Homemade Bagels - BBA Challenge

As you know I have been participating in the BBA Challenge. Those of us who have accepted the challenge are baking our way through Peter Reinhart's book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice. I'm on the third recipe, which is bagels. (you can see my other BBA challenge posts here) I have had numerous recipes for bagels bookmarked for a long time and making homemade bagels has been on my to do list for what seems like forever. So this challenge has given me that little boot in the butt that I needed to get these off my list!

First of all, I have to say that these are not only amazingly delicious, but they are actually really easy to make. I found the dough to be very easy to work with, the only hard part is waiting overnight while the dough retards in the refrigerator. It's all worth it the next morning when the smell of fresh bagels wafts through the house. I also wasn't worried about making these as I have already used the soda bath method with homemade pretzels as well as Bretzel Rolls. Mmmmm!

First off, I had a minor panic attack set it while making this dough. You see I did what I always preach NOT to do, and that is I didn't look closely enough at the ingredients. So, after doing the first step, which requires 2 hours of rest time, I was halfway through that and looking at the next step in the book. That's when panic set in. I saw in the instructions that malt was needed. This isn't malted milk powder, it's a different kind of malt powder, used in a similar fashion as sugar to feed the yeast. Ok, so where the heck am I going to get malt powder in the lovely little rural town that I live in?? 

I started calling around:

1) called restaurant supply store 5 minutes away and asked "Do you have malt powder, NOT malted milk, but malt powder".... holding.... "Why yes we have that". 

2) Phew! uh oh, the cable guy is coming though and if I miss him he won't come in because my 17 year old son isn't 18. Ok, call neighbor and ask her to be on "stand by" in case cable man shows up while I'm gone, she can run over. CHECK.

3) Hop in car and rush out to restaurant supply store only to find that they don't have malt powder, they only have malted milk powder. UGH. Jeez! Ok so the lady there suggests a health food store 20 minutes away. That's too far with cable guy coming.

4) send a text to Google (46645) information to get phone number for Dairy Queen in town that is 20 minutes away. Why you ask??? Well, the lady at the restaurant supply store said that the health food store is in the same parking lot as the DQ. So I call the DQ and get the name of the health food store. CHECK.

5) Call health food store while on my way home and find out they don't have malt powder either. WAAAH! 

6) Get home, look in the book again and realize that is says "malt powder OR dark or light malt syrup, honey or brown sugar". Holy canoli. 

7) Panic attack ends, timer goes off ending 2 hour dough rest and Amanda adds honey instead of malt powder. Geez.

Ok so in all that excitement I completely forgot to take step by step photos encouraged by the BBA group. :-p Sooo, I started taking pics after the panic attack had subsided. Here's the bagels after being shaped, after resting 20 minutes under loose plastic wrap.

Here they are in the refrigerator for their overnight stay. Sniff. :( I don't wanna wait!

Ok the next morning and I am happy! I get to bake bagels today yum yum yum! First I set out my toppings and put a great big pot of water on to boil. I chose rehydrated onion and garlic, sesame seeds (not pictured), kosher salt & ground pepper, and Parmesan cheese. Fresh cheese would have been better, but that's what I had. :-/

Here they are waiting to be plunged into boiling water, just out of the refrigerator. Oven is all preheated to 500 F.

Ok water is boiling, time to add one tablespoon of baking soda. Woosh!

Drop bagels into boiling water, boil for 1 minute on each side. 

Remove to same cookie sheet, just had to sprinkle on some cornmeal first. Then add your toppings.

Bake 5 minutes then rotate pan and bake another 5. The instructions said to lower the oven to 450 after first rotation, but mine worked better leaving it at 500 since the heat escapes when you open the door.

And then you have yummy homemade bagels!

And they are so darned photogenic!

Don'tcha think??

Mmmmmmm

Thrifty Thursday: Week #23 Free Cherries & Cheap Produce

Welcome to Thrifty Thursdays! To participate, please see the end of this post.

I live in a suburban type neighborhood within a rural community. So while my house is in a fairly typical suburban setting, I'm actually surrounded on all sides by farms. This means access to plenty of locally grown fresh produce. There's a place called Best Bargains, which is a restaurant supply house that's open to the public. It's not like going to WalMart, because while they may stock one thing today, you may not find it there tomorrow. So going there is always a treat as there's often something new each time.

