Bread and Babble

Today I made THIS. It's my second time making it because the first time worked out so well. Isn't it funny how when something works out well we want to do it over and over? I have the same kitchen tools as my friend, Jeri - a Bosch Mixer and a Nutrimill. I made one change to her recipe. I ground up a couple of cups of cornmeal from some ancient popcorn I had in the pantry and added it to the mix. This is what I love about breadbaking, you can pretty much do what you want with it and the very least you'll finish with is something edible.

But this recipe that Jeri recommended is wonderful. Actually, it's her friend's recipe, and if I ever meet her friend face to face, I'm going to thank her. The loaves come out looking like 'real' loaves of bread from the supermarket. They are soft and nice and have the right amount of loft, but do not have the uniform styrofoam stuffed with cotton taste of mass-produced supermarket bread.

Hmmm...were my feelings showing?

Here's something else I changed from Jeri's recipe. I'm not baking all five loaves at once. Here's the reason:

I only have 3 loaf pans. What I did last time was make a great big round loaf with the extra dough.

Not a good idea. The stuff was good. Really good. So good I ate it. Not all of it, but most of it.

I have a hard time saying 'no' to bread.

See, my kids only like 'real' bread that looks like bread from the supermarket. They got this 'has to look like store-bought' thing going on with their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They don't eat round bread except with spaghetti or to soak up a little gravy, but in general, oddly shaped bread bamboozles them.

To forestall a situation where it's just me, the husband and a mound of oddly-shaped bread, I have the other two loaves worth of bread rising in plastic containers. Depending on how my time goes this afternoon, I'm going to rise it a second time and bake it, or pop it into the fridge and bake it tomorrow or the next day. Or maybe the day after that.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Moving on to stockpiling...

Now that the holidays are upon us, the sales don't warrant any major squirreling away. Pros Ranch Market, Food City and El Rancho Market (I'm sorry, they still don't have a website) have good produce prices. You can get a free range turkey for 87c/pound at Sprouts. Also, dried cranberries for $2.99/lb in the bulk section. I love dried cranberries but I wish the people who make it wouldn't sweeten them first. Check out the Sunflower Market ad for fresh produce also.

Most of the grocery stores are closed on Christmas and the current ads are pretty much good through Thursday, Dec 24. If you're in the mood, it might be worth it to hit up the stores on the 26th. There may be some really good sales and the grocery stores will likely be empty because everybody will be at the malls exchanging gifts. Otherwise, with the holidays ongoing now, I'd get to the store early, get what you need and get out.

Egg nog is $2.99 a half-gallon at Fry's. I mean, what's in the stuff? Milk, nutmeg, allspice, cream and rum for those who imbibe? Gotta be a recipe out there I can make without all the sugar and fat...

off to fire up the search engine.

Ho ho ho.