls.  I prefer not to flour my counter so the bread will sort of stick and shape better.  I flatten and shape just using my fingers.

I place my loaf pan in front of me so I know how long to make the loaf.  Start rolling up the dough starting at the edge.  I roll the dough with my fingers and roll outward to get the length I need.

Place the shaped loaves in the pans.  I found these pans on Amazon.  I love them.  No greasing, flouring or transferring to another pan.   Score your loaves with a shallow diagonal slits.

Cover and let rise 60 additional minutes.  Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

Bake for 25 minutes.  About 5-6 minutes before the end of the baking, brush eash loaf with one eggwhite with a little water (whisked).

  

Take out of the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Note:

Just to let you know that you do not need a mixer to make this bread.  Mix ingredients with a spoon or dough whisk.  Knead on floured counter for about 5 minutes.  I find it easier to place a cople of fat phone books on the floor and stand on them while I knead.  If you don't have these pans you can place risen loaves on a pizza board sprinkled with a little corn meal.  Transfer to a preheated stone sprinkled with a little corn meal.  

I love making bread.  It is one of my most favorite items in baking.  I have been making all types of bread for at least 30 years.  At first they weren't very good.  But as the years go by, I've gotten better.  Practice makes perfect.


Make sure you at least get one slice before it cools.  Baker's choice, you know.  Enjoy.

This post is being linked to Homestead Revival Barn Hop

Turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my family near and far.  Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends,and coworkers.  Seems like such a big edible day that takes hours of prep and it's gone in a matter of minutes.

DB carved the turkey..

I set the table..

And all enjoyed our dinner.....We are

stuffed.  Dessert will have to wait for a couple of hours.  Well we have the game to watch.

I hope everyone is enjoying their family and friends.  

Weekend Cooking, Baking and Firewood

Since the days have been cooler, I've been wanting to make some comfort food.  I started with soup.  No name actually.  I looked in the freezer for meat and found some hamburger patties and pulled them out, next I went to the fridge and found some leftover pork roast, pulled it out, with carrots and celery.  Soup needs onions so I went to the garage and cut off an onion from the braid we have hanging in there.  I went to my pantry and got some canned corn and green beans from last year.  So pretty much the soup was all homemade except the meat.

I added a finely chopped jalenpeno, potatoes, garlic, some tomato sauce, beef broth and let it simmer all day.  I didn't want to go to the store for bread so I made bread next.  DB has been talking about wanting some "stretch necks" so instead of making two loaves of bread, I used one for the stretch necks.  I call them "fry bread."  I love making bread, it's so easy and rewarding.  I love the smell of the yeast and the baking.

I didn't get a snap of the bread, this is from last weekend.

And because I was on a roll, I also made Overnight Cinnamon Rolls for Saturday morning.  I started these in the evening.  They only took a couple of minutes to mix together and an hour for the first raising.  I rolled them out and filled them with cinnamon, melted butter, a little nutmeg and some walnuts we harvested roadside last year.  I covered them with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge.  The next morning I took them out while the oven was preheating.  Thirty minutes later we had fresh, hot out of the oven cinnamon rolls.

Firewood:  DBs nephew brought us out a couple cords of wood.  Saturday morning we hauled it all to the back of the house and stacked it.  We'll probably have to get a couple cord more because we don't plan on using our oil heat too much this winter.

DBs in the living room right now, I hear the snap and pop of a fire getting started.  Ahhhh.

This post is also published on Homestead Revival.

Making Bread

We got up at 5 this morning ready to get started with our day.  I decided to make bread because I didn't get to it yesterday.  Here is it raising just before baking.

I chopped onions that we had drying, vacuum sealed them in 1 cup portions for cooking with later on.  I chopped red and green peppers and sealed them also for later use.  I so glad I got that done.  I just couldn't waste them.

We did some winterizing on the chicken coop.  Installed a light on a timer and a coop door.  They had been using the large sliding doors but the temps are suppose to be a lot cooler the next couple of nights.  I gave the girls a pan of yogurt and some boiled eggs, they ate every bit up.  Cleaned out their water and added some apple cider vinegar.  I think they are happy.  They have been able to free range during the weekends and they love it.  When I get home from work, I will let them out until dark.  

The bread turned out lovely.  We had a pork roast with carrots and onions and a side of french cut beans (homemade) with bacon bits.  For desert we had an apple crisp with ice cream.

LJ is our rooster.

Look at those fluffy butts.

Quiltathon Update

I finally managed to get some quilting done. YEAH! I've been working on Judy L's "Out of the Bag" quilt. Here's what mine looks like so far. I need to root through my stash and see if I have enough for the backgroud. I usually only buy yard cuts.

See what everyone else has been doing.

For dinner last night we had stuffed peppers, asparagus, artisan bread, pickled beets. It was wonderful.

My camera doesn't do justice for the colors on the plate.

Quilting?

I really really want to participate this weekend in Judy L Quiltathon. Seems like everything has come before quilting lately. I really MISS it. I'am going to work on one of Judy's stash projects. It will look something like her Out of the Bag quilt when I get finished. I didn't have enough light value fabrics so I had to breakdown and buy some. Wish me luck that I don't get sidetracked today.

I also have a practice quilt on the frame to practice feathers. I've been practicing alot on paper and on my whiteboard.

I have dinner ready. Stuffed Green Peppers from the garden last summer with fresh asparagus and some Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I've been making this bread for only about 3 weeks now. We love it. I can pull off a chunk for one meal and not have any leftovers. This is a good thing. It doesn't get stale, dry or moldy. AND we don't overindulge our waistlines. I looked for this book at a major brick and mortar store and found it was almost $11 more. I decided to wait for the shipping and save my money. We made pizza last night from it (didn't get a picture fast enough). I'll definately be making that more.

Canning and Bread

I received some pears from a friend of a friend. My DB loves canned pears, but only in glass. Seems the ones in tin have a taste he doesn't care for. I had some leftover pears so I made some Pear Bread. It turned out wonderful, moist and favorful.

I hope to do some quilting today. I want to work on my Floating Stars.

Can You Smell the Bread?

I just took the bread out of the oven. My BF says he's glad he's out of town or he'd eat himself sick. I doubt that but he really likes my bread.