Their prices are often better than any grocery store and they have vegetables and meat grown by local farms. Yesterday I picked ups several things, including a bag of 8 pizza puffs. My son has been paying $3.00 each for these exact same pizza puffs at a local ice cream shop in town. We bought the whole bag for $6.00. Needless to say he was very pleased!

I also picked up eggs, milk, cheese, butter and some fresh produce. Among the vegies I scored were some vine ripe tomatoes and fresh broccoli. As you can see in the photo, the prices are phenomenal. 

Tomatoes - $0.39/lb - 1.6 pounds = $0.62

Broccoli - $0.78/lb - 1.51 pounds = $1.18

Also, my supply of fresh cherries is coming to an end. I picked another 5 pounds off my neighbor's sour cherry tree yesterday. There's still quite a few on there, but they are definitely nearing the end. 

I did buy some canning equipment so I can make some yummy cherry jam. I still have quite a few cherry recipes bookmarked as well! I've already made these darling little Sour Cherry Financiers and Sour Cherry Almond Cake. I've also made some fabulous cookies that I will share with you later, though I need to try them again before blogging about them. The flavor is great, but my butter was not at the right consistency when I made them so they came out cakey. Soon!

I'm submitting this post to Fight Back Fridays as well, be sure to check out all the Fight Back Friday links!

What did you do that was thrifty this week?

PLEASE ONLY ADD YOUR LINK IF YOU ARE PARTICIPATING IN THRIFTY THURSDAY. To participate, simply add the link to your thrifty post below (NOT TO YOUR HOMEPAGE!) and link back to this Thrifty Thursday post from yours. Leave a comment and visit the other TT links to comment on theirs. That's it! :)

TWD: Vanilla Ice Cream

Lynne of Cafe LynnyLu chose Vanilla Ice Cream from pages 428-429 of Baking From My Home to Yours for this week's Tuesday With Dorie recipe. If you would like the recipe, be sure to visit Lynne's blog or buy the book and you'll have access to all of these fabulous recipes! I love vanilla ice cream, so even though I just filled both of my freezers with a side of beef, I painstakingly made room for my ice cream maker so I could do this week's pick! (to see all the recipes I have made since I started with TWD, click here)


This recipe is very straightforward. It involves making a custard, cooling it, and churning it in your ice cream maker. It's absolutely delicious. My husband loved it too, and that's saying a lot, he's pretty picky about his ice cream. :) We paired it with some Milopitas, a Greek apple pie (more like a cake) and it was sensational!

Not too much more to say, other than I will be making this again and again.

Greek Apple Pastry & Christopsomos (Artos) for BBA

Sunday was our dear friend Pete's birthday. Well Pete just happens to be Greek. We met him and his wonderful family about 20 years ago, not too long after they moved here from Athens. They are truly some of the nicest people I have ever met, or as my husband says "Pete is good people".  Yes, it's grammatically incorrect on purpose. ;) 

Whenever they invite us over I always bring something along. The timing was perfect as the next recipe I needed to conquer from The Bread Baker's Apprentice as part of the BBA Challenge was Artos, otherwise known as Greek Celebration Bread. I chose one of the options, the Christmas version, called Christopsomos, which is a sweet bread flavored with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. It involves adding raisins, walnuts and dried cranberries and is then glazed with a honey and orange extract mixture and sprinkled with sesame seeds. 

I wasn't sure if I would have time to make the Christopsomos, so I also opted for a Greek apple pastry called Milopita. Sam, a Twitter friend and fellow food blogger, who just happens to blog about Greek food, shared his gorgeous recipe with me. While mine didn't turn out as stunning as his, I plan to try it again and again until I get it right as it was a huge hit! 

First up, the apples:

Milopita - Greek Apple Pastry

The first time (yes I made it twice) I made this I used a regular pie plate. Thank goodness I have grown used to placing my pans on a cookie sheet and I saved myself from scrubbing an oven disaster. The batter baked up and just didn't have enough room in that pan, hence it bubbled over and out onto the cookie sheet. While it still tasted fabulous, it was certainly not presentable enough for Pete's birthday. So I kept that one for us (my daughter almost polished it off by herself from Saturday into Sunday) and proceeded to make the second one, this time in a 9" springform. Technically this recipe calls for a pie plate, and I asked Sam what he used. He used a 9" DEEP DISH pie plate, so be sure and use deep dish if you try this.

