Bread buddies are poppin up everywhere!

I have so many more Bread Buddies than I knew I had!

Tonight, I got a funny phone call from Andi saying

"I don't know whether to thank you or smack you!, I love bread and this 5 minute bread is delicious!"

I was at a Famous Dave's waiting for my friend Mari to meet me for dinner, and there I was, with my ear bud still in my ear, laughing and talking about BREAD! with Andi!

She bought the book today at Barnes N Noble, and she too, can't believe how easy and doable it is! She was just as giddy as I am! I found a soul mate!

She gets me! It is ridiculous how excited I get over holes in my bread. The more and bigger holes, the better my day! Totally nerdy... but oh so satisfying!

Then I get home... and I just read that DeeDee, too, is a Bread Buddy! She made the master recipe into PIZZA DOUGH!

She is going to accompany me on my whirlwind tour of the world teaching this method! Hee hee!

***

So, now I have Adrain, Andi, Dee and myself in my lovely bread world.

Who else is going to join the HOLEY club of boules, bialys, bagels, and brioche?

Hmmmm?

Any takers?

Our club can handle lots more!

I ought to start a bread blog.

What do you think?

Bread... the saga continues.

I made my own cocktail type bread.

Save about 8 bucks in bread... those little loaves are exceedingly expensive.

This was the dinner bread at the party. We sliced it all up for dinner.

This was dinner on the 23rd. We also had pasta... but the tomato salad was the favorite.

*******

I know... it seem like the BREAD BLOG these days... but it is SO satisfying making bread.

Yesterday, during Alex's party, I taught my Mom and sis in law how to make the dough, it was so satsifying teaching the technique too!

IT IS SOOO SIMPLE THIS WAY!

***

That tomato salad is awesome. So easy.

Cut up tomatoes, some onion and oil, balsamic and salt and pepper and you are in business!

Make it a greek salad by adding chunks of cucumbers and crumbled feta cheese.

Make it Italian Panzanella salad by adding fresh mozzarella cheese chunks and

cut up chunks of day old Artisan Bread.

Yum!

Goat Cheese Appetizer

Our French toast dinner was awesome last night with the Brioche I made.

I even cooked it out back in my patio kitchen. So much cooler!

***

I forgot that I have a log of Chevre Goat Cheese from Trader Joes in my fridge that I need to use, and since my tomatoes are finally ripe, I am going to make my families favorite,

favorite, favorite appetizer tomorrow night.

***

I already have a bunch of onion chopped, so I just throw about a cup and a half into a bowl,

Dice up about 5 tomatoes with my Nicer Dicer

Chop a handful of parsley

and about 4 cloves of garlic.

Mix them all together.

***

Take the cheese carefully out of the package so it all stays intact

and place it in a stone with sides or in a pan with sides.

pour the tomato mixture over the entire log of cheese.

Bake @ 300 for about 5 minutes or until the cheese is soft and spreadable. or microwave it for 2 minutes.

***

Slice two long baguettes into cute little slices.

Slather on the cheese/tomato concoction and eat!

YUM. YUM.

Go on... tell me you love it...

My new bread!

This is to Adrian...

YOU WILL LOVE THE BOOK!

Just go to the website

http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/ and get all the errors

written in your book as soon as

you get it.

I baked Brioche last night from dough I made 2 days ago!

Above is the picture!

We are going to have Brioche French Toast for dinner tonight! Yum!

My hubby cut some off for a snack last night while it was still hot.

He loved it!

This weekend, I am making my own pretzels a bagels from dough I made 3 days ago! It's just sitting my fridge waiting for me to use it!

I am so happy for anyone that gets this book!

It is just so great!

If anyone wants to come over and see how it's done, just let me know and we can set up a time!

Enjoy!

Tuesday Tastings

Okay so my new book, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a day, is the absolute best cookbook I have ever read. Last night, after it cooled down, My hubby sat at our island while I stir together

the ingredients for regular bread and another of Brioche.

***

He was mesmerized by how simple it was to do. He was waiting for me to knead the dough, get all messy, scrape my counter, and NONE of that took place. I just mixed the ingredients in the big plastic tub, put the lid on, and let them sit on my counter for 2 hours, then just put them in my backyard fridge! That's it! Today, if I need fresh bread for dinner, I just pull out a piece, form it, let it rise and pop it in the oven! Voila!

***

Okay, off the bread subject. My men are all home, and are always hungry it seems.

It's a full time job keeping them fed.

So now my prep involves cutting veggies into strips so they can have them for dips or salsa as an alternative to chips, which I don't buy.

I am also making a ton of cooked brown rice on prep day too. It is a great go to snack in a hurry.

