Bread

[angelhelp]

Honey is next. Use enough to make the yeast feel wanted, more if you plan to add cinnamon, raisins, and walnuts later. Any sugar is fine; sometimes I use brown sugar, sometimes molasses. If I use brown sugar, I use half a package which, if memory serves, is 1/2 lb. If I use molasses, I pour about the same amount as honey, maybe one fist worth. Fists are by volume.

Attachments:

[angelhelp]

This batch of bread wasn't one of those intended to be either dessert or breakfast, so the amount of honey was more conservative.

Attachments:

[angelhelp]

This is wheat germ. Sometimes I buy it in jars, sometimes in bags. This came from a bag and wasn't easily resealed, so I put it in one of my plastic containers. A fist or two of wheat germ adds nutrition and a little nuttiness to the flavor... not that any of us need to be more nutty. ;D

Attachments:

[angelhelp]

Contrary to appearances, this is extra virgin olive oil. I keep it in an old 3-liter ginger ale bottle because it's convenient (for me) because it's less messy than keeping it in the original can.

Story: Ceorlmann came home (from the Corps, I believe) and happened to feel positively parched. In such a hurry to quench his thirst, he grabbed this bottle right off the kitchen floor -- and took a generous swig. ;D

I never even had a chance to warn him! ;D ;D

His expression had to be seen to be properly appreciated! ;D ;D ;D

I don't always use oil. Sometimes I use absolutely no fat. I never use shortening or butter for Airborne, only the olive oil if anything.

Attachments:

[angelhelp]

It is at this point that you give things a stir. You will find that additional liquid is needed. Usually I rinse out the exasperated milk can, dumping the water into the glop accumulating in the bowl.

You may have also noticed that my bread bowl lives in my sink for this process. Again, it's convenience, ease of cleanup, and near one of the 2 outlets in the kitchen.

Attachments:

[angelhelp]

So... we now have a fine-looking mess in the bowl. Give it another stir. This is the point where you judge if it needs more wet stuff or if you're ok. I've been known to add an egg or two at this point, but eggs are not required. I may dump some skim milk into it -- right out of the container in the icebox.

Attachments:

[angelhelp]

What you want is a dough that is suitable for mixing with bread hooks on a mixer. Don't use regular beaters because you'll kill the motor. This dough is thick. It's supposed to be thick.

I generally don't dump the dough out onto a floured flat surface for kneading. Counter space in my kitchen is at an absolute premium -- 4ft on one side, plus the foot of space next to the sink on the stove side. Anywho, the "kneading" (mixing) is done in the bowl in the sink. Yes, I've done it by hand without the dough hooks. It's a pain because my bowl is about a half inch too small in diameter to be secure for kneading, so I default to using a decent mixer and spin the bowl with my other hand. Scrape the sides so everything gets mixed. Scrape the bottom of the bowl as well because dough this thick doesn't always get properly churned at the bottom of the bowl when using dough hooks.

Attachments:

[angelhelp]

This batch got 2 eggs. Mix them into the glop thoroughly.

The glop, by now, smells pretty good. If you've added eggs, though, refrain from sampling unless you're immune to whichever nasty germ happens to infect eggs on occasion.

Attachments:

[angelhelp]

If you haven't warmed up your oven, do so. You only want it warm, not so hot it can toast your face if you look inside it.

When all is said and done, your dough should look a lot like this... unless you've added nuts, bolts, washers, etc. This batch was "plain" bread, so there weren't any nuts, bolts, or washers. Yup, that's family lingo again.

Attachments:

[angelhelp]

You have loaf pans, right? If not, the glop can be dumped onto or into anything that's oven-worthy. Use some form of edible spray grease; we use the store brand of Pam because WD-40 just doesn't taste good with this glop.

You now have to start shoveling the dough glop into the freshly greased pans. Sure, you could also pour a little olive oil into each pan and rub it around the inside of the pan with your finger. My fingers are too short for that to work well, hence the spray grease. In the dead of winter, though, when my hands appreciate a little extra grease, I spread the oil with my knuckles.

Those blue plaid sleeves in the pic are Airborne's.

Attachments:

[USCGME2]

So far, so good. Thanks Angel. Cant wait to see the finished product!

[angelhelp]

Loaf pans are to be filled no more than halfway. Eyeball it.

We don't worry about having the dough glop rise and swell over the sides before baking. We turn the oven to 350F when we see that it's just about doubled in size. Anyone in the house may be tasked with checking the dough to see if it's yet ready to be baked. When you've put the pans into a warm (not hot) oven, you can probably count on having an hour of rising time. If the house is cold, you may need as much as another hour.

Sometimes yeast isn't fresh and your rising time seems prolonged; I never proof it first because the envelopes have always worked well. Yeast from jars (a rounded teaspoon is what I'd use) is subject to being slow. "Proofing" yeast means dumping it into some warm water with a spoonful of sugar and waiting until it looks like it's growing little yeastie-beasties. By the time it looks like an ice cream float gone bad, it's ready to dump into the flour and stuff.

Give the pans some breathing room in the oven so the loaves bake evenly. Absolutely nothing says you can't use oven-worthy pans that aren't shaped like a loaf pan, but know that the dough may crawl out of whatever you've used as it rises.

When I make bread to give away, I use aluminum foil pans. I spray 'em just like my regular loaf pans in the picture, but I don't have to worry about getting the pan back.

Once you've decided the dough has risen enough, turn the oven on. Go bite your nails or something. Melt a stick of butter in your hands (or, as we'd say here at home, "For added flavor, melt it under your armpits." I told you we were eccentric. Do whatever you have to do to not think about bread for 15-20 minutes because you're stuck waiting that long for it to be ready. If you take it out of the oven too soon, you'll have gooey middles and possibly "fallen" bread. There's absolutely no sense running around with a gooey middle -- but -- if it happens to you, pop that sucker right back into the oven. Go eat some lima beans so you forget about bread for 5-10 minutes.

Attachments:

[angelhelp]

These are done. What you do to yours is strictly up to you. ;D

Mine are intended for immediate consumption (one loaf) and the others are destined for bags and a place in the freezer.

Attachments:

[angelhelp]

Here's one loaf, slightly attacked. The culprit is missing, along with half a stick of butter. It was the Marine! ;D In reality, he was circling through the livingroom and kitchen, headed back to the diningroom (where this one loaf was cooling its heels) so he could bust off another chunk. ;D ;D ;D

Attachments:

[angelhelp]

That's it. The smells and bells are up to you. If you want breakfast/dessert bread, throw a generous handful of cinnamon into the mix, some molasses or brown sugar, grate up a nutmeg (I never used the pre-ground stuff), add some cardamom, maybe crunch up some allspice, then you're ready for nuts, bolts, washers, or whatever else you want to add.

Bread is a very "forgiving" thing to prepare. As long as you don't kill the yeast (with too hot a "warm" oven for rising, by pouring boiling water over it if you proof it, etc.) you should be fine. There is some fat inherent in the exasperated milk; I choose not to add to it in a way that will plug up Airborne's blood plumbing, so healthy fat (the extra virgin olive oil) is the choice.

If you have any other questions, post 'em or PM me. Right now I'm off to the rack before I turn into a pumpkin.