Note: This dessert bakes up into a delicious and beautiful cake, it's marvelous warmed and served with vanilla ice cream. :)

Milopita: Greek Apple Pastry

metric conversions available on Sam's blog

3 medium sized Granny Smith apples
1 ½ cups of self-rising flour (regular flour with 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder will do in a pinch)
2 eggs, separated
1 cup of white sugar
3/4 of a cup of unsalted butter
1/3 cup of milk
1/4 cup  of brown sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt


1. Peel and core the apples and slice them into sixteenths and set them aside in bowl of water with some lemon juice squeezed into it to keep the apple slices from browning. (I actually cut mine even thinner as my apples were a bit on the large side)

2. Sift flour with salt (and the baking powder if required).

3. Using a mixer, cream ½ cup of the butter and the 1 cup of white sugar until smooth.

4. While continually mixing, add the egg yolks one at a time alternating with a tablespoonful  of flour in between yolks to achieve a smooth and creamy consistency in the mix.

5. Add the rest of the flour in stages, alternately adding the milk in stages as well. Then add the vanilla extract and lemon rind and mix until the batter is smooth.

6. In a separate mixing bowl, whip the egg whites into stiff peaks and then using a spatula, carefully fold them into the batter.

7. Butter the sides of a pie baking dish and pour in the finished batter.

8. Arrange the apple slices in a perpendicular fashion overtop of the batter in a circular pattern to form an outer ring of apple slices. Fill the center of the ring with any remaining slices.

9. Melt the remaining ¼ cup of butter along with the ¼ cup of brown sugar, mix in the cinnamon and pour the mixture over the apple slices in a circular fashion, making sure to distribute it evenly in a long even stream.

10. Place baking dish in an oven pre-heated to 350° F.  and bake for approximately 60 minutes (mine was 50-55).

Let the Milopita stand to cool for at least a couple hours before serving.

This is the only photo I have of the sliced cake:

Oh, and just for fun, here's the flop photo that my daughter devoured :)

Next up, The BBA Challenge: Artos. Artos is a Greek celebration bread, the version that I chose is traditionally served at Christmas. The flavors and additions are what attracted me to this amazing sweet bread. This was such a big hit at Pete's house that he insisted that I leave it for him, he loved it that much. The kicker? For many, many years, Pete and his family owned a bakery, so what better compliment could I possibly receive? Well, how about this one -->> His sister in law's mother was there visiting from Greece. She didn't speak a word of English, so her daughter translated for me. She kept turning the bread plate around and pointing at different areas, asking what was in it, how the glaze was made, and then asked me for the recipe. How could I possibly be any happier?? She has made similar breads (Artos) in the past, but loved this version and wants to try it herself. :) Success!

First off, this bread calls for using a poolish. A poolish is basically a bread starter, consisting or water, flour and yeast, then allowed to rest in the refrigerator overnight. I had a few blunders with this recipe and was concerned that it was even going to work out at all. 

My blunders included:

- forgetting to warm the milk, resulting in a cold dough

- forgetting to adding the raisins, craisins, and walnuts when I was supposed to

- forgetting to separate the dough for the decoration on top

All in all everything went well. I am convinced that the aroma in my kitchen yesterday morning is what Heaven must certainly smell like. I didn't have enough golden raisins, so I added in a couple of chopped orange essence prunes. I'm afraid I only got one picture of the sliced bread as I thought I would be bringing it home. Pete said no, it had to stay. :) 

Hubby wants me to make another, only this time I think I will do the braided version for us. YUM!

First you measure out a cup of poolish and let it sit at room temp for an hour, then add it together with flour, salt, yeast, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, orange extract, eggs, honey, oil and warmed milk. Although, I blundered and used cold mix it still worked out fine!

Mix it together until incorporated...

Then turn it out onto a flour surface, adding flour to make a tacky, but not sticky, dough. Knead for ten minutes.

Add in the raisins, cranberries and nuts the last two minutes of kneading.  Let it rise in an oiled bowl for 90 minutes, or until doubled. Again, another blunder, I realized after I had placed it on the cookie sheet to rest, which is about an hour and a half later than I was supposed to. Added them in, cursing a few times, mumbling to myself that I needed more coffee.