You can mix it with salsa for a mexican style cold rice salad, or mix it with a little sugar and cinnamon for a quick rice breakfast, or you can heat it up and wrap it up with salsa, and cheese and a slice of roast beef or two for a quick burrito.

I'm also keeping hard boiled eggs around.

Packed with protein, they are a great grab and my kids love em. If they want two, I let them eat one whole and one without the yolk, unless they are having practice or a workout that day, then I let them have another yolk.

***

Tonights dinner is the 30 minute chicken recipe. Too hot to turn on the oven. I will be baking my bread in my back patio oven this summer.

I'll serving it with couscous seasoned with Pineapple Salsa and a tomato and onion salad dressed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Stay cool today!

My Bread!

I ACTUALLY MADE THESE IN MY OWN OVEN!

I DIDN'T KNEAD THE DOUGH OR ANYTHING!

THEN WE HAD THEM FOR DINNER!

AND I MADE A BIG ONE FOR BILL AND HIS DAD, JOHN,

FOR TODAYS LUNCH AT THE SPEEDWAY.

They are driving Nascar's today!

I am so thrilled with this method of making bread. I loved it before, with all the kneading and everything, but now I can make it everyday in 5 minutes of work!

These kinds of loaves cost over $5 in stores, and I just made them for pennies, and with whole grain, unbleached flour! No preservatives... nothing!

Yippeeee!

My new Cookbook!

Okay, so I just got my new Artisan Bread book from Amazon yesterday!

Quite possibly the most fantastic bread book ever!

Today I will be spending all day making different doughs.

Then storing them in my backyard fridge for up to 2 weeks!

Yep, fresh homemade bread every day of the week if I choose! From one batch!

The best part?

No kneading!

***

I make bread probably about once a week. No, not with a bread machine, with my hands.

I do not enjoy bread machines.

There is something spiritual about kneading dough and watching it rise and knowing you did that. I don't like baking cookies and sweets, but bread?

I could make it my lifes work and be happy forever.

One of my dreams is to open a bread bakery of artisan breads. You know, those hard crusted, big boules of bread that you can slice up and do anything with? Yeah, like that.

***

My men are bread snobs now too. I make focaccia for them and it is gone in minutes.

I have to make 2 batches just so we can have leftovers for the next day's sandwiches at school.

I don't love to eat bread as much as I enjoy making it.

And my newly acquired cookbook has just made having homemade bread on a daily basis a real thing! Who knew you don't have to knead dough, or wait for it to rise, as long as you let it rest for a day in the fridge!

One day, I want to have everyone over to make this kind of bread

The book is called

Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day

and there are over 100 recipes in it.

Letti, Angela, you will be my official guinea pigs when I make different kinds.

Yum!

Bread in 5 minutes!

I do not enjoy baking.

All the measuring, precision, balance etc...

Nope, don't enjoy it.

BUT! BUT! BUT!

***

I do love, love, love baking bread. That is something I could do for a living... easy!

Almost for free! Almost! Gas is stupid high!

***

I was rummaging around Google on Monday night, and came upon a way to make bread without kneading. Needless to say, I was skeptical, but tried it anyway, because I happened to have all the ingredients! Water...check, yeast...check, Kosher salt...check... All Purpose Flour (King Arthur is my personal choice)...check.

I was in business!

***

I was so surprised to find out you just dump all these ingredients into a bowl... stir with a wooden spoon and let it sit for 2 hours on the counter, then refrigrate it for up to 5 days. During those 5 days, you can take a piece out of the bowl make a loaf of bread by just forming it and baking it!

***

I tried it! AND IT WORKED! I.... me!... I... was actually speechless!

As you can see, it didn't last long.

Last night after Bill came home from practice, I put a small ball into the oven and gave it to him with a little butter and honey. He swooned!

I still have a bunch of dough in the fridge! If I want more dough... I just have to mix the 4 ingredients again!

***

So... of course there was a book attached to this whole process.

So, of course, I bought it.

It's called Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day!

There are lots of videos on Youtube showing the authors in action!

***

I can't wait to get it!

When I do, I want to have a bread making party, where everyone comes over with the flour and yeast and a big bowl or bucket to store it in, and we mix the dough,

while we bake all kinds of dough that I had already prepared ahead of time!

This all fits in SO WELL with my prep ahead methodology!

***

I'll take pictures of my next boules!

Until we eat again!

tes a day

!

King Arthur Flour

Wow! A person from King Arthur Flour company commented on my Staples post. Needless to say, I was very excited.

Since they were so generous to take time out of their day to post a comment on this blog,

I thought I would post about them.

***

When I wrote King Arthur Flour on my Staples list, I mentioned them by brand name for a reason. It really matters what kind of flour you use when baking, especially baking bread.

