Crackin’ toast, Gromit!
There really is nothing like homemade bread right out of the oven smothered with good butter, is there?
Here are 3 easy and tasty recipes that I have been making for years.
First up is English Muffin Toasting Bread from King Arthur Flour. Having made this bread for so many years, I have customized it to our taste and the querks of our oven!
My Changes:
12.75 oz flour ½ All Purpose Flour and ½ Bread Flour (around 3 Cups)
½ T sugar either white or light brown
¼ tsp baking soda
1 ½ to 2 tsp salt (I use 2)
1 T active yeast
Mix together, set aside.
8 oz whole milk or milk & kefir or yogurt or sour cream
4 oz water
2 T saffola oil
Mix together and heat in microwave to 120º.
Then combine both and beat until well blended (about 1 minute).
Pour into a greased (& sprinkled with white cornmeal) 8 1/2” x 4 1/2” loaf pan. Sometimes I will slash the top and sometimes I want a denser crumb. Your choice.
Let rise until just over the top. Bake 375º for 25-30 minutes (until internal temp is around 200º), covering the top if it browns too much.
Rest on a rack for 5 minutes and turn out onto the rack to rest until cold.
This bread makes GREAT toast!
Doesn’t everybody like Banana Bread?
My Mother made it on occasion to be ready when my Dad came home from work. It was very special as her health was not very good. I have been trying for years to recreate this recipe and a few years ago I finally cracked it!
ETHEL'S NEW BANANA BREAD
1/3 C salted butter, melted
3/4 C white sugar, (or 1/2 white & 1/2 brown)
1 C mashed organic banana (about 2 big ones)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract (I use vanilla paste)
1 1/2 C All Purpose flour (or 1 C AP + ½ C whole wheat)
1 tsp aluminum free baking powder (Rumford Brand)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C toasted & chopped pecans (toast 325º 10 minutes, let cool)
Preheat oven to 350º
Butter a 8" X 4" metal loaf pan (Baker's Secret is good)
In a bowl add together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and spices if you want. Fold in the nuts until well floured. Set aside.
Mix together the melted butter and sugar, add banana, egg and vanilla and mix well. Fold in the dry ingredients* just until mixed. Pour into the loaf pan and smooth the top.
Bake on he middle rack for 45 minutes to 1 hour until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. You may have to tent the loaf with some aluminum foil if its browning too fast.
Take out of the oven when done and place on a rack to cool for 15 minutes. Take out of the pan and cool on the rack for another hour.
It is great fresh and warm, but just gets more flavorful after a day or two (if it lasts that long!). Great toasted in a toaster oven and slathered with Kerrygold salted butter.
*I like to sometimes adding 1/2 tsp saigon cinnamon or 1/4-1/2 tsp garam masala or powdered ginger or grated nutmeg depending on how I want it to come out. BUT just as the recipe is is the way I remember my Mother's banana bread.
Speaking of pecans, every summer our vacation would be to my Grandparents home. They had several big old pecan trees in their yard. We would bring back sacks and sacks of pecan nuts. My Dad would crack and pick those every fall for my Mom to use. :-)
Well, here’s the last bread for today. I know bread is not so popular as it used to be. But it is what can sustain life. In England way back in the past, bread and small beer was all many people got between morning and the evening meal of maybe some soup.
I learned how to take a not hard shelled egg out of a chicken carcass and pluck the bird and dry the feathers for use later. I think those skills may be important today, but they will be lost because most who know how may be lost.
Brown Bread or Aran Donn
3 1/2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
3/4 Cup Wheat Bran, toasted (Ta-Da moment! I used oat bran in this last loaf and it was spectacular!)
1/4 Cup brown sugar (I used dark)
1 Tbsp. baking soda
2 1/2 - 3 Cups buttermilk (I used 2 ½C this time)
PreHeat Oven to 400ºF
Sieve the baking soda and then mix in the rest of the dry ingredients. Add 2 1/2 cups buttermilk and bind, add more buttermilk if needed.You need to adjust depending on the elevation and humidity and temperature where you are. Turn out into a 9" X 5" greased loaf pan and cook 45-60 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick starting at 40 minutes. Rest on a rack for 5 minutes then turn out and rest until cold.
I wish the best for all of you good people! Stay safe, read a good book, breathe, meditate and look out the window at nature if you can!
Calvin our cat social distancing and waiting for.…