Next you have to separate the dough in two pieces, 1/3 and 2/3. Put the 1/3 piece into a plastic bag in the refrigerator to chill. Form the remaining 2/3 into a boule, which is a tight ball, pinching the ends underneath so that the dough will bake up into a ball and not spread out. Then place it on the cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise another 60-90 minutes. 

When the dough is ready to be baked, you remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and separate into two piece. Roll into 10" ropes and criss cross across the top of the dough ball. Cut the ends of the ropes and curl up. 

Once it's baked, brush with glaze make from boiled sugar and water, honey and orange extract. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and let cool for at least an hour before slicing.

 Happy Birthday Pete!

Sour Cherry Financier

I mentioned before that my neighbor has a sour cherry tree and lets me pick all that I want! As you know, I made this Sour Cherry Almond Cake and have been browsing blogs for more recipes using these darling little wonders.

I came across a recipe on Always Order Dessert called Sour Cherry Financiers. I'm not sure why they are called that, Financier, according to the dictionary, is defined as a person that manages money. ? At any rate, they are not only darling, they are dainty and delicious and would be perfect for afternoon tea, if you partake in that sort of thing. ;) If you check out the recipe on Always Order Dessert, her mini cakes still have the cherry stems, which looks wonderful, but alas, I had already removed the stems from my cherries. So while mine did not have stems, they did have all of the flavor!



Sour Cherry Financier

1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup powdered or caster sugar
1/2 cup almond meal
5 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large egg whites, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
24 sour cherries, pitted from the bottom so the stem remains attached(process described above)

1. Preheat your oven to 375ºF. Grease a 24ct mini muffin pan with butter. Set aside

2. Spread the almond meal in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until slightly golden. Let cool.

3. Melt the butter in a small saucepan on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until the solids separate and turn lightly toasted. The butter will take on a fragrant, nutty aroma, and a golden, honey color.

4. Use a fine strainer lined with cheesecloth or (in a pinch) paper towel, to strain out the solids. Reserve the clear golden butter, and let cool to room temperature.

5. In the base of your electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the sugar, flour, salt, and almond meal until well combined. Add the egg whites, 1/3 at a time, until fully incorporated. Add the almond extract and the browned butter and beat until smooth and kind of gluey but silky.

6. Use a tablespoon to measure out a tablespoon of batter per muffin tin. Gently place one pitted cherry in the center with the stem poking straight up.

7. Bake at 375ºF for 12-15 minutes each, or until slightly crisp and golden brown on the edges. Cool in the pan for ten minutes before gently pulling them out (don't hold them by the stems while they're still hot) and letting them cool on a wire rack.

Shepherd's Pie

We have eaten Shepherd's Pie, or Hamburger Pie, for many years. We've always had the easy version, ground beef, tomato soup, a can of green beans and mashed potatoes. However, I recently came across a post from Ellie's blog, Homecooking in Montana. She had found and adapted a recipe from Gordon Ramsey, and I've adapted it even more. 

This is delicious. I'm very happy to have found a recipe that doesn't include a condensed soup and does use fresh ingredients! I didn't tell hubby or the kids that I was using a different recipe and everyone seemed to like it. My husband finished his helping and added more to his plate, always a good sign! So thank you for posting this recipe Ellie, we will be enjoying this again and again.

The recipe below is my adapted version. I had to change a few things from Ellie's to suit our likes as well as adapt to what I had on hand. We buy our beef by the side, so my ground beef is probably 85% rather than very lean, therefore I eliminated the oil as it wasn't needed. I also removed the mushrooms due to my mushroom hating family (sigh, I love them) and adjusted the red wine and chicken broth to my fresh beef broth. I didn't have any carrot, so I substituted with zucchini. I also removed the rosemary and hubby doesn't like it. To see the original recipe please visit Ellie.

Shepherd's Pie

adapted from Homecooking in Montana

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (or lamb)
1/2 large onion, diced
1/2 medium zucchini, grated (EDITED! Sorry, put 1 lg by mistake)
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp fresh thyme (I used 1/2 tsp dried)
2 cups beef broth (I made my own beef broth, so this is what I used)

2 tsp salt, or to taste

3 cups mashed potatoes
1/4 cup cheddar cheese, finely grated
couple shakes of Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet, brown the beef until no longer pink. Drain off excess grease. Add onion, garlic, and zucchini and saute for 3-5 minutes.