There's the white stuff at the store, and then there is King Arthur.

***

It tastes better, it smells better, it isn't bleached or super mass produced

like every other flour.

Sure, it costs a little more, but your family is worth it! No?

It sure lasts a lot longer than a tank of gas!

***

They are committed to giving us the best quality wheat available, no matter what.

The proof is in the taste.

My bread rises higher, tastes better and is better for us since I started using King Arthur.

It is finally available at Stater Bros and not just at Trader Joes.

Pick up a bag, and revel in the taste. It looks a little different.

It actually has color because they haven't bleached all the goodness away.

I love supporting small, quality loving, employee owned companies that are always

striving to be the best and not resting on their laurels.

No, I am not being paid for this post.

I really do love this flour, and have used it for about 2 years now,

and will never go back to the

"white stuff".

Thank you PJH for commenting and Thank you King Arthur Flour!

Buy Bread on Sale

Have you ever ran out of bread?

Isn't it frustrating?

Don't you wish there was a magic box that kept bread fresh for you for long periods of time?

There is!!! Your Freezer!

All bread can be frozen. I buy it on sale, and it can be very expensive at full price... and I store loaves in my freezer. I adore the 100% whole Wheat multi grain bread from Costco and you can only buy it in 2 loaf packs. So I buy 3 packs and keep one in my fridge and the rest in my freezer. No mold, so dryness, and it's really easy to butter when it frozen for grilled cheese sandwiches, if your butter isn't soft!

3 packs lasts this household about 10 days... and it is great bread. It has 5! count them 5 grams of fiber per slice, that Costco stuff does.

My long time friend Andrea turned me on to Panera bread recently, and I love their Mulit grain bread too. I stop there on my way home from school on Wednesdays and get a piping hot loaf for garlic bread for dinner with Peasant Pasta. Recipe to follow.

Gotta go get my house show ready!!!

Homework: Buy bread on sale and freeze it! It's a cool thing!

Peasant Pasta

1 head cabbage

2 med onions

Olive Oil

salt

Penne pasta, or any kind you love, except long

In Large Stock Pot, boil water for Pasta and salt the water.

Heat large skillet, add Olive Oil, add sliced onion and saute until just tender, add thinly sliced cabbage and saute until light browned on some edges, salt lightly while cooking,

Set aside.

Cook Pasta in boiling water until Al Dente, drain and add it to the cabbage mixure, toss, adding more olive oil to coat the pasta.

Grate some good hard Italian Cheese and serve with garlic bread. My kids LOVE this recipe!

The cabbage is sweet when saute'd and the onions are just divine.

After you make it once, tweak it to suit your tastes, and add whatever you like.

Mangia!

Ciao!

Pizza Heaven tonight!

I practiced what I preached today.

I used whatever I had in my pantry and fridge to make dinner and prep for the week.

I'm done.

They ate Pizza today. Homemade crust "white" pizzas.

What's a "white" pizza?

It's a pizza without red sauce. When I make pizza, I rarely use sauce.

Today I saute'd up some thinly sliced eggplant, onions, red pepper, and scallions.

William and I made the foccacia crusts (enough for 5 pizzas) and gathered whatever cheeses we had in the fridge.

So we ended up with Feta, Sharp Provolone, Swiss and a little Mozzarella.

I also had some cooked chicken breast from a mini prep on Wed.

After the dough rose for 2 hours, we spread all the dough over 5 stones.

Drizzled all of them with Olive Oil and began to build our pizzas.

2 were for tonights dinner with a huge salad.

2 are for later in the week, and 1 was left as plain foccacia, so I could make their lunch sandwiches with it for the week.

2 batches of dough makes 4 pizza normally, but I like to make thin crust pizza so I got 5 out of them.

2 were BBQ chicken Pizza, with a sprinkle of mixed cheese

2 were Feta, onion, eggplant and red pepper, with a sprinkle of Pecorino Romano.

MMMMMM....

We had one of each tonight, and later on in the week we will have the other two. We will just need to reheat them for a few minutes and make a quick salad.

I got all my onions, peppers, cukes, celery and potatoes chopped, and I boil 8 eggs for egg salad later in the week, or just if the boys want a quick snack packed with protein.

I pre shredded some cheeses for fajitas or quesadillas this week,

and I cooked off some chicken breast for another meal yet to be determined. It all depends on what I find that's lovely at the grocery store tomorrow.

Now it's time for bed. "The Friday Night Knitting Club" book is waiting for me on my nightstand.

Happy Cooking!

Let me know if you are able to prep this week, and what it was! I want to learn too!

Ciao for now!