Quote Of The Day

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy.
That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business.
What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy if anything can.
-Thomas Merton (1915 - 1968)

Honey Oatmeal Bread

I've never made bread before. I've never even touched yeast before. But I found this recipe which claimed to be easy and sounded really yummy....
So I say to myself "Self, let's try making some bread".
Ryan of course helped because he is amazing like that. We had one mishap with the yeast, we killed it actually, but after figuring out how we killed it, we avoided doing so the second try. It turned out perfect and amazing. Not too hard either, just a little time consuming.

Ingredients

• 4-½ teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
• ½ cups Honey
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• 2-¼ cups Water
• 1 Tablespoon Salt
• 2-¾ cups All-purpose Flour
• 4 cups Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 cup Quick Cooking Oats
• 1 whole Egg

Preparation Instructions

In a medium bowl (or in a saucepan), heat the butter and honey until the butter is melted. Add the water; the mixture should be warm (Around 100 degrees). Stir in the yeast and let sit until bubbly, about 10 minutes (this is called making a sponge).

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine salt, yeast mixture, 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup all-purpose flour. With mixer on low, gradually blend liquid into dry ingredients until just blended. Increase the speed to medium, beat for two minutes, occasionally scraping bowl. Gradually beat in the egg and one cup of whole wheat flour to make a thick batter. Continue beating for two minutes. Stir in oats, 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup all purpose flour. Knead till smooth and elastic. Use more flour if dough is too sticky (I usually add about 2/3 cup more).

Place in a greased bowl and cover. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch the dough down. Turn onto a floured surface; cover with the bowl and let rise for 15 minutes. Shape into loaves and let rise for 1 hour in greased 9 x 5 loaf pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

(You can make the dough in a bread machine, using bread flour instead of all-purpose flour. Use the dough mode setting for the largest size loaf. Follow the recipe’s directions for the second rise and baking.)

Rising

More rising

Finished product

Golden Gardens 2/20/10

It was a good day... So we went to Golden Gardens after a yummy dinner at our fave pasta place in Seattle.