Add Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste. Season with thyme and cook for about 1 minute. Add broth and simmer until 5-10 minutes or until sauce has thickened. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Transfer beef to a deep dish. You can use an 8x8 square pan, a casserole or you can make individual servings. 

Spoon mashed potato on top of beef. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese. Place the dish on a cookie sheet in case it bubbles over while baking. Bake in a 375° F oven for 20 minutes or until top is brown and heated through. The sides may be bubbly.

Oh and just a little food history for you. Shepherd's Pie was originally called Cottage Pie. I'll quote from Wikipedia:

Cottage pie, also known as shepherd's pie, refers to an English meat pie with a crust made from mashed potato and beef.

The term cottage pie is known to have been in use in 1791, when potato was being introduced as an edible crop affordable for the poor (cf. "cottage" meaning a modest dwelling for rural workers).

In early cookery books, the dish was a means of using leftover roasted meat of any kind, and the pie dish was lined with mashed potato as well as having a mashed potato crust on top.

The term "shepherd's pie" did not appear until the 1870s, and since then it has been used synonymously with "cottage pie", regardless of whether the principal ingredient was beef or mutton. There is now a popular tendency for "shepherd's pie" to be used when the meat is mutton or lamb, with the suggested origin being that shepherds are concerned with sheep and not cattle, however this may be an example of folk etymology.

Buying a Side of Beef

For several years I have been buying my beef directly from the local farmer.  I've had people ask me if it's less expensive to buy beef this way. Yes, definitely, if you can budget in the initial payment, you'll definitely reap the benefits.

I live in a rural town, so the farmer is literally only a few miles away. I pay him market price for the live animal, he transports it to our local packing house, then I pay them for the processing.


There are several benefits to this:

1) It's less expensive

2) It tastes better

3) It's better for you

Yes, buying a side of beef is definitely a big chunk out of your wallet all at once, but overall it's a tremendous cost savings. If you can't afford a side of beef or you don't have that many mouths to feed, consider going halves with another couple or family. Our local farmer has a loyal customer base of people just like me. He keeps a list of names of who wants what and is able to piece together an order based off of his customers. So if I only want a half, he may have another customer who wants a half or two that want quarters. In my particular case, my neighbor and I share a steer. She has 6 kids and I have 4, so we each get a side. 

Now on to the cost savings. I've broken it out below to give you an idea of how much you can save:

Though I only get half of this, let me show you how this calculates out. We did split this with our neighbor. The steer's live weight was 1,454 pounds. After processing they give you what is called their "hanging weight". I'm sure you can figure out what that means :) Our hanging weight was 780 pounds. 

Obviously you lose a lot of weight after blood, bones and hide have been removed. After hanging for ten days, the beef is processed according to how you want it cut. For example, in this order I didn't get any prime rib roasts, instead I opted for rib eye steaks. Getting certain cuts will eliminate the possibility of other cuts. We've had ours cut several different ways over the years. 

When all was said and done the processed and packaged weight came to 516 pounds. Market price at the time that we purchased the beef was $0.85/pound. The farmer always gives me a discount if I pay him cash. The processing cost was $446.40. So let's see how that comes out:

1,454 x $0.85 = $1,235.90

  less discount for paying cash - $135.90

Cash to farmer $1,100.00

Processing $446.40

Total $1,546.40

$1,546.40 divided by 516 pounds = $3.00/pound

So now at first glance you are probably thinking "I can get hamburger on sale for $1.89/lb!"

Yes you can. But what about steaks, roasts, and other cuts? Here's some examples for you. I was grocery shopping at WalMart and wrote down a few prices in the meat department:

Prices are per pound:

-----------------------------------------

ground beef, 85% lean  $3.04

T-bone steak $9.98

Porterhouse $9.98

Rib Eye $9.98

Chuck roast $3.58

rump roast $2.98

Sirloin steak  $5.18

Round steak $3.98

Sirloin tip roast $2.68

Cube steak $3.48

Stew meat $3.18

There's only one cut in that list that is less than my per pound price. I wasn't able to get every cut that I have, they didn't have any flank steak or brisket, so not sure if the grocery store price on those. 

