Bread making

Animal shaped bread loaves.

During the winter we make almost all our bread. For one thing, it’s something productive to do when it is raining outside, and it serves to warm up the kitchen. Often we like to experiment with different kinds of bread. The same old kind every day gets to be boring for us.

Basic white is OK if you want something to make a sandwich with. But usually we like something with a little more pizzazz. There are books and books on making bread of which we own our fair share. They are interesting to read even if we do not use many recipes from them.

But this is the Neighbors column after all so we would like to share one of our favorite bread recipes. It is called Colonial Bread.

Ingredients for bread:

1 package yeast

3 1/2 cups flour, unbleached

1/3 cup yellow cornmeal

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1/3 cup molasses

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

Directions:

Place cornmeal into a bowl. Stir in boiling water, making sure there are no lumps. Let stand to cool for about 30 minutes. Stir in molasses, salt and butter. Place in mixer bowl and add yeast. Add flour until dough cleans the sides of the bowl. Let rise until double, then shape into loaf and let rise again. When doubled, bake in a 390 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Bread is done when brown and sounds hollow if tapped. Recipe may be doubled to make two loaves.

Making bread is a great way to involve the children in household activities, cooking in particular. Sometimes we make the bread into animal shapes or other fun things, like braiding or tube loaves. Shaping bread to match a party theme is also fun. Children love anything out of the ordinary.

Making hamburger buns was a challenge until we ran across this tip a few years ago. Our problem was that the buns would rise so much they looked more like a tennis ball than a hamburger bun. The solution is to put a cookie sheet on top of them after shaping the buns and placing them on the baking pan. This helps to prevent them from rising too much. Remove the cookie sheet just before placing them in the oven to bake. That way when they bake, they raise some but not too much.

Once we were talking to some friends a few days after Thanksgiving. The discussion was regarding the use of turkey leftovers. Someone said that sourdough bread makes a great turkey sandwich. Our comment was that sourdough is great but is rather complicated to make compared to regular yeast bread. They looked at us like we were from another planet or something. But in reality, bread making is not very hard at all and the rewards of eating fresh-baked bread with melted butter make it all worth it.

Other favorites we make often are rye and French bread. Variety is the spice of life so try a different flavor of bread than the normal choice this week. We welcome everyone to share a favorite recipe.