I am still driving into town 3 days a week to take my son to his martial arts classes.... which is an hour and a half round trip travel time..... too long to go back home.... so I run errands.. or sit and write cards, crochet, read.... quiet things... but the home stuff is still waiting for me when I get home (just like everyone else!) Habits again... and LISTS - they save my life!
My grandbaby is coming to spend a couple of nights with us so my HOME time is also in a whirl of 'getting ready for a toddler'. Seriously, she will help us figure out what needs to move out of the way... but I want to do important things like find and clean up a few beloved toys that are packed away.... and clean, of course!
Meanwhile.... the baking continues because I don't have to be HOME all day to do it! The dough is prepared and I can make home-baked bread for dinner any time... provided I think ahead enough to allow for the 1 hour rising that is going on with the loaves I am cooking right now :-) Remember, we are following along with Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
The next loaf on my list is Oatmeal Bread .
For this bread, I finally had to break down and order online... I could not find oat bran anywhere! I found it at a place called Nuts Online... www.nutsonline.com They are AWESOME! Same day shipping.. incredible :-)
***(funny AFTER note.... the two things I finally ordered from nutsonline.... oat bran and hulled pumpkin seeds... I found in the store later! I could not figure out WHY I couldn't find oat bran... I found wheat.... and then I FINALLY located it with the cereals and oatmeal.. NOT the specialty baking items. with the exception of basic flour and yeast, NONE of the items I have had to locate have been with regular baking supplies - all are located in the organic or the gluten-free section. The hulled pumpkin seeds.. I finally found them in the Hispanic section in the cellophane packages. I like to get spices there because they are less expensive.... anyway.. the seeds are called PEPITAS.... and now you know :-)
It called for 2 things I did not have on hand and didn't think about in advance... whole milk and 100% maple syrup... I was so focused on hunting down the various brans that I didn't pay attention! BOO! Out of time (okay - out of patience is more like it), I substituted my almond milk and sugar free syrup.
This bread is dense and yummy! But I liked the next one better...
The second loaf that used the Oatmeal dough is called Raisin-Walnut Oatmeal Bread.... doesn't that just SOUND like breakfast??
The dough makes 3 loaves.... I thought about another raisin-walnut loaf but opted to try something different. I decided to make tiny loaves that were muffin-sized. I decided that what would work for a large loaf in a regular loaf pan.... should work for a tiny loaf in a muffin tin...
So I split the dough in 6 sections.... flattened them out, added the raisins & rolled them up like the larger loaves..... and popped them in a muffin tin
Another grand success! Just like dinner rolls.. but nutty, full of fiber & moist from all those raisins! Too good to be healthy :-)
I tried a salad from the book.. Jamie Oliver's Watercress, Rocket, Sweet Pear, Walnut & Parmesan Salad - hmm..... first challenge... where on earth to purchase watercress & arugula (the common name for 'rocket')? Found it first try when I went to Martin's - my first choice for new and strange items. Well, actually Krogers is my first choice because their prices are better... but I was on Martin's side of town...
Put it together for a lunch that my husband could share with me... he was not impressed! I didn't think he would be but at least he tried it... so I didn't have to eat all of it!
I thought it was interesting.... the watercress has a flavor that I really enjoyed... I think I might do it again for a large family dinner just to try something new. So.. it was okay for me - but mostly my in-house family is fairly basic in taste.... they are not much into trying new foods!
So there you have our adventure for the week.... the book is probably in your local library but if you are like me and have so much fun you can't stand it.... you can purchase it by clicking the button to the left of this text!
Happy breadmaking!
The raisin and nut loaf looks yummy! I will try to find a recipe for watercress soup that I used to have and post it to you. That might be more agreeable to the palates that don't like big changes. The soup has a potato and broth base.
ReplyDeleteThat bread is awesome! I particularly liked making the small ones - more portable - and a wholesome breakfast idea :-) The soup sounds great! We eat a lot of soup around here.... I've had a love affair with my crockpot for years :-)
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