Now to give you an idea of how much beef we get with an order like this, here are SOME of the quantities of the different cuts. This is for the whole order:

ground beef - 196 lbs

chuck roast, 3.5 lb - 5 pkgs

soup bones, 3 lb - 7 pkgs

rolled rump roast, 3 lb - 2 each

rolled sirloin tip roast, 3 lb - 2 each

stew meat, 2 lb - 12 pkgs

round steak, 1 lb - 3 pkgs

round roast, 3 lb - 2 each

sirloin steak - 8 each

T-bone steak, 2 per pkg - 11 pkgs

Porterhouse, 2 per pkg - 4 pkgs

Rib eye steak, 2 per pkg - 12 pkgs

Cube steaks - 7 pkgs

Chuck steak - 10 pkgs

brisket - 2

flank - 1

oxtail - 1

Now just based on steaks alone, we've saved $6.98 per pound!

Other benefits I mentioned above are that the beef tastes better and it's better for you. There is no comparison between beef bought at the grocery store and the beef I get from the farmer. The flavor is so much better. Hamburgers and steaks are phenomenal!

I feel better eating it because I know where the steer spent its days, what pasture he grazed in and what barn he entered every night. I've been in that barn! I know there aren't any hormones pumped into him and I have peace of mind knowing that he wasn't treated badly or crammed into a tiny pen with tons of other steers all his life. 

When I pick up my side of beef I get 5 big boxes, the contents fill my chest freezer and I usually have to find extra room in my kitchen freezer as well. It lasts me about 7 or 8 months, and that's of course supplementing our meals with chicken and pork as well. 

If you can find a source for beef near you, it's worth it. Find someone to go in on it with you, or check with the farmer and see if they have customers that are waiting to share a beef. Even if you have to drive 1-2 hours, it's worth it. The flavor, the peace of mind and the cost savings all speak for themselves!

I'm submitting this post to Fight Back Fridays as well, be sure to check out all the Fight Back Friday links!

What did you do that was thrifty this week?

PLEASE ONLY ADD YOUR LINK IF YOU ARE PARTICIPATING IN THRIFTY THURSDAY. To participate, simply add the link to your thrifty post below (NOT TO YOUR HOMEPAGE!) and link back to this Thrifty Thursday post from yours. Leave a comment and visit the other TT links to comment on theirs. That's it! :)

BBA Challenge: Anadama Bread

I just joined the BBA Challenge group, hosted by Pinch My Salt, which consists of a group of food bloggers baking their way through Peter Reinhart's book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. I was anxious to get started and didn't want to wait for an ordered copy to arrive, so I checked the book out from the library.

The are very few rules, but the first and foremost rule is that you must start at the beginning of the book and make every recipe in order. So, up first is the Anadama Bread. This bread has a funny myth/story behind it, which you can read on Wikipedia. This bread uses cornmeal, which is soaked in water overnight and molasses. The recipe makes two loaves, so I sliced one up for us and gave the other to a neighbor. The recipe calls for light molasses, but I live in Podunk, so the stores around here only had dark molasses. If I do make this again I will make the effort to find light molasses as dark has a strong flavor that not everyone enjoys. I liked the bread quite a bit though and will be enjoying it this week with turkey and mayo :)

Another suggestion by the group is that you take photos during the process of your bread making. While I don't normally provide step by step photos, I will be for this particular challenge. So any time you see a BBA post, you can guarantee it will be photo heavy. ;) So, on with the pics!


While this recipe takes 2 days, that's only because your cornmeal must soak in water overnight under plastic wrap. Here's what it looks like after fermenting all night. And let me tell you, it doesn't smell nice! :-|


Then it's combined with flour, yeast and water and allowed to ferment another hour, until it bubbles.


And bubble it did!


Next you add in the molasses, and butter and mix together in your KA.


Then you add the rest of the flour and knead by hand or with your KA.



Even after adding an additional 3/4 cup of flour, I still had to knead it by hand and add more flour to get it where it needed to be.


Next it rises again till doubled, then you roll into loaves and place in pans to rise again.


Then finally you bake them to perfection. :)


The result is a wonderful sandwich bread with a soft chewy crust and a lovely brown color! Very tasty, now on to the next challenge!